St. Paul Catholic Church | CONSTRUCTION THREAD

[hub-city]

St. Paul Catholic church has officially begun the fundrasing for their new building on Main street. they own the lot across from Band of America and besides First Baptist parking lot. While not on the tax rolls, this will add more density to Main street and should be a great addition to downtown.

Check the ARTICLE

[krazeeboi]

I just read the article; good stuff. The article also said that St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church has plans for a new church on the corner of Alabama and East Main streets.

[Spartan]

Yeah they've been sitting on that tract of land for a long time. I hope they build something that is very attractive, and perhaps something more cathedral-like.

Here's the article from the HJ

[krazeeboi]

I think Catholic churches are more likely to build something more elaborate and memorable, although I can't say that I've been pleased with all of the newer Catholic churches I've seen. I can think of two in Charlotte that are rather forgettable, although they aren't downtown.

[crescentmoon]

I think Catholic churches are more likely to build something more elaborate and memorable, although I can't say that I've been pleased with all of the newer Catholic churches I've seen. I can think of two in Charlotte that are rather forgettable, although they aren't downtown.

Prince of Peace in Taylors/Greenville is a pretty impressive building. "Craig Gaulden Davis delivered a design that is both traditional and contemporary - one that evokes the majesty of ancient cathedrals even as it speaks to current and future generations." This firm does some good stuff. Check it out:

http://www.cgdarch.com/project_gallery.php?project=250

[krazeeboi]

^Can't really get a good feel for the exterior from the pictures in the gallery, but the inside looks nice.

[crescentmoon]

^Can't really get a good feel for the exterior from the pictures in the gallery, but the inside looks nice.

Did you click on the gallery pictures? If you do, you get a larger version.

[krazeeboi]

Yeah, but the ones I saw looked like they were from the backside.

[Spartan]

The inside looks nice, but I'm not that impressed with the exterior. I'd like to see something more elaborate. The current catholic church on Dean St would be a good model.

[goodbye]

St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Greenville has plans to build a massive new sanctuary as well. I believe all of this is a sign showing how many new people are moving into the Upstate.

[hub-city]

I found the link for the architect for the new sanctuary. You should be able to see several renderings.

CLICK

[Spartan]

Thats not bad looking. I'll do some screen captures later and post a few images here. It ties in with the old builing nicely. My only problem is that their parking lot, tied in with 1st Baptist, will create a huge sea of parking there, which really can't be addressed.

It will be a good replacemenet for that freaking vacant lot... you can also see how the nw Johnson Building will line up in one of their site plans (#5)

Thanks for that find hub-cuty!

[krazeeboi]

I found the link for the architect for the new sanctuary. You should be able to see several renderings.

CLICK

Not bad, although I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the plaza/front porch feature. I think I'd rather see it built right up to the street. At any rate, the architecture is classic, which is definitely a good thing. These are the two best renderings:

[Spartan]

I've been thinking abot this more, and I think that the design is very nice, and this will create a larger presence on Main Street than that vacant lot. It could perhaps be abit closer to Alabama St.

[westsider28]

There's an article in today's paper about St. Paul's Catholic Church in downtown about to break ground on their new church building facing East Main.

Herald-Journal article

Not that I have anything against churches, but I was hoping this would fall through (they've had a sign up for years). This is going to give us a huge "church block" that will make it difficult to connect the CBD with the eastern portion of Main Street (Venus Pie, Mellow Mushroom, etc).

[westsider28]

I may have overreacted a bit on this news. I found some images of the site plan for the church, and it actually looks pretty nice and doesn't take up too much room. I also like that the site plan shows East Main with angled parking. If the church can spur the road diet for East Main, then that would be great! I've always thought that angled street parking would help with church parking on Sundays until more commercial development comes to the area to utilize the parking on weekdays.

Edit: Whoa, didn't realize that would become a slideshow, but okay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82426616@N00/sets/72157622849185997/with/4173817479/

[roads-scholar]

I may have overreacted a bit on this news. I found some images of the site plan for the church, and it actually looks pretty nice and doesn't take up too much room. I also like that the site plan shows East Main with angled parking. If the church can spur the road diet for East Main, then that would be great! I've always thought that angled street parking would help with church parking on Sundays until more commercial development comes to the area to utilize the parking on weekdays.

Edit: Whoa, didn't realize that would become a slideshow, but okay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82426616@N00/sets/72157622849185997/with/4173817479/

A few years ago the city was all set to go with the East Main road diet but SCDOT nixed the plan. The idea seemed to be a no brainer to me. Anyhow, who knows where it stands now.

While I would prefer this property be developed commercially, St. Paul's is building a beautiful church that is certainly preferable to a vacant lot.

[hub-city]

St. Paul held their official groundbreaking ceremony yesterday. We should see some dirt moving fairly soon.

[westsider28]

Just a few facts from an H-J article today. The new $9 million St. Paul church will be 18,000 sq ft (4x the size of the current church), be brick with limestone accents (Lombard Romanesque architectural style), seat 849 people, and be 78 feet tall. The project manager, a parishioner, was involved in building the Chapman Cultural Center and The George. He said the brick used for the church will be similar to that used for The George. The design of the church allows for future expansion.

Notably, the church was the first building project to be reviewed under the Urban Code.

[Spartan]

Cool. So did they move the building footprint closer to the street? It seemed a little far off the road to me based on the renderings.

[krazeeboi]

I'll have to revise my comment from five years ago about the plaza feature. I think it's definitely useful as a gathering area, which people tend to do at church, particularly after services.

[westsider28]

Dirt is starting to move in earnest on this project. They had some heavy equipment out there digging today.

[westsider28]

Work is progressing on the foundation of the new church now. Here are a few photos. You can sort of see the building footprint.

[westsider28]

The walls are rising on the new church building.

According to this article, the church is supposed to be completed in October. It'll be amazing if they can get it done that quickly.

[Spartan]

Nice, thanks for the pics!