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Monday, December 14, 2020

WOW! STUNNING BEFORE AND DUNCAN STROIK AFTER!

St. Augustine Cathedral in Kalamazoo, Michigan, before and after sanctuary renovation:

Miserable before:



Glorious after:




7 comments:

ByzRus said...

As usual, beautiful work and result by Duncan Stroik. Stroik's designs mostly feature the addition of a baldacchino. Unlike that church/cathedral that was featured on this blog a few months back (can't remember the church, or if the "window" was real or not, this window remains mostly visible. Beautiful throne and pulpit. Nice to see the credence tables no longer being used as plant stands. Really has that "always been there" look! Nicely done!

https://www.stroik.com/portfolio/saint-augustine-cathedral

Pierre said...

Although the after is quite lovely, the baldacchino should have been a gothic style such as the one in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Anonymous said...

Yes, this is really a great improvement. God bless them.

Robert Kumpel said...

Maybe I'm so used to ugly design that I'm losing my perspective, but "before" didn't look all that bad--I mean, I've seen worse.

But "after" is FANTASTIC!

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Robert, the before is an after of a first renovation which, as you observe, isn’t that bad. I like that kept the reredos. I love the new after or the after, after. I have no photo of the before. I am not a fan of the baldacchino except in truly humongous spaces. It confines the altar too much. And it is often in the way of what is behind or above it. Thus, I would have preferred the more traditional look without the “B”.

Robert Kumpel said...

The baldacchino also hides partof the stained glass windows--not good. I agree that they work better in huge churches or at least churches with a lot of space around the altar. My biggest problem is the "presider's chair" under the reredos, instead of a central tabernacle. But, like I said, I've seen worse. Way worse.

Frankly, it horrifies me more to see a traditional-looking church wreckovated than seeing an ugly modern-looking church go up. The modern church is just a sign of the Church's dysfunction, but the wreckovations represent a disfigurement of something beautiful that already existed.

Robert Kumpel said...

And the pulpit! What an improvement! Certain to restrain at least SOME priests from wandering all over the sanctuary during the homily.

I suppose that's probably unfair to a lot of priests. I simply take it as a sign when the priest who mikes up and walks out towards the congregation at homily time--a sign that we are going to get a LONG homily.