This is St. Sebastian Church in the Queens. I like it and it has muted elegance. But, by design, there are no windows and that becomes a distraction for me. It makes it look like a "basement" church.
The other thing to note is that the floor sloops toward the altar. Thus one could legitimately think that this is actually a fancy theater and the altar area is a prop for a play, no?
The stations of the cross do not fit the art behind the altar which is quite beautiful. Perhaps the stations should have been of the same style of art as the mural?
What do you think?
9 comments:
it's almost seductive, with its smooth lines and tasteful art, but the complete reliance on electric lighting and absence of windows continually reminds one that it is also a "theater". That's probably not the intent, but it's 1000 Percent better than the "theaters in the round" churches with little art that became so prevalent in the 70's & 80's.
Here are other photos. It's a beautiful building, nicely finished and furnished inside. The stations and statues seem to match - that post-war thin somewhat representational style however, it is difficult to tell definitively. I like that style high altar, shame the table has to be in front of it. Regarding the side altars, they should be accessible as such, not blocked by the candle banks. As for the windows, maybe there's something about that in its history somewhere. In Philadelphia, the protestant "No Nothing" riots resulted in something similar, the cathedral does not have low windows to protect the building. I doubt anything that extreme was the concern here but, given that the front doors are off center relative to the space itself, I wonder if this building was perhaps repurposed in some way.
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x89c25f1de31e7143%3A0x54714b09573da636!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMwsmpmo_sVNFgrKjxrQbomHHv0X9K8OjX9ApZP%3Dw213-h160-k-no!5sSt.%20Sebastian%20Church%20in%20the%20Queens%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMZQb2IHNLz0WIGJf5x74tkT7QWbFl39-XxSTNB&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUqLzt9fTxAhUkMVkFHc8tA1QQoiowEnoECF4QAw
Fr.
St. Sebastian's was a theater previously. They call it St. Loew's.
St Sebastian was originally a Lowe's Theater. It opened as a church in 1955. Immediately in front of the church is an elevated subway line that heads toward Long Island. I suspect it would be a heavily travelled line, what with Long Islanders commuting to/from the city. The lack of windows would help keep the noise down.
WOW! I knew it!
It is quite beautiful
I find it very beautiful and traditional.
It’s nice to see a theater converted into a church !! Before I read the comments I was going to say it was a church designed to be a theater.
Yep! It was a theatre. I’ve attended Mass there numerous times. As I walked “downhill” toward the Altar, I always felt like I should have a container of popcorn in my hand. ;-)
Gaudete in Domino Semper!
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