2010 EVENTS
Modernist Sacred Spaces of the Twin Cities
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The newly established Minnesota chapter of DOCOMOMO US is sponsoring a self-guided tour of seven Modernist churches in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The tour features structures by Ralph Rapson, Barry Byrne, Thorshov & Cerny and Hills, and Gilbertson, among others. Docents and representatives from each church will be on hand to interpret the architecture.
Minneapolis Vicinity
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard, Hills, Gilbertson & Hayes; 1950.
4801 France Ave, Minneapolis
Vic Gilbertson was involved in the execution of the Eliel Saarinen designed Christ Church Lutheran, a Modernist landmark of 1949 in South Minneapolis, and was clearly greatly influenced by that experience in his design for the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard. It too consists of a simple rectilinear nave and tower as the dominating elements. The materials of brick and Kasota stone are crisply handled. The curved, sculptural pieces flanking the entries are particularly noteworthy.
Like several churches on the tour, Good Shepard also contains a school and is a rather large scaled enterprise. The original architecture of the church is almost entirely intact.
Gilbertson’s firm designed a considerable number of churches throughout the area.
Edina Community Lutheran Church (St. Peter’s), Ralph Rapson & Associates; 1959.
4113 W 54th St, Edina, MN
Rapson’s first foray into sacred architecture. He was asked to design a new church for the expanding St Peter’s congregation by Pastor Harold Schweigert. The goal was to design a church expressive of the congregation’s philosophy of “the family of man gathered around the Lord’s table”. After several explorations of roofing options Rapson settled on the centralized star shape of eight gables above with the altar at the center, below. Seating is 360 degrees around. The result is dramatic inside and out, giving the church instant recognition on its prominent site and a sun-drenched space (jokes were made about the congregation wearing sun glasses). Initially, the church was more transparent from the street and entry facades; an addition has changed that.
As a local architectural legend, Ralph Rapson should need little introduction. Having trained at Cranbrook under Eliel Saarinen, with colleagues, like the Knolls, Charles Eames and Eero Sarinen, Rapson taught at Armour Institute (later IIT) in Chicago with Moholy Nagy, then at MIT with Alvar Aalto, before moving to the Twin Cities to lead the U of MN Architecture School. In little more than a decade, he had transformed the school to the first rank of architecture programs in the nation. His practice
included a great many private residences, churches, campus buildings, high rise housing and the now demolished Guthrie Theatre.
St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, Thorshov & Cerny; 1957.
3450 Irving Ave S, Minneapolis
St. Mary’s sits on a commanding, historic site overlooking Lake Harriett, such that the setting sun glistens off the gilded dome. The church is a modern essay in traditional Orthodox motifs. Thus the Greek Cross (equal short arms) and domed crossing are present here, though in a Modern idiom. Predominant materials are a lightish brick, and ample use of glass. The “clean” detailing is unmistakably of the 1950s.
Thorshov & Cerny was a force to be recconned with during the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Robert Cerny taught at the U of MN School of Architecture; the firm served as an incubator of an incredible number of leading practitioners of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
As hinted at above, the site was home to several generations of early buildings (settler’s cabin, resort hotel, mansion) prior to the building of the church shortly after WWII. The large facility has been added to (circa 2000) and is scrupulously maintained.
Hope Lutheran Church, Ralph Rapson & Associates; 1971.
5728 Cedar Ave, Minneapolis
On a challenging site near the Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, Ralph Raspon was asked to design a new church. The first design studies were quite animated compositions: one of a series of components arranged like a fortified village and the other a collection of shed roofs demonstrating a play of solid and void elements. The executed design is calmer with more direct massing and fewer flourishes. Deflecting intense flight path noise was always a primary design concern and influenced the built form.
Budget considerations influenced the executed building, which is composed of simple stuccoed exterior surfaces, exposed aggregate floors and simple interior finishes. The calm interior space is powerful in its simplicity and clarity. Some alterations have occurred in the narthex and entry.
Rapson, the dean of local architects for nearly 50 years, put Minnesota Modernism on the map nationally and even internationally, through the contacts he made as head of the architecture school at the U of MN (a position he held for 30+ years). With a prodigious and inveterate sketching ability, he designed furniture as well as buildings. He won a Dwell magazine furniture design competition at age 92, just prior to his death.
St Paul Vicinity
Church of St Columba, Barry Byrne; 1951.
1327 Lafond Ave, St Paul, MN
This church is a hidden gem of the Twin Cities. It is tucked away in a residential neighborhood, and situated mid-block amidst other Catholic Church buildings. The church represents the successful collaboration between Byre and Father Michael Casey, who commissioned the larger church building to house his growing congregation after WWII. Casey influenced the distinctive round tower at the entry. It is modeled on the round towers that punctuate his native Irish landscape.
St Columba ‘s plan mimics the ecumenical fish shape of early Christianity.The exterior is a superbly detailed Indiana limestone composition with glass block and stainless steel detailing at fascias and entry doors. Inside the nave forms one great Modern space, with Kasota stone accents. The confessionals are particularly noteworthy. The chapel is also noteworthy, but is off limits to our tour. Today, the congregation is predominantly Vietnamese-American.
Byrne was a draftsman in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio in the 1900’s. Eventually, he took over Walter Burley Griffin’s practice after Griffin left for Australia after winning the competition to design the new capital city of Canberra. After the Prairie School waned Byrne did a series of Catholic Churches throughout the Midwest (Racine, WI; Tulsa, OK; Pierre, SD; Kansas City, MO and St. Paul. All are distinctive, some expressionistic, some a blend of Modern and Moderne. Kansas City and St Paul are quite similar.
Jehovah Lutheran Church, Harold Spitznagel Associates; 1963.
1566 Thomas Ave, St Paul
This noteworthy design sits proudly on Snelling Avenue and evokes two major trends of the time: geometric clarity and boldly expressed concrete. It demonstrates a clear, rectilinear expression of its program with a dramatic recessed glass entry, animated by a monumentally scaled cross. The solid/void interplay and transparency/solid dualities are similarly, hallmarks of the time. The exterior is covered entirely of precast concrete panels, animated with the Greek symbol for Christ. Inside, the simple space is
animated by knit brickwork and support structure divorced from the exterior wall.
The narthex and sanctuary are just the beginning of an extensive complex that includes a serene courtyard, a chapel, a entire school wing totaling some 50,000square feet. Spitznagle, from Sioux Falls, SD, was an architect of considerable prominence during this time.
Grace Lutheran Church, Gauger & Associates; 1962.
1730 Old Hudson Rd, St. Paul
Grace Lutheran is a rather idiosyncratic tour de force visible from I-94 on the city’s east side. The beautifully-crafted raw, folded concrete of the nave is the major architectural expression, with strips of colored glass animating and punctuating these space-defining elements. Also impressive is the tower with its equally unusual plan shape and rakish top. It is as though the architects were inspired by Le Corbusier and others in composing the nave and by Wright with the tower. The other material choice, a textured brick, seems less successful. The main entry sequence, from the lower parking lot to the south, has been remodeled with a 1990ish addition. Inside, the stairs to the choir loft are particularly elegant and demonstrate Modernist detailing at its finest. The nave is a most pleasant, light-filled space with a decidedly spiritual quality.
Gauger Associates, which designed a number of area churches, was a second generation St Paul architectural firm led by Raymond Gauger, son of Augustus.
