514 East Argonne Drive (at Woodlawn)
Kirkwood, Missouri 63122
gracekirkwood.org

Greek myth includes three graces, but the St. Louis area has at least sixteen religious organizations with "Grace" in their names. Grace Episcopal Church is the second of them to host the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus this season. The church was organized in Henry Bodley's living room in 1854, just a year after Kirkwood was laid out. The original stone building was erected in 1860 at the southeast corner of Taylor and Argonne, designed in a simple but charming Gothic Revival style by Robert S. Mitchell. A century later that building had become too small, and it was sold to the newly organized Eliot Chapel (Unitarian Universalist). It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Frederick Dunn, the architect of the present building, was a native of Montana who had come to St. Louis in 1936 to start an architectural practice with his Yale classmate Charles Nagel. Their St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Clifton Avenue was considered the first "modern" church in St. Louis when it opened in 1939. Dunn resumed his practice after World War II in collaboration with Nolan Stinson, and their churches included Second Baptist at Clayton and McKnight (where the Chamber Chorus sang in 1996 and recorded A Spanish Christmas). Dunn redesigned the Bofinger Chapel at Christ Church Cathedral as a columbarium, and both he and Nagel lie there.

Dunn's new Grace Episcopal follows a fashion that arose about 1950 for churches with steeply pitched roofs, called A-frame or tent form churches. The first example in this area, Harris Armstrong's Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Florissant (now demolished), was published in the same 1954 issue of Architectural Forum as Eero Saarinen's similar design for Concordia College Chapel in Fort Wayne. Saarinen felt compelled to assure the profession that he could use a pitched roof "without letting go of or violating the principles of modern architecture." Others here agreed, as can be seen at Christ the King in Black Jack (1960, Walter Manske), Kirkwood United Methodist (1964, Schmidt, Perlsee & Black), and St. Mark's United Methodist in Florissant (1964, R.L. Fisher).

The new Grace was dedicated on October 15, 1961. A large residence already on the site continued in use as a parish house until 1964. By then Dunn had moved to New York, so designs for the east wing were provided by Winkler, Thompson and Lloyd of Clayton.

The massive roof gives the church has a commanding presence from the street, although the 100-foot spire is somewhat hidden by the trees. The roof covering is not copper or slate but Ludowici Celadon ceramic tile. The soaring lines inside (rising 52 feet) and shadowy light are reminiscent of Gothic cathedrals. Natural light is limited to the end walls and the dormer windows. The wall above the entrance incorporates four windows from the old church, including the triple Tiffany window given in 1928.

The walnut altar and hanging cross were created by Elizabeth Phelan, while the large copper reredos is by Hillis Arnold, a student of Carl Milles. The glazed ceramic stations of the cross were given recently. The Chamber Chorus performs here in 2005 for the first time.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes