Update: Gutted by fire in the summer of 2023. Perhaps as enjoyable as viewing the interior of the church was the chance to step into the private, intimate spaces behind the scenes of the church. For example, the angles created by the exterior of the apse as it butted up against the bridge to the…

Update: Tragically, everything you see in these photographs was destroyed in a fire in the summer of 2023, which gutted the historic church. The most stunning aspect of the interior of St. Liborius are the massive painted lunettes above the arcades of the nave and transepts. While most of the paintings were shrouded in darkness,…

Update: Tragically, everything you see in these photographs was destroyed in a fire in the summer of 2023, which gutted the historic church. One of my favorite churches in North St. Louis, which I’ve looked at before here and here, is St. Liborius, anchoring the bend in North Market Street in the St. Louis Place neighborhood….

I stopped by St. Liborius, which anchors the bend of North Market Street in St. Louis Place. Maybe one day buildings will line this street again. See my photos from several years ago here.

St. Liborius, despite lacking its original steeple, is a sight to behold. Perhaps one day, when the street is reborn, the steeple can be replaced, as it was in Washington, DC, in a similar style church. The church once anchored what must have been a stunning streetscape, now almost completely obliterated or replaced with vinyl-sided…