TOPSHAM — A painted ceiling and a historic grandstand roof are the big winners when it comes to funding from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Last week, the commission announced that it would be doling out $125,922.99 in grants for historic preservation projects. Of the nine projects that will receive funding, two are in the Midcoast: the Winter Street Center in Bath and the Topsham Fairground.

Sagadahoc Preservation Inc. will receive $5,375 to conduct an historic ceiling paint analysis at the Winter Street Center. That analysis comes as part of the organization’s larger project of restoring the ceiling in the sanctuary of the Winter Street Center.

During a storm in 2015, a third of the ceiling in the structure’s sanctuary collapsed. While the structure has been stabilized, the group is still working toward restoring the ceiling to its original look. The group is working to raise $125,000 for the first phase of the restoration project.

The Maine Historic Preservation Commission grant will help the group collect and analyze paint decorations on the collapsed ceiling. After the collapse in 2015, the organization took samples to preserve some of the decorative stencil work that was added in 1890 and 1914. When the ceiling is finally restored, Sagadahoc Preservation Inc. hopes to recreate that stencil work using analysis of the plaster and the designs. The cost of that project is expected to be $10,850.

This is not the first massive restoration project to take place at the Winter Street Center, which was originally called the Winter Street Congregational Church when it was built in 1843. When the building was slated for destruction more than a century later in 1971, Sagadahoc Preservation Inc. was formed to take over the structure and preserve it.

Since then the group has mounted several restoration campaigns. In the eighties and nineties both the steeple and the roof were replaced, and in 2000 the parish hall was restored.

The other Midcoast recipient of Maine Historic Preservation Commission funding is the town of Topsham. Topsham has been awarded $24,995 toward the repair of the roof of the Topsham Fairground grandstand.

Originally built in the 1860s, the grandstand is still used at the Topsham Fairgrounds for the annual Topsham Fair and other events. The roof of the grandstand, however, is failing and needs to be replaced. That project includes removal of shingles, replacement of roof sheathing and shingling.

The remainder of the $56,037.28 project will come from the The Sagadahoc Agricultural and Horticultural Society.

While that project was originally slated for this fall, The Sagadahoc Agricultural and Horticultural Society recently opted to put the project on hold and seek lower bids in January. The project is expected to be completed by September 30, as required by the grant funding.

The two grants come as a result of a $735,596 grant the commission received from the National Park Service.

nstrout@timesrecord.com