Iconic Modern Buildings That Will Be Saved with the Help of the Getty Foundation

Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, Marcel Breuer, 1961, Collegeville, Minnesota.

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 community and student community located on the joint campuses of the Minnesota’s College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. In response to the clergy’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. The church’s entrance is framed by a weighty bell tower, a dramatic contrast to its perforated, honeycomb façade. Encased stained glass, as well as large interior skylights and windows spanning the building’s sides, flood the church interior with light and balance the massive concrete framing buttresses. Today the structures are the architectural centerpiece of more than a dozen other structures by Breuer on this multi-use complex, forming the largest collection anywhere of a single modernist architect’s work. A Getty grant will support a conservation management plan to guide a long-term preservation strategy for these buildings. Grant support: $150,000