Last evening at a block club meeting in Ohio City, I was made aware of a great potential loss to Cleveland's built environment and history. I was invited to view a presentation to the block club group concerning two churches in that near westside neighborhood. I asked the researcher to share some of his voluminous research and documentation with readers of realneo. The following is respectfully submitted on behalf of Tim Barrett.

The art and architecture of two of Cleveland ’s finest Roman Catholic Churches are endangered as one of the two churches faces the threat of being closed, and worse – being demolished.  This weekend, the City’s Bishop, Richard G. Lennon, will announce his decision as to the approximately 50 diocesan Roman Catholic Churches to be “suppressed” or closed. 

Unfortunately, the architecturally distinctive churches of St. Stephen and St. Colman are threatened since they are only about 3 city blocks apart.  In addition after a 2 year parish review process, a number of parish representatives were clustered together and charged to recommend the closing of a specified number of churches within their own group. 

St. Stephen 1910-30 West 54th Street

One of the results submitted to the Bishop last November from the “cluster” group of 5 parishes that included both of the above noted churches was the recommended closing of the Gothic Revival Church of St. Stephen (built 1873).  

Due to this public recommendation, the effort to bring public awareness of what will be lost if St. Stephen’s closes has been well documented by the local media and is certainly a worthy and justifiable cause.

However, what is being overlooked in this is the equally outstanding art and architecture of the solidly built Church of St. Colman.

St. Colman Church is an outstanding example of the early 20th century Academic Eclectic fashion – nicely expressed in the words of one of its 3 designers, Cleveland architect, J. Ellsworth Potter, “Architecturally, St. Colman’s Church is a free adaptation of the spirit of forms of the Italian Renaissance to the needs and requirements of a modern congregation….a modern American descendant of ancient and honorable ancestors.”

From the very beginning of its design process, its pastor, the Rev. James O’Leary, set out to build a monument – a status symbol proclaiming that the Irish could build as sophisticated an edifice as any currently being built in the city or the nation for that matter.  In the early 20th century, the Irish, although mostly still working class - especially on the near west side of Cleveland, were now being replaced as the lowest rung of the social class ladder by new, mostly foreign speaking immigrants.  The Irish were well on their way to making themselves a part of the mainstream of society. 

Initially O’Leary asked Akron architect William Ginther, who had recently completed the School of St. Colman in 1905, to come up with a conceptual design for his new permanent church.  In 1907 Ginther submitted a twin towered Gothic Revival edifice (see Illustration).  I believe O’Leary rejected this out of hand because by the early 20th century the Victorian Gothic Revival of the late 19th century was quickly becoming passé (as distinguished from the more academically astute 20th century Neo-Gothic of architects like Ralph Adams Cram  often favored by American Protestant denominations of that period). 

At any rate, apparently O’Leary did not want a symbol of the past, but one that represented the progressive vision of its day.  The construction of Cleveland ’s City Beautiful Group Plan was well on its way and the New York architect, George B. Post’s design for the Cleveland Trust Bank on East 9th & Euclid was under construction, to mention just a few local examples.  It was clear that classical form as expressed in these Beaux Arts buildings was the new dominating fashion for buildings of scale. 

No doubt Cleveland ’s new Bishop, John Patrick Farrelly (1909–1921) of Irish roots who spent 11 years in Rome where he was trained and consecrated bishop, encouraged O’Leary to pursue the classically inspired Renaissance form.  O’Leary initially worked with a Count Lenore of Rome who set the scale and fashion of St. Colman Church on the Italian Renaissance style.  Frustrated by the Count’s reluctance or inability to prepare working drawings with proper measurements and detailed specifications so that the project could be bid-out, O’Leary hired 2 local architects, E. Schneider & E. J. Potter to complete the working documents. At the same time, O’Leary had been reinvesting funds from the Sunday collections in such a skillful manner that he was able to contract much of the interior material in Italy and have it shipped to Dublin. He traveled to Dublin to oversee the sculpting of the altars, pulpit, communion rail etc.  Despite delays due to WWI, the church officially opened in 1918 and was totally debt-free (see illustrations).

Primarily due to cost considerations, many decorative appointments in 19th and early 20th century churches were commonly executed with faux finishes (painted finishes or composite materials made to look like fine marble or wood).  This is not the case at St. Colman - all interior furnishings and finishes are real.  In addition, not only were the style and monumental scale of the church meant to be a symbol of status, but the choice of craftsman to do the work was also significant.  Irish craftsman, both in Ireland and a number brought from Ireland to Cleveland, were contracted to do the sculpting.  The local newspapers document O’Leary’s reason for this as well as his own contributions to the project:   

• Cleveland Press 6/3/1918: O’Leary: “…the purpose in patronizing the Irish craftsmen, … was to show what fine quality work in this line can be obtained in Ireland ”
• Catholic Universe 1918 notes that the altars, communion rail, pulpit, and Stations of the Cross were made in Dublin under O’Leary’s personal direction.
• Quoting O’Leary from the same source:”…it afforded him much pleasure to have the practically finished building reflect so well what he had in mind.”
• The baptismal font is signed, “Edmund Sharp Dublin, Ireland”.
• It has recently been discovered that a William Doyle & William Margetson were brought here from Ireland.  Notes from immigration documents at Ellis Island list these two Irish craftsmen’s destination as the Church of St. Colman, Cleveland, Ohio.  Records at the church verify that they worked there under the stewardship of Edmund Sharp.

All of this illustrates the great amount of effort, expense and personal sacrifice that was exerted in order to build a house of worship that would be the pride of not only the Irish, but of the region.  Considering its fine material and the fact that it is presently in great condition (extensive renovation of the building has undertaken over the last decade), it would be nothing less than decadence to destroy such a landmark. - Tim Barrett

I would like to add that what is presented here is the tip of the iceberg as to why it is important to save both these churches intact as great examples of Cleveland's rich cultural and religious heritage. How one might come to a judgement on this matter is beyond me - both churches are alive, intact and are living legacies of the immigrant communities that built the city we inhabit today. To destroy either of them would be a sacrilege - even to one who is not a Roman Catholic. These are not churches to be recreated as galleries or condominiums, they should be maintained intact as they are, protected and respected for the stories they tell. If nothing else, they should become parts of the collection of the Cleveland Musem of Art. How many indulgences would the destruction of one of these churches buy? How much sin could be washed away if any or would the diocese commit Cleveland to eternal purgatory for such a sacrifice?