Ecclesiastical Refinishing Group Inc., based in Kingston, Ontario, is a company that specializes in the plastering, painting, and design of historic church interiors. Since forming over 40 years ago, they have developed an unrivalled reputation for historical refinishing and custom ecclesiastical design work. According to Mark Gray, founder and president, that longevity and status is a credit to the company’s diverse team of expert artisans, the depth of their service offering in-house, and their unyielding commitment to quality. “By combining multiple services under a single umbrella, we’re able to provide our clients with just one project partner, and we’re able to guarantee the highest standards of craftsmanship in all aspects of interior church restoration,” Mark says. Mark has personally been working in construction almost all his life, and working in Kingston – an historic city first founded in the 17th century – meant being exposed to heritage building early in his career. In the 1970s, he was leading a company with that focused on the painting and restoring of old buildings. Then in the early 80s, he was approached by a heritage consultant to gauge his interest in the restoration of the interior of St. James Chapel – which is the prayer chapel of St Mary’s Cathedral, a historic Roman Catholic cathedral originally consecrated in 1848. That opportunity was too exciting to pass up. “They were looking for a whole new color scheme, a whole new decorating scheme, and a whole restoration of the plaster,” Mark recalls. “So we took it on and we made a beautiful space.” That job also involved some excavating of the finishes that were in the church at the time, and that process led to the discovery of some “very ornate decorative finishing” underneath multiple MAY 2026
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=