Prophet Isaiah rises again

Prophet Isaiah has risen again, or at least his house has.

The Ontario Avenue landmark has been restored in a partnership between Wisconsin's Kohler Foundation and the Niagara National Heritage area which contracted B.R. Howard and Associates of Carlisle, Pa. to oversee the restoration.

The Heritage Area is a champion of public art, from the murals on the walls near the train station to the Polly King Portraits happily displace in the neglected Jenss Department Store windows.

Friday night, the restored Prophet house was open to invited guests. Saturday, there will be tours and an evening reception.

May Pang is in Buffalo for a photo exhibit featuring John Lennon but it pales in comparison to what is now a permanent fixture in Niagara Falls.

Robertson, a Jamaican, had visions. One of those was that the 2nd coming of Christ would happen at his home in Niagara Falls He didn’t just talk about it, he studied scripture, and used more symbology than a Dan Brown novel.

There is signage, colorful mosaic work and symbols everywhere. The star is a 24-foot cross which is where Isaiah prophesied Jesus would arrive and people would be saved or lost.

Inside the house is more a sanctuary than the home he once shared with Gloria Dolson Roberston, who leads Men Standing Strong Together.

A pair of interns from Niagara University, Preston Bartels and Danny Vaquero worked on the inside displays. The floors and walls are filled with colorful homage to Robertson’s faith. Much of the are is free flowing, displays of carefully positioned rocks are placed on the floor in intricate designs. A child accidentally bumped some Friday but Bartels and Vaquero were on hand to restore their restoration.

The celebration of the second coming of Prophet Isaiah’s House continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a reception this evening for which reservations are requested. You can RSVP for the reception here. https://www.discoverniagara.org/pih