The Old Cathedral, Interior

I already discussed the copy of the Velázquez two days ago, so we’re going to go around the church and look at some of the other works of art in the newly refurbished interior of the Old Cathedral. While the high altarpiece Crucifixion is not one of them, many of the others are gifts of…

The Old Cathedral, Exterior

I’m glad they didn’t tear down or move the Old Cathedral, but I wish they wouldn’t have left it so stranded in the middle of an interstate on one side, and an incongruous park on the other. Here are various shots of the exterior facade from different angles and croppings. It is the fourth church…

The Old Cathedral, Eighty Years Later

Right on the eve of the demolition of the Levee for the new Gateway Arch grounds the Historic American Buildings Survey photographed the Old Cathedral’s exterior and interior. By then the Old Cathedral was surrounded by warehouses, and very few people actually lived anywhere near the first church in St. Louis (it is a myth…

Writing, Old Cathedral

Update: I examined all of the inscriptions on the façade in February of 2020. I realized that the French and Latin over the doors of the Old Cathedral all say the same thing as the English. Same with the flanking French and English inscriptions.

Old Cathedral

The Old Cathedral sits in bizarre isolation, never intended to stand by itself, but rather surrounded by buildings most of its existence. The only intact survivor of the clearance of the original street grid of St. Louis, it nonetheless is an attractive building. Built in the Greek Revival style, it certainly must have been stunning…