St. Francis de Sales Church (Norton Shores, Michigan)

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Norton Shores, Michigan, USA. With a membership of about 1,300 households, it is the largest parish in the surrounding Muskegon area.[1] The parish's current building, noted for its hyperbolic paraboloid form and brutalist design, was designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer and his associate Herbert Beckhard in 1964.[2][3][4]

St. Francis de Sales Church
43.1998°N 86.2946°W / 43.1998; -86.2946
Location2929 McCracken St

Norton Shores,

Michigan
DenominationRoman Catholic
History
Founded1948
Architecture
Architect(s)Marcel Breuer
Years built1950, 1964-66

History

St. Francis de Sales parish was founded in 1948. The church originally met in Ruddiman Terrace, a WWII-era federally constructed building.[5][1] Two years later, the church moved to its first full building; the structure sat on McCracken Street, across the street from the current church.[6] The church's new building quickly proved inadequate for the parish's growing membership and by 1958 plans for another structure were underway.[3]

St. Francis de Sales commissioned modernist architect Marcel Breuer to design the structure in 1961; construction on the building began three years later in 1964. Given the structure's unconventional forms, contractors known for expertise in poured concrete were specifically selected for the project.[1][3]

The first Mass in the new church was celebrated in December 1966 following the completion of the structure.[3]

In 1989 the parish executed a round of renovations that included the addition of south and main entrances and construction of Shepherds Hall, a social center.[1]

In 2011, former Rev. Philip Salmonowicz began a plan to renovate and expand the building; work began in 2016 and ended in 2018. The $2.5 million project included a number of adjustments to the original structure, including a plan to renovate the church's main entrance for increased accessibility and visibility.[6]

  • Hyperbolic sidewalls
  • Rear
  • Cross on church facade

Works cited
  1. D, Michelle; erson (2015-11-17). "Architecturally striking Catholic church prepares for future with renovations". MLive.com. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  2. "Saint Francis de Sales Church". architectuul.com. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  3. "Saint Francis de Sales Church". www.michiganmodern.org. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  4. Howarth, Shirley Reiff (1979). "Marcel Breuer: On Religious Architecture". Art Journal. 38 (4): 257–260. doi:10.2307/776375. ISSN 0004-3249. JSTOR 776375.
  5. Chronicle, Dave LeMieux Muskegon (2015-09-21). "Looking back at Defense Housing Project in Muskegon that opened in 1941". MLive.com. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  6. "Concrete Catholic church completes years-long $2.5M upgrade". MLive.com. 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2019-02-09.


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