The firm of William Heyer Architect is located in Columbus, Ohio and in 2025 they were involved in a beautification project at the (already quite beautiful) Mother of Mercy Chapel located at the St. Charles Preparatory School in Columbus, Ohio. The chapel was already built around the substantial architectural bones of a Romanesque style architecture, with stone walls, columns with decorative capitals, an open-trussed timber ceiling, and an impressive apse featuring and image of Christ the King enthroned.
Let's jump right into things with the 'before.'
BEFORE
Many of our 'before and afters' feature a parish that had either been stripped of its liturgical appointments and ornaments at some point, or some which never had them in the first place. In this instance, while we can certainly see some evidence of the later twentieth century modifications, the chapel remained both beautiful and impressive -- but for those who are curious, here is what the chapel looked like in 1948 (and you will note that the "Jesus Christ, King of the Universe" apsidal mural, painted by the German artist Rudolph Scheffler in the 1950's, was not yet present).
So then, why continue to invest in the beautification of a chapel that is already quite beautiful some might ask? Well for one, we can never have enough beauty, but another simple answer is that this is our tradition. Catholic tradition and generations of Catholics, believing in the importance of the spiritual mission of the Church and beauty's role in affecting that, have always sought to leave their own contributions toward the patrimony of their local churches in particular.
In that vein, various additions were made to the chapel. For one, the forward altar was replaced with a new, more substantial freestanding altar as well as some other additions. However the real primary thrust of this project is found in the addition of new saints and symbols to Scheffler's already impressive aspidal mural, and in addition to this, located down along the side of the nave we now find beautiful roundels of various saints.
The end result is that an already impressive piece of ecclesiastical architecture has been made all the more impressive, with a new generation of Catholics picking up on the tradition of adding to their church's spiritual and liturgical patrimony.
AFTER
If you'd like more information, we'd invite you to visit the website of William Heyer Architect.
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