Posted on 09/04/2007 7:35:21 AM PDT by NYer
More than 1,000 sheets of glass will cloak the Douglas fir skeleton,
makes sense to me
Disgusting. Really putrid and awful design.
Compare this to the basilica that was just restored in Baltimore (I know, restoration different from new construction, but still):
LOL
As for the sniffs and snorts of disapproval from the iconoclasts, they remind me of the day I visited Mother Angelica's temple. As I went in a group peeked in and then left clucking their disapproval of the rich decoration. I went in and counted the diamonds on the monstrance. LOL
You know, it looks like the compound from the movie, “Logan’s Run.
(The terribly version from the 70’s or 80’s.)
When I first saw them, all I could think was that when they close those parishes (ok, ok, I'm from Boston!), they should get a good price for the churches, since the condo conversions won't be as expensive as with a "real" church. This cathedral obviously doesn't have that advantage. On the other hand, earthquake damage should be a cinch to assess!
Hopefully this will serve to discourage parishoners and priests alike from throwing stones :D
This works out to a cost of $360 per Catholic in the Oakland diocese.
You'd think Oakland would have learned a lesson from the LA Archdiocese (which is shelling out something like three times that amount to pay off the abuse settlement), and held onto the money "for a rainy day".
I don’t particularly like what they’re building, but the price tag to build a cathedral seems quite reasonable.
The restoration in Baltimore that you point out cost about $32 million. That’s just a restoration, and the Baltimore basilica is perhaps half or less the size of what’s being built in Oakland.
sitetest
OK, this new cathedral beats The Taj Mahoney.
Even if it looks like an exercise in catching-up with some Protestant
edifice in Garden Grove, CA that is seen every Sunday on TV.
I simply pray that it won’t become the favorite target-practice
range for all the disaffected youth (gang members) of Oakland.
You can say that again.
You can say that again.
For me it’s not even about price. Here in the Northeast, many of the nicest churches were built from the pennies of immigrants. So whatever Oakland or Baltimore wants to spend, God bless ‘em.
It’s more the brute ugliness of the thing that bugs me. That thing at $12.98 would have been a waste of money IMHO. :)
Granted, I have never studied architecture. But I am continually amazed at how out of touch some architects are with reality. I grew up my entire life hearing about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Western PA...about how seamlessly it integrated into the environment. I went to see it and...wha????...it stuck out like a sore thumb. All chunky and blocky and painted this strangely Mediterranean color that didn’t fit the Allegheny region one darn bit. This when we got old farmhouses in PA that look like they grew right out of the soil, they are so natural.
And it’s the same with these churches all these modernist guys go ga-ga over nowadays. I hear them wax eloquent about the space, the light, yadda yadda, and I just don’t see nothin’ but ugly.
This smacks of idolatry to me.
Grotesque! I recall a few years back, there was great flurry of activity among those bishops in anticipation of the USCCB issuing a new document “Domus Dei” which would restrict many of these contemporary designs. Mahony and the other ‘visionaries’ scurried to get their plans in place before passage of that document. Guess Oakland fell into that group as well.
From the photos on-line, it’s tough for me to tell precisely how much I might like or dislike the new cathedral in Oakland. I’m not necessarily averse to architectural styles that aren’t more traditional.
I noted the issue of costs, as some folks seem concerned about all the money spent. In that you cited the beautiful restoration of the basilica in Baltimore, I thought I’d note that it, too, was pretty darned expensive - and just for a restoration!
I’ve only seen pictures, but I think that Fallingwater is a pleasant enough structure. I’ve visited a Wright house that’s located currently in northern Virginia. It’s sorta nice. Doesn’t really make me do handstands or anything. Hate to have to live in it. But wouldn’t mind visiting friends living in it.
sitetest
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