15 Plaza Square
St. Louis, Missouri 63103
www.stjohnapostleandevangelist.org

When St. John's was founded in 1847, it was the farthest from the river of the city's eight parishes. The present building was erected in 1860 in the "Lombard Romanesque" style (which scholars now sometimes term the "Proto-Romanesque"), round-arched brick construction with relatively simple detailing. The style was once the most popular in the city for churches, but only a few survive. Several architects have been credited with this design, but most likely is Patrick Walsh.

The Corinthian half-columns along the walls are said to have been installed by architect John Mitchell to remedy bulging caused by Walsh's massive barrel vault. The dramatic mural in the apse is a large-scale reproduction by Russian artist Adolphus J. Oloff of Raphael's Transfiguration of 1517, now in the Vatican. The windows are inset with biblical scenes: on the right, the miracles of Jesus; on the left, the Passion. Octagonal portraits on the vault include, along with the Evangelists, the Irish saints Brigid and Patrick.

The church served as pro-cathedral for Archbishops Kendrick and Kain, but then suffered a long decline until the Plaza Square urban renewal project was begun. In 1960, the church was renovated by architects Joseph Murphy and Eugene Mackey, Jr., who altered the façade to conform to their ideas of what the "Lombard Romanesque" style should have been. The Chamber Chorus performed a joint concert with the chamber choir of Washington University at St. John's on February 27, 1994, and excerpts of this concert may be heard on the Chorus's first compact disc, Choral Masterpieces.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes