"As in every Hungarian village of the “Old Country” it is the church and its tower that captures the sight of the visitor first. The architectural style of the churches often signs which religion its community identifies with.
In the BEN, the shape and the decoration of the churches not only clarify the certain religious dominion they were (and still are) used by, but they also express the ethnic belonging of the users.
The St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church, established in 1898, has been holding its services in the basilica-like massive brick structure, completed in 1914, that is located at the corner of Genesee and Consaul streets.
Here, the material needs to be emphasized. Throughout America, the common building material at that time was timber that was cheap and widely available, while in Hungary, brick or adobe brick was the common building material instead of wood that was rare and expensive (except in Transylvania) at the end of the 19th century.
The Basilica was built by Joseph C. Huber, a native Toledoan.
The church has many cultural references to Hungarian religious life. As Ted Ligibel points out, there is a series of six murals on the walls of the two side isles and a seventh one is situated behind the main altar.
These murals and the stained–glass windows depict the lives of such Hungarian saints as St. Stephen, St, Emery, St. Ladislaus, St. Elizabeth and St. Margaret. These saints were commonly depicted in Hungarian churches as well.
At the bottom of each stained-glass window the old coat-of-arms of Hungary as well as the American coat-of-arms can be found. Stained-glass windows depicting the above mentioned saints are quite common in Hungary, especially in those places which have some connection with the life of these saints.
As Ligibel asserts, “The symbols are important cultural components as well, in that they express the often dual nature of immigrant loyalties in pre-war America, serving as constant reminders of the past and present” (in Ahern, 2002, p.154). In this case, it is interesting to see, how the strong cultural heritage of the first generation Hungarian immigrants start to mix with the new cultural context, which not only affects their everyday life, but their ways of thinking and feelings as well.
Another reminder of Hungarian religious background is the Calvin United Church, previously named as Magyar Reformed Church. The church building was designed by Toledo architect T. W. Matz and was completed in 1901. It is located at the corner of Bogar and Bakewell Streets. It wears the typical features of Hungarian village churches; it is built of brick in Neobaroque style.
Similar reformed churches can be found in Kazincbarcika or Padány. The tower has the usual shape of Hungarian Neobaroque church-towers; it has four round arced windows and round-shaped clocks pointing to each cardinal direction. The stained-glass windows also suggest Hungarian ethnic presence, as Ted Ligibel reports; the Hungarian coat-of-arms can be found on the bottom of each, furthermore on the interior wall surfaces, painted atop the pilasters, just below the ceiling.
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