Cram and Ferguson Architects are, of course, a storied architectural firm with deep roots in ecclesiastical architecture. While the firm is most often associated with gothic revivalist approaches, you can also find them approaching other styles and such is the case of St. John's Catholic Church located in Stillwater, Oklahoma at Oklahoma State University.
Speaking of the chapel, Cram and Ferguson comment that "its façade is inspired by the ancient basilica of San Ambrogio in Milan. This church was selected as a model not only for its beauty and antiquity—it is one of the oldest extant Christian churches—but also for its brick construction, unusual for most ancient churches but common in the architecture of the northern Italian region of Lombardy."
Turning toward the interior, Cram and Ferguson continue:
Three Italian churches inspired the chapel: the exterior was derived from San Ambrogio in Milan, the basilica-style interior from Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, and the murals over the sanctuary from San Clemente in Rome, specifically its famous Vine and Branches fresco. Rich Italian book-matched marble line the nave and sanctuary floors. The stone altar, tabernacle shrine, and the apse’s decorative painting cycle were also designed by Cram and Ferguson. Over the sanctuary arch are a depiction of twenty-four saints inspired by the twenty-four elders of the Book of Revelation. Other symbolism and inscriptions are drawn from the writing of the Apostle John.
Indeed, one of the most compelling things about this church is that its interior reminds you of many of the venerable basilicas of Christian antiquity; a style characterized by order, symmetry and overall majesty; by spaces that emphasize both their length -- as one looks down a long, columned-lined naves, much like one might look down a long, tree-lined road -- as well as its height, topped as they are by majestic coffered or open-trussed ceilings.
As one enters this particular neo-Romanesque church, one is greeted by the font, reminding us of our entry into the Church through the Sacrament of Baptism.
But of course, what one's eye is especially drawn to here is the splendid apse and triumphal arch, with its glorious echoes of Rome and San Clemente in particular.
The altar is also beautifully executed, executed in beautiful stone replete with stone carvings, gilt lettering and a beautiful medallion of the Lamb of God.
Behind the altar (in the place that, traditionally in Roman basilicas, one would find the sedilia or cathedra) we find the tabernacle, set onto a smaller, altar like structure that includes a beautiful reredos type structure that not only serves as a covering over the tabernacle, but also serves to accentuate and draw attention to the altar itself when looking toward the sanctuary from the nave. (Something that, in this instance, taller altar candlesticks on the altar proper could also help to accentuate.)
The ambo of the church is also quite nicely done, being substantial and echoing the architectural language of the altar and sanctuary generally.
The chapel truly is quite impressive and sits as a little piece of Rome and Italy more generally within the heart of the American midwest.
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