AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

I posted on the now deceased St. Joseph's Chapel in Superior, WI few times in the past.

http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2010/07/chapel-at-st-joseph-orphan-home.html
http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-on-st-josephs-orphanage-in.html

And now we discover color photos.  This church was demolished some years ago....

Source

From Lamentations

Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath.  Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

More on St Joseph's Orphanage in Superior

Thanks to a site called Perfect Duluth Day for linking to my post on St. Joseph's Orphan Home Chapel formerly in Superior, WI.

An interesting comment I found.

That was amazing. Too bad it was taken apart. As kids playing on what was then undeveloped land around the children’s home, we’d stumble on the marble cast-offs from the sculpters.

I hope that the artwork wasn't reduced to being buried, but it looks like it may have just been a former grotto that had been left to the dogs.

I have a few postcards of St. Joe’s in the X-Comm archives. You must have been playing in the overgrown grotto.

Here's the photo:

The other photo at the top is from one of the salvage companies.  An interesting note is that the pews were purposefully made small for children.  In one generation we build whole churches and grottos for children, the next we abort them and prevent them from coming into the world. 

Health Warning: Several other bloggers on the Perfect Duluth Day are promoting homosexual lifestyles.

Chapel at the St. Joseph Orphan Home, Superior, WI

Thanks to commenter Steve for posting this.

Since I was at the Wisconsin History.org site I remembered some postcards that show the interior of the Chapel at the St. Joseph Orphan Home in Superior.
These will BLOW YOUR MIND when you see what people once built in a small chapel in an orphanage.
They might also bring tears to the eyes when you see what Catholics used to design for their churches and how far away from that ideal we have fallen.

Check out the pictures below.  Let's find out what happened to this priceless heirloom of the Badger Catholics. 


From Architectural Antiques LLC

Architectural Antiques conducted this salvage of the Chapel of the Angels which was hidden on the top floor of St Joseph’s Children’s Home in Superior, Wisconsin

Quick Facts from one of our favorite Salvages to date.

Designed by Cleveland architect, Emile M. Ulrich, the orphanage was completed in 1917. The chapel, a gift from the Bishop of the Diocese of Superior, was not completed until 1919.

The children's home operated until 1963 when foster home programs eliminated the need for such a facility.

After that, it was used for other social programs (refugees, day care and handicapped center) up until 1984.

Changing needs and the inability to find new uses for a building are the first steps toward its demise.

St. Joseph's stood empty for over a decade when a decision was made to gut the building for remodeling.

While the rest of the building was not as significant and had been substantially changed over the years, the complete destruction of the virtually unchanged, two-story chapel would have been a great loss.

While the orphanage itself was Neoclassical in style, the exception was this chapel, truly this was a chapel of and for the Angels.

Baroque-rococo design & Style.

Artisans from Italy and Czechoslovakia crafted many of the stained glass windows. Italian marble, ornate plaster work, gilding, carved oak pews (undersized for children), and statuary made up much of the chapel's interior.

Salvage efforts by Architectural Antiques successfully removed a majority of all items that could be reused.

The firm attempted as complete a salvage as possible, spending numerous man-hours on scaffolding painstakingly removing the ornamental plaster work, much of it covered in gold leaf, from the walls and ceiling.

Much of the plaster work, light fixtures, paintings & bishop chairs featured cherubs & angels, a consistent theme throughout the chapel.

Those pieces as well as marble alters, stained glass and the oak pews were all saved and have been integrated into other homes or offices.

Unfortunately Architectural Antiques LLC did not take more pictures.  There are only a few and none of the chapel in total.

A church in Spokane, Washington states it has obtained many of the furnishings.  I'm glad they found a good home.

Many of the present furnishings were obtained from St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Superior, Wisconsin.

The Sisters of St. Joseph ran the orphanage until its closure.

Photos courtesy of WisconsinHistory.org

Why can't we build churches like this any more (and why are we gutting the ones we have)?