By way of Rugo Stone, I came across an interesting 'before and after' project they, as well as O'Brien & Keane Architecture, were involved with at the Passionist monastery of St. Paul of the Cross in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This particular monastery was founded in the nineteenth century so the "before" shown here is obviously not representative of the historical sanctuary it goes without saying (and regrettably, I've been unable to dig up an image of it); it is rather the result of renovations that likely took place sometime in the 1970's or 1980's. Here's a look then as it stood then up until the current renovation project.
BEFORE:
A quite typical sanctuary renovation coming out of this particular period of time. a period which has time and again shown itself to have undertaken many an ill-advised and short-lived renovation projects.
Fortunately, the Passionist Fathers of our own time have sought to correct this and restore the church to something of its former glory; something more... classical.
AFTER:
As you can see, a dramatic transformation has taken place here -- to the extent that it would be easy to not recognize them as being one and the same building.
Our collaborators at Rugo Stone provide the following comments on the project, with a particular eye to their own beautiful contributions to the project:
In collaboration with renowned liturgical Architect Jim O’Brien, our team dismantled, restored, designed, fabricated, and installed highly-detailed and historically-sensitive liturgical furnishings for Saint Paul of the Cross. This Passionist Monastery stands on a hilltop overlooking the Southside of Pittsburgh, PA, and is named for the founder of the Passionists, Saint Paul of the Cross. The cornerstone of this historic monastery was laid on August 7, 1853, and two years later, Father Gaudentius Rossi preached the first Passionist retreat in the New World. For this project, our team contributed liturgical artistry and expertise to restoring this historic church’s elaborate statuary and marble work. The new marble furnishings were designed by Architect Jim O’Brien who did a wonderful job with scale and styling. The classic Roman Corinthian style complements the original interior styling of the church, with new furnishings designed to look original to the church, which was not an easy task. The tabernacle surround wall [retable]... rises 28 feet tall, and is 2 feet deep, and over 11 feet wide. This creates a very tall, slender element, all clad in monumental stone... The work we performed on this unique tabernacle wall element also included its brass tabernacle box and extraordinary Corpus statue, a reproduction of a historic piece by the acclaimed 16th century Italian stone carver Pietro Tacca. In this extraordinary ecclesiastical sculpture, the arms are not dowelled. To sculpt a figure with outreached arms from one solid piece of Statuario Michelangelo speaks to the level of craftsmanship and coordination our Italian master stone carver brings to the work. To carve, ship, and install this fine art piece without any damage was a major accomplishment. The church’s new Altar of Sacrifice is richly detailed with miniature columns, capitals, Roman arches, mensa cornice dentils, and inlay of the Passionist priest emblem. The combination of Carrara C, Arabescato, and Rosso Francia marbles creates a wonderful assembly of subtle and bold colors with hand-carved detail. The Ambo shares the same level of detail and color as the altar of sacrifice, with the addition of a beautiful bible rest with a burgundy leather inlay. It took a great deal of coordination to inlay micro cables and create an Ambo which was ergonomically comfortable for the celebrant priests. We created new side shrines for the church’s St. Joseph and St. Mary figures, cleaning and relocating the statues to their new homes .. For a new center aisle decorative paving plan, we worked closely with the architect to help select a design and marble colors. This material compliments the new furnishings and the old Tennessee marble nave flooring from the 1850s.Here, then, are some further photographs showcasing some of these details that can be found within the newly renovated monastery church of St. Paul of the Cross.
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| The main altar |
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| The tabernacle and retablo |
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| The new ambo |
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| Shrine to the Virgin Mary |
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