If you had your wedding or another event planned for Ohio University's historic Galbreath Chapel in the next few months, you're out of luck.
The university has had to cancel or reschedule events planned for the chapel, due to a leaky roof.
Located on OU's College Green, the chapel is a popular venue for weddings, and its online calendar, which hadn't been adjusted as of Friday afternoon, had 15 weddings scheduled through September 2012, including one this weekend (Dec. 2-3).
The online schedule doesn't contain any events past September 2012.
Other events that use Galbreath Chapel include university classes, Christian fellowship services, honor fraternity initiations and a debating tournament, among others.
In announcing the cancellations, Harry Wyatt, OU's associate vice president for facilities, confirmed that water has gotten into the roof, causing plaster in the chapel's ceiling to deteriorate and fall. "Some small pieces of plaster and paint chips have fallen," he said in a statement issued Friday. "Roof leaks can be very difficult to track down on roofs that have several sections intersecting with domes and steeples. In order to even investigate the deteriorating plaster, the pews in Galbreath Chapel needed to be shifted aside in order to get scaffolding in place."
Since the scope of the problem hasn't been diagnosed yet, he added, "it is difficult to say the extent and timing of the needed repairs."
Weddings and other events had to be cancelled, he added, in order to "assure safety during the diagnostic and repair process." This way, Wyatt said, guests would not be disrupted by scaffolding and noise."
According to Wyatt, OU Event Services has contacted all the current reservations and classes held in the facility to update them on the condition of the space. "Where possible, alternative venues have been identified or events have been cancelled," he said.
Those with event-related questions can contact the reservations staff at 740-593-4021.
The OU website describes the chapel: "Built in 1957, The Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel welcomes people of all faiths. There is no permanent furnishing that would be identified with one religion or denomination and there are no restrictions on the type of service that may be conducted."
It continues, "The Chapel was the gift of John W. Galbreath in memoriam of his wife, Helen, a 1919 alumna who died in 1946. Mrs. Galbreath was the former Helen Mollineux Mauck, daughter of the prominent Mauck family of Gallipolis, Ohio."
John W. Galbreath was a 26-year trustee for Ohio University (1942-67).
