There is a section of the book St. Louis: Historic Churches & Synagogues that describes the interior of the building in 1995:
“The interior of the Memorial church of God in Christ features a simple wood-paneled ceiling with pointed-arched ribs marking bay divisions. Vertical sliding glass doors (a partial Akron plan) partition the auditorium from auxiliary rooms in the balcony. Façade windows in the church display a Decorated English Gothic tracery pattern in the form of a circle inset with a six-pointed star.”
Though it is a terrible shame this interior was destroyed by fire, it seems from reading this description that trying to reproduce the interior would be a pointless action. In an email to me, Michael Allen of the website www.eco-absence.org and of the blog www.ecoabsence.blogspot.com (both wonderful resources for those interested in abandoned buildings and the discussion of the issues surrounding “the built environment” of St. Louis) wrote, “A skilled reconstruction could bring back the church’s character, but the original interior is gone forever and imitation would be obvious no matter how attractive.” He then added, “Retaining the walls and using the interior for what essentially will be a sanctuary is a fitting reuse.” And he’s right. What once was a place for people to gather as members of the same faith is now serving a similar function. The title of the first work to be installed at this site will be “Chorus,” a fitting name for the new roof of a church.
Something I’ve noticed as I read the resources given to me is how the church congregation changed as Grand Center changed. Most cities in America have gone through the same type of changes that St. Louis has over its history. The city was the center of life and culture. Now, cities are places a majority of Americans go visit or travel to from the suburbs for entertainment. That is unless you live in places that survived urban sprawl like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The reasons for this are numerous, but I won’t rehash them in this post. What I’m interested in is the church shuffling congregations as the neighborhood changed. First, the Baptists had too many churches in one area, so they moved. Then, as more white Americans moved to the suburbs across the country, cities became increasingly African-American in population. The Church of the Open Word had its congregation commuting from the suburbs to attend services. So, obviously, they decided it would be better to have services closer to their members’ homes and moved out to Creve Coeur, MO. The National Memorial Church of God in Christ was not able to rebuild their church after the electrical fire and the building was sold to Grand Center. Now, since the Arts have moved into Grand Center, the church walls will be a place for sculpture to reside and people to visit with the intention of viewing art works. Somehow, despite presently having no religious affiliation, the purpose of this church has not changed as it will be a contributing member of the community in Grand Center.
The theme of recycling really jumps out when I take a look at this project. A leftover, damaged church needs a new roof and a purpose. Two artists from Germany come to St. Louis and are going to make a “roof” out of old, rejected, twice used lamps from the community. Watching something like this unfold puts some of my negativity aside when it comes to urban redevelopment. I watch buildings be destroyed because it’s easier to knock them over and start from scratch than repair the years of misuse and neglect. With the current trend toward green energy and recycling, I see this project as a positive endorsement of these new ideas. I’m not entirely sure that was the motivation behind this project from the beginning, but it sure does stand out as a major part from my viewpoint.
