Holy City to gain new steeple
St. John the Baptist plan breezes past BAR
By Robert Behre
St. John the Baptist plan breezes past BAR
It seems that downtown Charleston's skyline soon will get its most welcome new addition in more than a century: a brand new church steeple.
In Charlestonians' hearts, if not necessarily always in their eyes, their historic city's skyline remains dominated by steeples, despite a handful of high rises, container cranes and, most recently, a new bridge.
So it's no wonder why plans to add a steeple to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist breezed through the Board of Architectural Review so easily last week.
Architect Glenn Keyes actually was anticipating at least some nay-saying, if only because the Broad Street church has existed for a century in its current form.
The cathedral was begun in 1890, and it finally was consecrated in 1907. Patrick Keely, a prolific architect for the Catholic church, designed it to resemble the 1851 Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. Finbar, which burned in 1861 and whose ruins finally collapsed in the 1886 earthquake.
Glenn Keyes Architects
This rendering shows how the Cathedral of St. John at 122 Broad St. will appear with a new steeple, which will increase its height from 86 feet to 167 feet.
Preservationists have some intellectual ammo to oppose a steeple.
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation, standards that the city is considering adopting, say that "new additions, exterior alterations or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old."
Keyes' steeple essentially doubles the cathedral's height, which more than qualifies for altering its "spatial relationships." Also, its design won't be differentiated from the old church. On the contrary, most every detail will replicate something found elsewhere in and on the existing building.
The same standards also say that "a false sense of history will not be created by adding conjectural features," and this new steeple will be a bit conjectural.
Keely's original design anticipated a steeple being built one day, but his plans for it were never found, if they ever existed at all.
Keyes had to come up with the design from scratch, and that turned out to be a blessing, in a way.
The greatest design challenge wasn't battling nay-sayers who cited federal preservation standards. Instead, it was figuring out how a major new steeple could be built in a sympathetic way while meeting modern codes regarding hurricane-force winds.
Keyes' plan includes a large, open, arched section topped with a hollow 40-foot spire that will be built by cladding copper over a steel frame. The lattice-like spire will be a new look for Charleston, but it has historical precedent in European cities.
Had a steeple design by Keely been found, "chances are good it would not have been buildable," Keyes says.
The Post and Courier
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist without a steeple.
While construction could begin in the middle of next year, the price tag for the project isn't known yet. It's more than safe to say the church will gladly accept donations.
In fact, the new steeple isn't the high-cost item in the upcoming work. About three-fourths of the cost will be associated with expert stone masons who will repair, retool or replace a few thousand separate pieces of brownstone.
The BAR also agreed to let them replace some projecting pieces of brownstone with similar-looking cast stone, a decision that emphasizes safety and longevity over historical integrity. Brownstone crumbles too easily.
While the stone repairs may be the substance of the cathedral's upcoming construction work, the steeple seems certain to be the talk of the town.
Jay Keenan with the church notes that people have written checks to build the steeple long before there was any credible plan to do so. "People have been interested in completing that steeple for many years — at least 50," he says.
So the BAR will not stand in the way, and not just because it's the mayor's church. "I think this is absolutely magnificent," architect and BAR member Chris Schmitt says. "This building is going to be better than ever because of this."
Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or at rbehre@post andcourier.com.
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Comments
Reader (anonymous) says...
The handful of highrises also includes Floyd Manor, the Sgt. Jasper, the newly completed MUSC building, another five or six hospital buildings, the People's Trust Building, the Francis Marion Hotel, the Rivers Federal Building, and a few others.
December 17, 2007 at 8:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
icbmman (anonymous) says...
Those buildings are indeed Charleston "highrises", but they don't really qualify as a highrise. They're more like mid-rises. A true highrise needs to be 20 or more stories.
I'm all for preserving the skyline south of Calhoun Street. However, taller buildings should be built north of it, particularly around the Lockwood Drive/medical complex area.
December 17, 2007 at 9:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KidYendor (anonymous) says...
Charleston needs to relax height restrictions and let more and more highrises be built to bring us into a modern era with room for corporations, banking conglomerates, technology etc. Charleston's highrise buildings should not be limited to ugly hospitals, parking garages, and hotels.
December 17, 2007 at 1:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Adding a steeple to the historic church is fine, especially since one was always intended (and the church has always looked bottom heavy without one), but I disagree with the need to relax the height limit in general. The church steeple is a perfect example of how the City's height restrictions can already be waived on a case by case basis. Besides, I don't think that it is the lack of floorspace that prevents corporate offices and high tech firms from locating in Charleston.
December 17, 2007 at 5:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
icbmman (anonymous) says...
Reader, I beg to differ. The stringent height regulations and the insane control that the BAR and preservationists have over the city deters many corporations from even attempting to locate downtown. That is why many are building in the north area, Daniel Island, and Mt. Pleasant. While the height variance is understandable and completely necessary for the truly historic areas of downtown, it is not necessary for the entire peninsula. I completely agree with you KidYendor.
December 17, 2007 at 5:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MooMoo (anonymous) says...
The LAST thing we need are any more businesses downtown. It is overcrowded now!
December 17, 2007 at 7:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KidYendor (anonymous) says...
Thank you icbmman. It could help eliminate some urban sprawl by allowing leniency in going highrise. It could help preserve some downtown greenspace too. Some of these corporations like the image highrises provide that three story 19th century buildings can't. Case by case height restriction waiving invites corruption.
December 17, 2007 at 9:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Can anyone name one corporation which has opted not to locate in downtown Charleston because of a lack of a big enough building?
December 17, 2007 at 10:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
saltwater (anonymous) says...
Paris has what has what is effectively a 7 story height limit and it has no real problem with accommodating international banking and business headquarters. It's not height limits but limits on the quality of life that repel businesses away that this city should be attracting. Tourism is not what a serious economy should be based on. It's the high quality of life and attractiveness of the location that are far more important in determining where large businesses locate their corporate offices (and higher salaried jobs that go with it). Charleston will remain an expensive backwater until we change how we see ourselves and do something about the sorry state of the city's infrastructure. Height limitations are only a small part of the issue and it's really not the road block that the other issues are.
Good observation by the writer about the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. Charleston should not be following these but we should be writing our own based on what has worked best here. This is an example of where Charleston should be leading but is content with playing second fiddle to amateurs.
As for the new steeple...it's about time. Some local kids once presented Monsignor. Sterker with a mockup made out of cardboard boxes. There was always a hope. Too bad they didn't look to the churches model which is the red stone cathedral in Strasbourg, France, for the example. The proposed steeple is too short and looks like one of those fiberglass examples that rural churches buy from catalogues. The copper clad tower is a good idea (and conforms with the German gothic that was the building's model)but the base of the proposed steeple looks too much like that odd bell tower at the College of Charleston built recently...it's too much like what you would expect to see on a New England village church. As I said before, we are setting our standards too low...and so is this steeple which needs to be about 30-40 feet higher. But I'll say the intensions are at least well meaning.
December 18, 2007 at 12:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
abc123 (anonymous) says...
i think high-rise apartment/condos north of calhoun would be nice to keep the cost per sq ft down, so normal people could actually afford to live downtown
December 18, 2007 at 8:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
icbmman (anonymous) says...
KidYendor, again, all good points.
Reader, naturally there aren't official records of companies, but talk to most business executives and they'll tell you that the cost of doing business needs to be less than how much money is being made. Simple economics. The cost of creating a business downtown is currently too expensive and too time consuming.
abc, my sentiments exactly. You want to make downtown living more affordable for middle class workers? You've got to build up. That's what every other city has been able to figure out.
December 19, 2007 at 9:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
onedeep (anonymous) says...
The reason more high profile business do not locate themselves downtown is because our mass transit system sucks. That is the sole reason why downtown Charleston - and the general metro area - will always be considered "backwater."
December 22, 2007 at 6:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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