The small church building above appears in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in 1909, with a vacant lot to the south at the corner of Academy and Vernon Avenues. Obviously, the congregation of the now-vanished Brank Memorial Presbyterian Church constructed the… Continue Reading
The amazing West Presbyterian Church reminds me of a church I might see in Oak Park, outside of Chicago, but also fits in with the general trend of St. Louis architects moving away from the German or French Gothic and… Continue Reading
St. Rose of Lima’s third location, consecrated in 1910, stayed open until 1992, though its roots go back to 1884. Its closure was part of the greater consolidation of Catholic parishes in the West End in the last half of… Continue Reading
So they’ve stolen just about all of the copper off of the old parish church of St. Mark’s on Page Boulevard (I could have sworn I’ve posted pictures of the church in the past). All of the roof of the… Continue Reading
Formerly dedicated to St. Patrick, this Modernist Roman Catholic church near the intersection of Olive and I-170 is now the Korean national church of St. Andrew Kim Taegon, a martyr who died in the Nineteenth Century. He is the patron saint… Continue Reading
Formerly Grace Episcopal Church, Eliot Unitarian Chapel took over this beautiful Gothic Revival church just east of downtown Kirkwood in 1961. The Eliot comes from the same man who helped found Washington University.
One of my favorite architects is Francesco Borromini, and when I was in Rome, I sought out the church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, famous for the architect’s designs for the campanile and tambour over the crossing. Try as I might,… Continue Reading
I had the opportunity to visit a truly spectacular religious and historic site in Bologna the last time I was in Italy, the Complex of St. Stephen, which is a series of seven churches meant to be a recreation of… Continue Reading
The old Delmar Baptist Church, which is now Dayspring Baptist out in West County, is currently occupied by the New Cote Brilliante Church of God. I’m always impressed how congregations reuse each other’s buildings; we need to do a better… Continue Reading