Our Lady of Good Voyage | Seaport Sq Parcel H | 55 - 57 Seaport Blvd | Seaport

I wonder if it was more a question of cost or code?
 
statler said:
I wonder if it was more a question of cost or code?
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Or both....timber ceiling....fire hazard. And the cost...Just the ridge vent I had to put on our church roof in 2001 cost $22K.
 
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What's up with all these conversations about wood frames and fires? (See other thread.)
 
Thanks BLine.

Has it been pointed out that at the sidewalk level on the Sprt Blvd side there is a continuous bench along the entire base of this thing? Nice touch,.
 
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Lovely project.

(in general)

I could nit-pick but you have to give this one an "A". It might be a A- or an A+ but it sits in the "A" range.

cca
 
The big round window is stained glass now, too. Beautifully done - the whole place.

The only thing that annoys me is the "sticky" #51 address number. All of that beautiful work and they got sticky numbers from home depot to denote the address?!
 
Are the banners on the side predicting an Easter 2017 dedication? That was the original the target opening date (now 12 days away)
 
Per the @SBS_Seaport twitter account, it's opening 4/16 for 7:00pm service.
 
This looks so good that I am even considering going to church again.
 
I now recall why they'd use fairly conventional building materials (galvanized studs and drywall) on the interior:
to afford the flexibility of using furnishings from other (closed) churches, like the stained glass here (from the Pilot article):

Photo Credit: Pilot Photo / Mark Labbe

During an afternoon Mass on April 22 the cardinal will consecrate the altar and dedicate the new shrine, which will be the first Catholic church to be built within the city of Boston in more than 50 years. Because of the limited capacity of the shrine -- about 250 -- the Mass of dedication and consecration will be a ticketed event.
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Pretty good, considering there'd be institutional memory but no personal experience in building a church in an urban setting.
 
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The Globe has an article today too.

Boston Globe said:
Designing the shrine took three years of meetings with city planners, church officials, and architects, Hynes said. The goal was to wind up with a building that looked and felt like a Catholic church, but that also fit in with the neighborhood.

“The city wanted to see something slick and hip,” Hynes said. “The city was pushing for a museum-quality innovative design. . . . But the church was uncomfortable with that. They were more comfortable with something more traditional.”

The result is a little of both. The brick exterior refers to the Seaport of yesteryear but looks modern. The archdiocese wanted a steeple, Hynes said, but the city feared it would dominate the skyline. For now, there is a bell tower strong enough to support a steeple in the future.
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The article says they've already booked 27 weddings. I can see this being a really popular (and lucrative for the Archdiocese) wedding venue.

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Not lucrative. Typical cost of a church wedding is fairly minimal charge for the building, small stipend to the priest, and artists fees to organist/vocalist. So probably priced (suggested donation) to be breakeven.

Picture, at capacity, a Friday PM, Sat AM, Sat Noon, & 1 other per week. $500each? (for the building) $2k a week? $100k a year?
 
That article had this nugget, too:

The result is a little of both. The brick exterior refers to the Seaport of yesteryear but looks modern. The archdiocese wanted a steeple, Hynes said, but the city feared it would dominate the skyline. For now, there is a bell tower strong enough to support a steeple in the future.
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Umm... what? How tall would the steeple have to be to "dominate" a "skyline", even from across Fort Point Channel? The buildings across the street are about 150' taller than the bell tower. A steeple would also look much nicer than the strangely-proportioned cross that's up there.
 
According to a Globe commenter (yeah, "never read the comments", I know...) the Archdiocese hasn't opened a new "church" in the city in more than 60 years in the sense of a new Parish / community. But it has built new church buildings in that time. The commenter cites St Williams in Dorchester, where a new church building was built in 1983 to replace one that burned down in 1980.

Arlington said:
Not lucrative. Typical cost of a church wedding is fairly minimal charge for the building, small stipend to the priest, and artists fees to organist/vocalist. So probably priced (suggested donation) to be breakeven.

Picture, at capacity, a Friday PM, Sat AM, Sat Noon, & 1 other per week. $500each? (for the building) $2k a week? $100k a year?
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Yeah, the Archdiocese isn't going to be raking in millions, but every little bit helps in their current situation. An extra $100k a year covers the annual salary of a couple priests. And I suspect that the "suggested donation" for weddings here will be on the higher end for a Catholic church, considering this church's location and the fact that it will likely host the weddings of many non-parishoners, who are expected to donate more.

Interesting that the old building was considered a "chapel" while the new building is a "shrine", where all the sacraments can take place. I'm sure that this decision was made, at least in part, with weddings in mind.
 
Ok, so from a "we build good new urban-setting churches" standpoint, there's also St Raphael's West Medford from 1993.
 
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