In another instalment of our 'Before and After' series, today we look at a project undertaken by Studio io at St. Edward's Catholic Church in Athens, Texas. The church building in question was originally a protestant church, though one can be forgiven for not realizing this as its original architecture and aesthetic is common to many Catholic churches as well from this particular period. However, in our 'before' one will see that it had, by this point, been converted into a Catholic church with its altar, tabernacle and crucifix.
BEFORE
Without any intent to polemicize, this particular space as it stood was effectively little more than a hall -- a preaching hall perhaps, but a hall nonetheless. In that regard, there was little to work with in this project, though that may have also provided advantageous in the sense that it was a blank slate. Studio io describes their approach to the project:
This full interior renovation / beautification of a 1972 Assembly of God church purchased to provide a larger home for a growing parish with limited capacity in the downtown church. The project is themed for patron king St. Edward, with English gothic touches added to the familiar A-frame interior. An entirely rebuilt sanctuary platform with reredos and side shrines provides an element to house the crucifix and tabernacle that helps to more impressively scale the room and supplement the altar as focal point. New interior gothic pendant lights and pews were added to complement the interior appointments, and a custom mosaic adorns the center of the cross aisle.
Let's then take a look at the fruit of their labours. Suffice it to say, while the architectural bones remain the same, the difference, both liturgically and artistically is noteworthy. A 'counter-reformation' in its own right.
AFTER
What is especially impressive and impactful are the stencilled blue and gold elements built into the reredos for the "altar of reservation" as well for the panels found behind the shrines to Our Lady and St. Joseph. (For those not familiar, blue and gold were the colours used for the heraldic arms of St. Edward the Confessor, the parish's patron saint).
The stencilled designs include the IHS Christogram symbol as well as a Latin cross surmounted by a crown, again coming with reference to St. Edward. One can also see how the rereods includes a canopy that continues this theme of blue and gold.
References to St. Edward the Confessor have even been included in the church's 'pavement' where the full fledged arms of St. Edward are found, just before the sanctuary.
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Not to be forgotten in the project is the installation of an altar rail, separating the nave from the sanctuary as well as the installation of a new stone sanctuary floor and predella for the altar, thereby separating the altar in turn from the rest of the sanctuary.
In short, with these few notable but tasteful and impactful additions, the church has shifted, quite effectively, from an evangelical protestant preaching hall to a Catholic liturgical space.
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