"It's One Of The Finest Examples Of Art-Deco": Crews Work To Clean Boston Avenue United Methodist Church

Because it's designated as a National Historical Landmark, Boston Avenue United Methodist Church said it takes a lot of pride in taking care of its building.

That means power-washing the building to make sure the outside is in great condition. The church said it knows how special this building is so it's important everything is updated and maintained.

"I'm a Tulsa native and lived here my whole life, and of course, Boston Avenue is iconic to Tulsa," said Teresa Bond-Mason, the church ambassador.

She said because Route 66 is a historic landmark, people travel from all over the world to see the architecture.

"It's one of the finest examples of art-deco in the entire United States, and we take so much pride in our history, and part of pride is being a good steward to the building," Bond-Mason said.

She said when the church was built, they decided to use limestone so it wouldn't have to be cleaned that often. But, Wade Huntsman with Groovy Hues said limestone can be tricky to clean.

"Most of the church is made of 100-year-old limestone, you have to be very careful with what chemicals and processes you use to clean that limestone, otherwise you can really do some damage," he said.

His crew has been working all day long every day this week power washing everything from the church statues to sidewalks to sides of the lower level. He said the tower is a little different because it doesn't collect all of the algae and mildew like the other parts of the church.

"The beauty is the tower gets tons of sun, there's less water pooling, so you don't get the same level of staining that you do on the lower regions of the church," Huntsman said.

This project is even more special to Huntsman because he's a church member, and he said working on such a project at a place dear to his heart has meant so much.

"It's really about making the church a bright and happy place, it's already that way on the inside, we want to make it that way on the outside as well," he said.

Huntsman said his crew will be working for about the 3 to 4 weeks.

The church said it's constantly doing work to make sure the building is in great condition.