The Spurwink Church is getting a makeover.

Charged with making renovation recommendations to the town, the Spurwink Church study committee, has identfied numerous areas, both externally and internally, that could use some touching up.

The committee has collected a slew of priorities for renovating both the interior and exterior of the building. Their wish list includes improving/replacing windows, carpet, front doors, roof, furnace, steeple, vestibule, foundation, and drainage.

The committee was commissioned by the town and charged with several responsibilities germain to the church, the most prominent of which was to make recommendations about renovations necessary for structural preservation. “We’re not going to tear it all down and start again,” said Jane Beckwith, a committee member. “I’d like to see them do as little as possible for the building to remain strong and useful,” she said.

A 2003 report by Pinkham and Greer engineers supports renovating many of the items on the committee’s list. Pinkham and Greer projected $265,650 was needed to repair the building. Their projection included replacing the foundation, and repairing the bell tower. Not all of Pinkham’s recommendations were included in the committee’s list.

The committee was also charged with finding a way to pay for the recommended renovations. But Assistant Town Manager Debra Lane said the committee has just started the project and hasn’t yet addressed how to pay for it.

However, she said a fundraising effort would most likely be in order to cover the costs of the renovations. Lane said she didn’t expect the town would spend any tax dollars on the project.

Lane said depending on whether state or federal money is used for renovations, there could be limitations on what could be done. Because there is no local historic preservation ordinance governing what can and cannot be done to the church, the committee is using the Maine Historic Commission for further information regarding potential restrictions for maintaining historic status.

Spurwink Church, originally erected by parishioners of the Elijah Kellogg Church in 1802, was built to serve the needs of the residents of southern Cape Elizabeth.

The Reverend Elijah Kellogg was a popular preacher serving parishioners at the North Church in South Portland (now First Congregational) in the early 1800s. In 1802, a group of Kellogg’s Cape parishioners decided they wanted a Church closer to home and constructed a sister church calling it the south meeting house (now Spurwink Church), said Beckwith who is also a member of the Cape Elizabeth Historical Society.

The Church has undergone several alterations during its 200-year life, with two major renovations, one in 1834 and another in 1895. Cape Elizabeth acquired the building in 1947 when the church congregation could no longer support itself.

The Spurwink Church circa 1910, then known as the South Meeting House.The Spurwink Church, though no longer housing an organized congregation, is still used for weddings, funerals, and other special events