Cathedral of St. Mary’s of the Assumption (San Francisco)

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I could see folds in the marble roof and thin panels of stained glass stretching from the bottom to the top of the seventeen story structure even while standing four blocks away.  Unfortunately, I could also see the near vertical street that lay between me and St. Mary’s of the Assumption in San Francisco.  After fighting the hill with each step and flipping back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should abandon my climb, I eventually conquered the small mountain and ended up standing beneath the first of many sculptures that I would see during my visit.  Looming over the front entrance of the cathedral was a bronze depiction of Jesus floating between two angels and guiding several other figures toward salvation.  The unusual shape of the roof and the elaborate design of the sculpture piqued my curiosity, and I entered the church excited to see what else St. Mary’s had to offer.

After passing beneath the sculpture, I was greeted by a woman standing next to a marble baptismal fountain.  Though I had not arranged for a tour before I arrived, she was very excited to tell me all about the church and offered to take me around.  As we looked at the bronze sculptures on the walls, she began to describe the history of the building, informing me that the church we were in was actually the third St. Mary’s of the Assumption to be built in San Francisco.  The first had been abandoned when the surrounding neighborhood became a hotbed of prostitution known as the “Barbary Coast” and the second church, which was used until the 1960s, mysteriously burned down.  In the late 1965, however, design of the new St. Mary’s began, and after a construction ended in 1972, a stunning example of modern church architecture was unveiled.

The architect, Pietro Belluschi designed St. Mary’s with the ambitious aim of combining traditional styles, modern architectural technology, and the Second Vatican Council’s new goals for worship into the design.  Not only did Belluschi’s design for the church link together the Gothic cross pattern and the square base of a Byzantine church, but instead of constructing the building through traditional means, Belluschi built a wooden mold and filled it with poured concrete to create an external skeleton that was eventually covered in marble.  The resulting structure has no pillars and rests on four gigantic pylons that support between nine and ten million pounds of weight each.  In addition to being impressive for their sheer size, through the pylon-based support system, Belluschi was also able to accomplish the Second Vatican Council’s goal of having congregants feel as though they are a part of one undivided sanctuary.

The open space and high ceilings of Belluschi’s design also allow for incredible adornments within the church itself.  The 4,842 pipe church organ, designed by Fratelli Ruffatti, rests on a concrete pedestal that rises above the seating in the church, and, because there are no pillars, it remains visible to congregants no matter where they sit.  In addition, the church features a humongous altar located at the center of the church.  The nine ton altar is so large; in fact, that the section of flooring it rests on had to be reinforced just to support its weight.  Perhaps most impressive of all, however, is the incredible aluminum sculpture hovering over the altar.  Comprised of four thousand aluminum rods, the sculpted baldanchin glitters in the air and creates the illusion that sunlight is constantly beaming down into the church.

Though I could have spent hours walking around St. Mary’s, I was on my first trip to San Francisco and I had many other sites to visit, like Stanford’s Memorial Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  However, if you are interested in learning more about religious architecture in California, or if you know of other sacred sites in California that you think might merit looking into, please leave a comment below.  Sacred Space International is currently in the process of preparing for a tour of west-coast sacred architecture, and it would be great to hear from you.