St. Paul Catholic Church Entry Addition
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
The challenge for this project was to design a new entry addition that would complement the original church built in the late 1800s. Choosing materials used on the existing building, the architects blended the use of brick, red sandstone, limestone, and fieldstone to create a new entrance and, a newly expanded portico, and 2000 sq ft of gathering and meeting space. Contemporary, yet classic, the new entry looks like it was always there. Every detail of the historic building was replicated in this addition. Historic stained glass window detailing has contemporary styling as it reappears in the glass curtain wall. Buttresses with sandstone caps carry the traditional gothic appointments of the addition. Eight-inch splitface red sandstone belts the entire girth of the church and continues into the interior of the addition. The new entrance is created by a series of corner loadbearing masonry piers. Separated by glass, each pier frames a vista to the octagonal sanctuary. The same masonry materials are integrated on the inside to minimize maintenance and create a seamless flow from the outside into the inside lobby. St. Paul Catholic Church can now serve its parish for another 100 years.