Dedication

J. Valleriano Anthony

Description

An illustrated compendium of a prolific designer of Ohio churches Akron-based architect William P. Ginther (1858-1933) designed sexty-hree Roman Catholic churches, primarily in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Dedication is the first book to document his architectural designs. By combining historical images with twenty-first-century photographs, author Anthony J. Valleriano presents the most comprehensive overview or Ginther's architectural career available today. the son of German immigrants, Ginther demonstrated considerable drawing skills at an early age. In grade schoo, he was known for illustrating picutres of the school building and grounds. As his skills advanced, Ginther was encouraged to study architecture as a profession at Buchtel College (now the University of Akron). Frank Wheary, a leading Akron architect of the time, spotted Ginter's drawing talents and promptly put him to work. Under Wheary's guidance, Ginter learned the craft of architectural drafting and engineering and helped design and supervise the construction of his first building, McKinley Churhc, in Canton, Ohio. Ginther became one of the most influential ecclesiastical architects in Ohio during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The designer of churches in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Erie and many other communiteies, he defined the sense of sacred space for countless worshipers and enriched the aesthetic and religious lives of the region's residents. Those interested in religious architecture or in Ohio historical architecture will find Dedication a valuable addition to their libraries.

Sujets

• Catholicisme
• History of architecture

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 20 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631010743
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

DEDICATION
THE SACRED LANDMARKS SERIES
Laura Wertheimer, Editor
Michael J. Tevesz, Founding Editor
Revelations: Photographs of Cleveland’s African American Churches
MICHAEL STEPHEN LEVY
Resplendent Faith: Liturgical Treasuries of the Middle Ages
STEPHEN N. FLIEGEL
Seeking the Sacred in Contemporary Religious Architecture
DOUGLAS R. HOFFMAN
Eric Mendelsohn’s Park Synagogue: Architecture and Community
WALTER C. LEEDY JR.
EDITED BY SARA JANE PEARMAN
A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the
Christian Art of the Middle Ages
STEPHEN N. FLIEGEL
Dedication: The Work of William P. Ginther, Ecclesiastical Architect
ANTHONY J. VALLERIANO
The Sacred Landmarks series includes both works of scholarship and general-interest titles that preserve the history and increase understanding of religious sites, structures, and organizations in northeast Ohio, the United States, and around the world .
DEDICATION
THE WORK OF
WILLIAM P. GINTHER
ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECT

ANTHONY J. VALLERIANO
The Kent State University Press KENT, OHIO
Published in cooperation with Cleveland State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
© 2012 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-60635-103-1
Manufactured in China
All photos are from the author’s collection unless otherwise noted.

Published in cooperation with Cleveland State University’s
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Cataloging information for this title is available at the
Library of Congress.
16  15  14  13  12          5  4  3  2  1
No praise of the architect of St. Columba’s, Mr. W.P. Ginther of Akron, could express half so much as does the building itself.
It is a monument to a rare artistic skill and will carry his name and fame to future generations.
He has achieved a reputation as a builder of churches which embody all that is best in ecclesiastical architecture.

Catholic Universe Bulletin On the dedication of the new St. Columba’s Catholic Church in Youngstown, Ohio Catholic Diocese of Cleveland July 3, 1903
LAYING OF THE CORNERSTONE
St. Paul’s Catholic Church, North Canton, Ohio
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHURCHES
SKETCHES
PASTORAL RESIDENCES
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
ACADEMIES AND CONVENTS
HOSPITALS
OTHER BUILDINGS
DOCUMENTS
PRESERVATION
SACRIFICE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES
WILLIAM P. GINTHER
ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECT Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder 20, no. 6 (Dec. 1912): 16.
INTRODUCTION
Therefore, when we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them, “See! this our fathers did for us.”
John Ruskin
For more than a hundred years, in small towns throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania, thousands of people have come together at the most significant moments of their lives to worship, celebrate, commemorate, mourn, teach, study, and even cure in buildings that at one time started as a creative idea in one man’s mind: architect William P. Ginther.
I first became aware of Ginther’s work in the early 1970s when, in Ashtabula, Ohio, I attended the Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church and grade school. As any Catholic schoolchild will tell you, you spend a lot of time in church! For some, it was a chore. For me, however, it was a chance to study this wondrous and graceful interior of interlocking and dancing arches and domes and its castle-like exterior of rough-cut sandstone and beacon-like bell tower.
Mother of Sorrows was dedicated in the late 1900s during a time of great immigration to the United States. As was the case across the country, many of the immigrants who settled in Ashtabula were skilled laborers and craftsmen, and they made this new community their home by building a church that communicated, without words, grandeur and reverence in arches, domes, and stones.
My parents owned a commemorative book on Mother of Sorrows that I studied for hours, one image in particular holding my attention: a 2-by-3-inch photo that, even though too small to reveal details, showed a vastly different interior from the simple one I knew. It wasn’t until 2003 that I saw a much larger and detailed image of the original church interior and a picture of its architect, thus marking the beginning of my study of William P. Ginther and his work.
William P. Ginther was born on March 21, 1858, in Akron, Ohio, to Stephen and Anna (Horning) Ginther, who had migrated from Germany to Cleveland before finally settling in Akron, where Stephen, a highly skilled merchant tailor, opened his own shop. As a child, Ginther drew constantly and demonstrated considerable skill. In grade school he was charged with illustrating the blackboards with pictures of the school and grounds for parent-teacher meetings. As his skills advanced, he was encouraged by friends to study architecture. Indeed, his talent and skill led him to his first architecture job.
At age eighteen, while attending Buchtel College (now the University of Akron), Ginther worked at a local department store. One day he was sketching a valentine for a young lady he’d met at a church function when Frank O. Weary, Akron’s leading architect of the day, walked in. Spotting the drawing Ginther had hastily pushed aside, Weary curtly asked, “Did you do that?” Ginther replied that he had. Weary said, “Come with me” and escorted him to his offices upstairs and promptly put him to work. Later, in an article that ran in the Akron Sunday Times in 1932, Ginther recounted this story and attributed his great success in the field of ecclesiastical architecture to his ability to “paint a good picture.”
Frank O. Weary was a major force in Midwest architecture in the late 1800s and early 1900s. After finishing his advanced education in Boston in 1870–71, Weary spent three years in Chicago helping rebuild the city after “the Great Fire” before returning to Akron to start up his own firm. The firm of Weary and Kramer designed many of Ohio’s courthouses, churches, and business blocks in the characteristic massive stone style used for civic buildings of the time. It was at Weary’s office that Ginther learned the craft of architectural drafting and engineering. After working with Weary for nearly seven years, Ginther was charged with coming up with a design for a project Weary was competing for, the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Canton, Ohio. Ginther created a sketch of his concept, and Weary presented it to the congregation, which received it with great excitement. The congregation awarded the commission to Weary, and Ginther was charged with supervising the construction of the church, which was completed in 1883.
In 1889, near the end of his employment with Weary, Ginther embarked on a tour of Europe to witness the great architectural wonders in Rome, Milan, Paris, Venice, Florence, London, Berlin, and Vienna, among other cities. This intense study, coupled with his valuable work experience with Weary’s firm, provided Ginther with the necessary skills and confidence to start his own architectural firm and win a bid on a church design of his very own, St. Mary Catholic Church in Norwalk, Ohio.
Also during this time period, on September 20, 1892, Ginther married Emma Wohlwend. Together they had four children, three of whom died at early ages; Ira lived only two-and-a-half years, William died at age four, and Julian died at age ten in a bicycling accident. Their only surviving child, a daughter, Mary, attended St. Vincent’s High School in Akron and later attended Georgetown Visitation College.
Beginning with this first commission, Ginther’s ability to sketch his vision, sell his ideas, and instill confidence in his abilities with a church congregation made him one of the most influential ecclesiastical architects in Ohio—if not the country—during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His ability to sketch proved to be a winning asset. As he recounted, “When I went to work to land a job, I not only made the plans, but I drew and painted a sketch. Lots of the other architects didn’t.