CLIENT
St. Gertrude Parish - Krakow, MO
The Archdiocese of St. Louis
Dickinson Hussman Architects - St. Louis, MO
FACILITY
The St. Gertrude Parish was established in Krakow, Missouri near Washington in 1845 and a church was later constructed on State Highway YY near Highway A in 1870.
The church is built of solid unreinforced masonry with a timber roof over the nave and the bell tower. The tower originally had an "Onion Dome" which was covered by standard roofing material (see picture below). After years of weathering slowed only by patching, the tower roof had deteriorated to a point where water would pour in through the onion dome and over the interior timber framing and masonry walls.
To protect the masonry wall and give the church a new vibrant look, the parish decided to replace the onion dome with a new taller, steeple tower and matching finials at the outer spires. As part of the project, a new stair system for the bell tower was installed as well as tuckpointing of the interior and exterior of the masonry walls.
CHALLENGE
Due to its age, there were no structural drawings available for the church so every item had to be field measured and tested. Additionally, some of the items could not be measured until construction began as doing so would open church to the weather. To handle this, conservative assumptions based on experience were made in the design that were then verified during construction. CCS Group engineers had to work with the Rallo Construction Crews to keep the job on schedule while verifying the design would work.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
CCS Group worked with Dickinson Hussman Architects to provide design documents for the construction of the new main steeple and the side finial towers. The following tasks were completed as part of the project:
- A detailed field review was completed to determine the size of the walls and their structural capacity. .
- Preliminary design calculations were completed to determine the practicality of adding a taller tower to the existing facility.
- CCS Group worked with Dickinson Hussman Architects to identify a steeple manufacturer that could produce a finished product that would best represent the stature and heritage of the church.
- CCS Group provide the structural design for the new supports necessary to install the steeple and bell tower renovation in addition to the finials for the outer spires.
OUTCOMES
- The onion dome was replace with a taller, more prominent steeple.
- The finials at the outer spires were replaced to match the new steeple.
- A set of stairs was installed to provide safe access to the bell tower.
- The exterior and interior of the bell tower was tuckpointed to preserve it from the elements.
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