St. Andrews Catholic Church - Old Pasadena Historic District - Pasadena, California
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 34° 09.032 W 118° 08.930
11S E 394092 N 3779443
Historic Roman Catholic Church in the Old Pasadena Historic District.
Waymark Code: WM73DG
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 08/26/2009
Views: 5
"St. Andrew's Catholic Church is a Catholic church in Pasadena, California. Founded in the 1880s, it is the oldest Catholic parish in Pasadena and one of the oldest in Los Angeles County. Its Romanesque campanile bell tower is visible for miles and is one of the landmarks of Pasadena. The current church, built in 1927, was modeled after the Basilica of St. Sabina in Rome
The current home of St. Andrew's Church, built in 1927 at an estimated cost of $1,000,000, is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and important churches in Southern California. The style of architecture, without and within, is that of early Christian churches of the Byzantine era. The architect, Robert Montgomery, and the church's pastor, Msgr. McCarthy, both traveled to Italy studying early Byzantine architecture to find inspiration for the new church in Pasadena.[1] The Los Angeles Times later commented on the contributions of Montgomery and McCarthy: "The collaboration of the architect and the priest has produced an edifice that will remain a monument to the memory of both." Montgomery and McCarthy found their principal inspiration at St. Sabina's, a basilica in Rome built in 432 A.D., on which they modeled St. Andrew's
At a dedication Mass in May 1928, hundreds of children participated in a religious procession at 6 a.m. when the Blessed Sacrament, covered by a canopy, was moved from the old church on Fair Oaks to the new church.[2] Bishop John Cantwell declared the new church "the pride of the diocese and a worthy replica of the ancient church on the banks of the Tiber
n 1930, the Los Angeles Times wrote of the church: "Pasadena, world-renowned for its semitropic loveliness, has received a new distinction that, a century hence, may be regarded as greater than all that has gone before. For in the heart of Pasadena, at Raymond avenue and Chestnut street, like a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen, rises beautiful St. Andrew's Catholic Church. 'Beautiful St. Andrew's!' That appellation will remain long after the last after the last of the present generation has passed. The building and decorations mark a new epoch in religious architecture on the Pacific Coast.
The Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles says of St. Andrew's: "Early Christian fabric with Romanesque campanile right out of old Ravenna. The rich interior is marvelous, as is the contribution of the church outlines to the cityscape. Best seen from the Foothill Freeway going east at sunset. . . ." - Wikipedia