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Cathedral of Most Blessed Sacrament

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1913–1915, 1930 interior, Henry A. Walsh; late 1950s renovation and towers, George Diehl of Diehl and Diehl; 2003 interior rehabilitation, Gunnar Birkerts. 9844 Woodward Ave.
  • (Photograph by Balthazar Korab)

During a population boom, this Indiana limestone and Ohio sandstone Late Gothic Revival house of worship was built in one of Detroit's most elite and fashionable neighborhoods. In 1937 Detroit was elevated to an archdiocese, with Edward Francis Mooney its archbishop. Having petitioned the Vatican for approval, Mooney designated Blessed Sacrament, a parish church for northern Detroit established by the authority of Bishop John Folley in 1905 and partially constructed in 1913–1915, as the cathedral of the archdiocese. After World War II, paired pinnacled towers were built on the west facade flanking the rose window and rising to approach the height of the copper fleche at the crossing, and the interior was renovated to suit the purposes of the church's higher function. William Willet of Willet Stained Glass Studio created twenty-two stained glass windows. In 2003, Birkerts refashioned the interior worship space and surroundings as a place of light.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert
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Data

What's Nearby

Boston-Edison Neighborhood
Citadel of Faith Covenant Church (Temple Beth El)
New Center Commons
New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church (Beth David Synagogue)
New Center One Building

Citation

Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Cathedral of Most Blessed Sacrament", [Detroit, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-WN87.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Michigan

Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 97-99.

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