Byzantium Revived
[St. Clement Church (1918) Barnett, Haynes & Barnett, architects /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Although St. Clement's Church is a great example of the Byzantine Revival style, the
origins of the Roman Catholic parish had nothing to do with the once mighty empire.
[St. Clement Church, 642 W. Deming Place, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
In 1905 a group of men led by Adam Kasper wrote a letter to Chicago's archbishop to ask
that a parish be established in their neighborhood. Kasper and friends were emigres from Germany who wanted a church within walking distance of their homes rather than having to travel two miles to the nearest German-centric parish. There were two churches nearby but one was designated "Irish" and the other "Polish," and they wanted a church that would have services in German for their German-American community.
[St. Clement Church /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Archbishop Quigley was a big proponent of community identified parishes so he sent a
young priest to Mr. Kasper and company to help them create a new parish. However, Father Francis Rempe had other ideas about German-only services and told the founders that masses would be said in German and in English. Rempe didn't believe that spreading the Gospel should be confined to one language and one group. The first mass was held in a nearby public school building which caused a ruckus among non-Catholics in the area who felt a public school was no place for religious services. But soon thereafter the congregation raised enough money to build their own school building which included space for a church hall.
By 1916 the members were ready to build a free-standing church building. Rempe had
recently been to St. Louis and was very impressed with the city's Byzantine Revival-styled cathedral. So he asked the architects of that structure, Barnett, Haynes & Barnett to build St. Clement with the same ornate flourishes. And that's how a German speaking parish ended up with a Constantinoplian/Holy Roman Empire inspired design.
Posted by designslinger at 8/2/2010 1:50 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago St. Clement Church Barnett Haynes and Barnett churches
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago St. Clement Church Barnett Haynes and Barnett churches
Beautiful church. I don't know anything about the architects Barnett, Haynes & Barnett. Did they specialize in design churches? Do you know of any other extant examples of their work?
Apparently they were pretty prolific in and around St. Louis and there are several buildings still standing there plus a few in other cities around the country. Seems there are a couple of churches other than the cathedral, along with a temple. A number have been demolished but we've actually been to a hotel designed by them in Dallas.