Saint John’s Abbey receives Getty Foundation grant to support Abbey and University Church

Saint John's Abbey received a $150,000 Getty Foundation Planning Grant that will assist the abbey in drawing a comprehensive plan for the restoration, preservation and maintenance/upkeep of the Abbey and University Church.

The Getty Foundation in Los Angeles announced on June 24 this second series of grants for exemplary 20th century buildings as part of its "Keeping It Modern" initiative. The latest grants are for 14 projects in eight countries.

"This new round of Keeping It Modern grants includes some of the finest examples of modern architecture in the world," said Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Foundation. "The grant projects address challenges for the field of architectural conservation and will have impact far beyond the individual buildings to be conserved."

In the 1950s, the Benedictine monks of Saint John's Abbey made the daring choice of Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer for the design of a new church for its growing monastic and student community located on the campus of Saint John's Abbey and University. In response to the monastic community's call for a church that would be "an architectural monument to the service of God," Breuer deployed a striking combination of concrete and stained glass to create a masterful juxtaposition of levity and mass.

Today the Abbey and University Church is the architectural centerpiece of more than a dozen other structures by Breuer on the abbey and university grounds, forming the largest collection anywhere of a single modernist architect's work. This Getty grant will support a conservation management plan to guide a long-term preservation strategy for these buildings.

Elements of this plan align with planning grant goals and will provide insights beneficial to the modern corpus. For example:

• Lessons learned from researching ways to protect the exposed poured concrete exterior of the building will be applicable to other concrete modern buildings including Breuer's work both at Saint John's and abroad.
• Study of the cloth organ screen will provide insights into the conservation and restoration of midcentury modern fabrics.
• Attention to original light fixtures will inform how they may be re-lamped to contemporary standards while preserving the integrity of the original pieces.
• Study of windows, including the north stained-glass window, will inform how energy efficiency can be introduced in modern buildings while conserving original frames and design integrity.

Information from this process will aid Saint John's and others around the world in the continued maintenance and preservation of Breuer and other modern buildings. Gregory Friesen, an architect very familiar with Breuer architecture, will assist in mapping out the plan. Friesen completed the renovation of Breuer's science building and an addition to it, and he is currently working on the renovation of Breuer's Alcuin Library on campus. Other specialists will be included for the church's glass, art, wood, granite and buildings systems.