Loading AI tools
Church in Norton Shores, Michigan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Norton Shores, Michigan, USA. With a membership of about 1,300 households, it is the largest parish in the surrounding Muskegon area.[1] The parish's current building, noted for its hyperbolic paraboloid form and brutalist design, was designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer and his associate Herbert Beckhard in 1964.[2][3][4]
St. Francis de Sales Church | |
---|---|
![]() | |
![]() | |
43.1998°N 86.2946°W | |
Location | 2929 McCracken St Michigan |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
History | |
Founded | 1948 |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | Marcel Breuer |
Years built | 1950, 1964-66 |
St. Francis de Sales parish was founded in 1948. The church originally met in Ruddiman Terrace, a WWII-era federally constructed building.[5][1] Two years later, the church moved to its first full building; the structure sat on McCracken Street, across the street from the current church.[6] The church's new building quickly proved inadequate for the parish's growing membership and by 1958 plans for another structure were underway.[3]
St. Francis de Sales commissioned modernist architect Marcel Breuer to design the structure in 1961; construction on the building began three years later in 1964. Given the structure's unconventional forms, contractors known for expertise in poured concrete were specifically selected for the project.[1][3]
The first Mass in the new church was celebrated in December 1966 following the completion of the structure.[3]
In 1989 the parish executed a round of renovations that included the addition of south and main entrances and construction of Shepherds Hall, a social center.[1]
In 2011, former Rev. Philip Salmonowicz began a plan to renovate and expand the building; work began in 2016 and ended in 2018. The $2.5 million project included a number of adjustments to the original structure, including a plan to renovate the church's main entrance for increased accessibility and visibility.[6]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.