Jackson, Missouri: why a parish is building a new Gothic Revival church

Some buildings perform their function flawlessly. And for that very reason they stop no one.

The present church of the Immaculate Conception parish in Jackson, Missouri, was built in the 1960s. The architects at Mythodium put it without diplomacy: it lacks architectural grandeur and seems ordinary beside the importance of the Mass celebrated in it. A new church is now being built there, Gothic Revival, to their design.

The design includes a Gothic altar of reservation for the Blessed Sacrament, with a reredos, and a separate altar table, both behind an altar rail; a blue ceiling with stencilled decoration; stained-glass windows in the Victorian Gothic style; a central bell tower with a spire; and a portico framed in Gothic forms.

Two motives show in the architects’ description. The first is obvious: the congregation has grown, and the church must hold it. The second is heard less often, and it is stated directly: the old church lacks grandeur.

The sixties believed sincerely in function. Function, it turns out, remembers less than stone does.

The axis, the vertical and the depth of the sanctuary are set at the drawing stage. Decoration cannot add them afterwards, however much of it is added.