Blessed Sacrament - Steeple Replacement

Client: Blessed Sacrament Church

Location: Charleston, SC

2019 Carolopolis Award Winner

Hurricane Hugo toppled the original steeples of Blessed Sacrament Church in 1989, and the masonry towers stood empty for 30 years.  After receiving an anonymous gift from some of the founding church members, the steeples are now back in place.

The goal of the Church at the start of the new design process was to emulate the original steeples as closely as possible.  We started with photos of the church/steeples before Hugo took them down.  Further research turned up an “ancient” and incomplete set of working drawings, dated 1960, and even an original rendering by the deceased Canadian Architect.  We also found interesting photos and articles in the Diocese of Charleston archives from the original time of construction in the 1960’s, along with great post Hugo photos, showing the steeples laying across Savannah Highway.

 The new steeples have the same star shaped plan, and they are the same height as the original steeples, at 65 feet. The reconstruction of the steeples was made technically feasible, in meeting today’s wind resistance codes, by constructing them of a fiberglass shell over a structural steel frame.

 The old Construction Documents show smooth surfaced steeples that reflect the original Architect’s rendering, and do not show the vents (AKA nostrils), that were obvious elements going up the sides of the original steeples actually built. Our best guess is that these strange features were actually air vents, added during the construction period, to keep the light weight structures, made out of painted plywood and precariously attached, from blowing off. It didn’t work.

 We discussed making a series of fiberglass molds of these vents, decreased in size going up, and literally sticking them on the finished cast steeples.  The idea of “sticking” something on seemed to be a good rationale for not having them at all.  The church building committee, pastor, City DRB, and the Diocese Building Review Board all agreed.

 The other variance from the original design is the cross on top. The old drawings show a very elaborate “crown” (including jewels!), at the base of the cross.  As one can see from the pre-Hugo photos, however, this crown was not built.  There was some other detail used in its place, as can be seen in the photos, but it was impossible to identify.  The cross on the photos also did not appear to have the intricate detail shown on the drawings.

 As the Pastor of the church saw no liturgical significance to the crown, we decided that this not be re-created in any way.  In order to keep the cross construction in the realm of engineering feasibility they are constructed of 4”x4” anodized aluminum square tube, with a bright gold/bronze finish.  The cross is the same height and proportion as the original design, 7’-6”, but is simply placed on top of the tapering fiberglass steeples.