ICONIC CHURCH
St. Patrick Catholic Church, which features the statue of its namesake at right, is a marvel of mid-century modern design.
When parishioners sit in the sanctuary at St. Patrick Catholic Church, they often say they feel surrounded by angels. The church members speak literally and figuratively. In the early 1960s, St. Patrick’s parishioners worked to cast molds for 50 monolithic concrete angels that now enclose the church’s courtyard.
The angelic environment, plus several midcentury modern design elements, stand in stark contrast to the steeples and other features of traditional Catholic churches built at that time.
“It gives the impression that you are surrounded by a heavenly host of angels,” said the Rev. Stephen Bird, president of Oklahoma Alliance for Liturgy and the Arts.
The alliance is hosting a free tour of the award-winning building, 2121 N Portland, on Sunday for individuals interested in the unique aspects of this architectural gem.
Bird said the Oklahoma Alliance for Liturgy and the Arts featured a tour of downtown churches several years ago and, before that, a tour of northwest Oklahoma City churches.
St. Patrick Catholic Church, with its striking design elements, was a house of worship worthy of exploration on its own, he said.
“This is a great example of liturgical art. The whole building is art,” Bird said.
‘Cutting-edge’ design
The priest said the house of worship became a familiar part of his life when he served as pastor there for several years.
He said he was always fascinated by the church’s history, particularly that it was built by the parishioners. According to church history, the parishioners wanted a new building for their growing parish and sought a contemporary design, Bird said.
The building was designed by Robert Lawton Jones of the Tulsa firm Murray Jones Murray Inc.
Ann Allen is a church parishioner and parish assistant who frequently gives tours of the church. She said the design was considered “cutting-edge” and “forward-thinking” for its time.
Indeed, over the years, the house of worship has been featured in many magazines, including Liturgical Arts magazine and Oklahoma Today, as well as several newspapers, including The Oklahoman.
The church’s design elements also have won numerous awards since it was built between 1960 and 1962, Bird said. It was recognized and honored at the Church Architecture Exhibit in Maynooth, Ireland, in 1963 and received the Oklahoma City Arts Council’s Design Excellence Award in 1970, plus the Oklahoma Council of Architects’ 25-Year Award for Excellence in 1991.
The church also was listed among the “Top Five Favorite Sites for Oklahoma City Architecture at its Finest,” featured in Oklahoma Today in 2000; and was featured in The Oklahoman as one of the “Ten Architecturally Significant Religious Buildings in Oklahoma City” by Oklahoma City metro architects in 2002.
In the Oklahoma Today article, architect Rand Elliott deemed the church a “truly spiritual place. The interior is a marvelous surprise with its lighted edges.”
In the same article, another architect, James Loftis, said, “The play of light on the cast-in-place concrete angels allows a timeless religious experience.”
‘Church that the people built’
Bird said parishioners made the pews that seat 500 in the glassenclosed sanctuary. They met in the evenings to cast molds for the monolithic angels. Allen said the parish has a picture of some of the female parishioners casting the molds while wearing dresses and scarves. She said the church members also installed the stone tile themselves.
Bird said St. Patrick “is the church that the people built.”
He said there are practical elements of the building’s design. For instance, on feast days and times when large crowds are expected, some segments of the sanctuary’s glass walls may be opened so that people sitting in the courtyard area may feel included in the Mass and activities in the sanctuary.
Bird and Allen said some design elements were added after the building was constructed, but always in keeping with the original design. One such design aspect is the gold-colored canopy and crucifix that hangs over the altar area. Another design element added later is the gold-leaf screen wall behind the altar, which Bird said he considers a piece of art.
Bird said Sunday’s tour will give the public an opportunity to get an up-close look at the awardwinning building.
“It is something we thought would be an architectural treasure, a worship space here in Oklahoma, that people would be interested in,” he said.
The priest said the tour will not only focus on the building’s architectural elements but also the way those aspects of the structure are rooted in the liturgical tradition, as a 1963 article in Progressive Architecture stated.