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Even St. Louisans who generally dislike modern architecture are apt to make an exception for the Priory Chapel, as the church of the St. Louis Abbey is still popularly known. From a distance, its tiers of parabolic arches seem to be lifting off from its green ridge, and from inside, the sense of soaring is even more pronounced. Three men share the major credit for this: Gyo Obata, the architect; Pier Luigi Nervi, his consultant; and the first prior, Father Columba Cary-Elwes, who insisted on a real church rather than a small chapel. Cary-Elwes was able to achieve this goal thanks to the generosity of an anonymous family of donors. Obata, the design partner in the internationally known firm of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) of St. Louis, probably had less to do with obtaining the commission for the chapel than his partners George Hellmuth and George Kassabaum, who were both active Catholics; Kassabaum sent four sons to the Priory School. Obata had come to St. Louis from California at the beginning of World War II to escape internment by attending Washington University. He played a major role in the design of Lambert Terminal, with its soaring cross vaults. The triangular arches in his initial design for this church were modified to parabolic form at the suggestion of the great Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, who had pioneered the thin-shell concrete construction used here. The window walls are formed of an insulated fiberglass polyester that limits the admission of light to an alabaster-like translucency. Even before its completion in 1962, the Priory Chapel brought HOK its first national acclaim.
Since 1966 the church has served a dual role as the parish church of St. Anselm. At its founding in 1955, the Priory of St. Mary and St. Louis was under the protection of its parent institution, Ampleforth Abbey, near York, England. It became independent in 1973 and was raised to the status of abbey in 1989. The English monks, who follow the ancient rule of St. Benedict, came to St. Louis at the request of a committee of interested parents to establish a school that would qualify boys for the best possible higher education, on the model of Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island (which coincidentally also has an outstanding modern church).
Althought somewhat remodeled, the interior of the abbey retains many original features. The twenty identical arches define settings for the altars needed by the monastic community. Each altar has a crucifix designed by a different artist. Stained-glass artist Emil Frei and sculptor William Schickel consulted on works of art, and Frei produced the screen of laminated glass that defines the monks' choir, where they spend part of each day. Schickel designed much of the liturgical furniture, including the processional cross, the lectern, and the font. The tabernacle for the blessed sacrament is the work of Hillis Arnold, a pupil of Carl Milles. The inspiration of Nervi's artistry is seen in the interior view into the lantern or bell tower, where the arch folds converge in a flowerlike pattern.
The Chamber Chorus performed "A Spanish Christmas" here on December 21, 1997, and has sung here several times since then.
| Notes by Esley Hamilton
and Philip Barnes Photo by Roger Hill |