I never get tired of St. Francis de Sales Oratory on south Gravois.? Rising three hundred feet above the street, the spire is one of the tallest in the world, so I’ve been told.

I looked at it years ago, and you can see that post here.

Designed in the hallkirche style, which is a particularly German style of Gothic where flying buttresses do not protrude from the nave, the church looks like many I have seen in Germany.

“On the eleventh day of August, the year of our Lord 1895 [during the pontificate of] Pope Leo XIII, Archbishop J[ohn] J[oseph] Kain laid [this cornerstone] with [holy] rites for the benefit of Catholics [who speak the] German language, in honor St. Francis de Sales.”

I find it interesting that the parish house is in a slightly different architectural style than the main church, probably because they were built at different times.

There are often power lines and the like blocking views in St. Louis, but I sort of like the way these lines frame the church.? I also really like how you can see the church all over South City, as this earlier post demonstrates.