Kell-tic Design
[St. Patrick's Church (1856) Carter & Bauer, architects /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Yesterday we started our story of St. Patrick's Church, once the heart of one of Chicago's
first Irish-settled neighborhoods, and witness to the waves of change that occurred in the city over the parish's long history. As the years went on the word "Old" was added to its name, and for a while seemed to fit the state of affairs at the old building.
[Old St. Patrick's Church (1912) Thomas O'Shaughnessey, designer /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
By the mid-1950s, 100 years after St. Patrick's first mass was held, the city began its
extensive interstate roadway program and the church stood in its path, assuring demolition. But it got a reprieve through the efforts of its pastor at the time Father Byrne and the then Mayor Daley. The building may have been saved, but when it was given landmark status in the 1970s the Chicago Tribune quoted pastor Stephen O'Donnell as saying, "It is just a landmark now. It is no longer a parish." By 1983 when Father Jack Wall took over, only four people were listed as parishioners who lived within the parish. But things were about to change.
[Old St. Patrick's Church (1912) Laurence Booth, Booth Hansen, restoration architects /Images & Artwork:
designslinger]
By the time Father Wall arrived the manufacturing district that had replaced the original
residential community was vacating the central city, lofts sat empty and the neighborhood was not somewhere you wanted to take a stroll, let alone drive through. But a massive, new, high-rise, market rate housing development called Presidential Towers was being constructed just a block away and Father Jack came up with a brilliant idea to bring people back into the neighborhood for at least one night by hosting the World's Largest Block Party. It was such a success that it became a yearly event.
Using funds raised from the Party, the pastor asked architect Laurence Booth to help
guide a multi-year renovation and restoration project, during which time the neighborhood transformed itself as well. While new housing was built and old lofts were renovated, the exterior of the church was freshened up and given a bath and the interior's beautiful Celtic and Books of Kells inspired decoration was restored. The windows created by Thomas O'Shaughnessey in 1910, were cleaned and rebuilt and Booth came up with a pattern of stenciling and color that paid homage to the original decoration which had been covered in layers of white paint. All was finished and revealed by 1999, and the parish rolls have grown to include 3,000 members who now live within the parish borders and an additional 7,000 people who list themselves as active members.
The old church survived the Chicago Fire, dramatic neighborhood changes and has found a
new lease on life. It also holds just happens to hold the title as Chicago's oldest public building and one of the oldest structures in the city still standing.
See our previous post: The Old Church, and News Aggregator for a look at one of the old loft
buildings reborn.
Posted by designslinger at 11/9/2010 1:31 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Irish American community churches Carter and Bauer
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Irish American community churches Carter and Bauer
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