Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Jefferson Barracks Chapel

My parents and I were visiting the grave of a family friend in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery when we came across this unique chapel, from 1978.Of course, the doors were locked, and I can't find any pictures of the interior of this chapel, but apparently it is decorated with work by Robert Frei.The chapel is a great example of late Modernist architecture of the 1970's, which unfortunately is increasingly being destroyed around the country. I have an affinity to the architecture of the late 1970's and early 1980's; it is quirky, and now largely gone only thirty years later. But it provides a sort of backdrop to my childhood, when it was brand new and not yet replaced by 1990's banality.The second page of this pdf gives a brief history of the chapel. At a later time, I will investigate the rest of Jefferons Barracks; a strange mishmash of National Guard installation and county park--in what was once the most important military base west of the Appalachians.

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A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.