St. Thomas the Apostle - Chicago, IL
Posted by: adgorn
N 41° 47.754 W 087° 35.700
16T E 450566 N 4627286
St. Thomas the Apostle guards the ornate entryway to the church bearing his name.
Waymark Code: WM99Q1
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 07/19/2010
Views: 2
More about St. Thomas from wikipedia:
"Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus (meaning "Twin") was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in John 20:28. He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. He is also believed to have crossed the largest area, which includes the Persian Empire and India."
From Bach & Gray "Chicago's Public Sculpture":
"In the design and decoration of the church, the first Catholic Church to be built in the US in the modern style, architect Barry Byrne and artist Alfonso Iannelli collaborated in a way that Byrne described as a dance in which the lead passed back and forth between them. Much of the exterior shows Iannelli's share, especially the molded organic forms of the terra-cotta roofline, which are highly regarded as an effective meeting of building and sky.
The entrance follows Iannelli's model, but it is more elaborate than he intended. A disagreement developed between Iannelli and the pastor of the church, and an unknown artist completed this feature."
Iannelli, a collaborator with Frank Lloyd Wright, and Byrne, a noted church architect, have numerous credits in the Chicago area, including these waymarks: (
visit link)
(
visit link)
Learn more about the church from their website: (
visit link)
"St. Thomas the Apostle parish has been Hyde Park's Roman Catholic
community since 1869."
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.