{"id":93071,"date":"2008-07-14T15:52:19","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T15:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/article\/american-gothic_o"},"modified":"2008-07-14T15:52:19","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T15:52:19","slug":"american-gothic_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/american-gothic_o\/","title":{"rendered":"American Gothic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some parts of the country, numerous well-preserved historic churches may be common. But in other areas, these buildings can be rare architectural treasures.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield, Mo., is one of only a few buildings on both the Springfield Historical Registry and the National Registry of Historic Sites. It is the oldest surviving church in Springfield, and one of the most well-preserved in the Ozarks region.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Through the years<\/b> <\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The church&#8217;s story began in 1866 when the Gothic style chapel was built in what was then a town of 2000 people. After three years, its congregation already wanted to expand, due to Springfield&#8217;s post-Civil War population boom and lightning damage sustained by the building. Christ Episcopal was rebuilt in the developing outskirts of the city, in the same architectural style, which had become the most popular design for churches in the United States.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the turn of the 20th century, this style seemed old-fashioned, and again the congregation planned to replace its church with a larger, more elegant stone structure on the same site. Construction began in 1926, including a new parish hall, elevated altar and choir loft, great stone nave, and chancel arches. Although dramatic, the interior and plain exterior stonework still reflected the Gothic style of the first Christ Episcopal Church.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plans to replace the 1870 nave were delayed by the Great Depression, and eventually it was permanently attached to the newer building. This configuration gave the church a unique appearance, and also preserved an important piece of its history.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2006, the church&#8217;s newest chapter began with another expansion, a 12,500-sq ft multi-purpose sanctuary and stone cloister connecting the new and existing structures. Fortunately, the nearly $5 million job was in the skilled hands of three generations of masons from Jerry Bennett Masonry, Springfield, Mo.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Stone experts<\/b> <\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team consisted of Frank Thornton, a mason of 50 years, Doug and Kirk Thornton (Frank&#8217;s sons), Joe Thornton (Kirk&#8217;s son), and Cole Creller. Their combined years of experience with stone masonry was put to the test, as they studied the church&#8217;s existing stonework and recreated it on the new addition.<\/p><\/div> <!--nextpage--><div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This design posed an unusual challenge: The stones ranged from 2 in. to 12 in. and were not laid in any particular pattern. Led by Foreman Doug Thornton, the masons measured the original Indiana limestone and estimated how many pieces of each size appeared in the design. \u201cFrom what we understood, the original builders used whatever labor they could find to lay the stone. It could have been anyone from the community,\u201d explained Ken Taylor, Bennett Masonry vice president and estimator, and the Christ Episcopal Church&#8217;s project manager.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Jerry Bennett Masonry team created a sample panel and adjusted the percentages of specific sized pieces of stone until they matched the original \u201cpattern.\u201d A close match was critical, especially where the old and new structures joined along one wall. To create more design continuity, the masons removed stone window surrounds from the historic church and reinstalled them on the new addition.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their most high-profile work was done on the arched cloister running in front of both the new parish hall and the historic church. The arch templates had to be carefully assembled, which took a great deal of time. \u201cThe cloister was labor intensive,\u201d said Taylor, \u201cbut our team had the vision to see what needed to be done.\u201d<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the project was finished, the architectural firm of Marshall-Waters-Woody nominated the Thornton masonry team for one of the Springfield Contractors Association&#8217;s annual awards. The team was recognized at the association&#8217;s 2007 annual \u201cSalute to Construction\u201d banquet as the outstanding \u201cCraftsmen Team of the Year,\u201d honoring the masons&#8217; special skills and \u201cunique masonry craftwork that created an outstanding stone cloister and stonework which complements the original design of decades ago.\u201d<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Project Participants<\/b> <\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Masonry Contractor:<\/b> Jerry Bennett Masonry, Springfield, Mo.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Architect:<\/b> Marshall-Waters-Woody, Springfield, Mo.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>General Contractor:<\/b> Morelock-Ross, Springfield, Mo.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Stone Supplier:<\/b> 3D Stone, Bedford, Ind.<\/p><\/div> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In some parts of the country, numerous well-preserved historic churches may be common. But in other areas, these buildings can be rare architectural treasures. The Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield, Mo., is one of only a few buildings on both the Springfield Historical Registry and the National Registry of Historic Sites. It is the oldest surviving [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"scheduledNewsletterDates":[],"_scheduled_newsletter_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"zonda_content_type_url_append":"_o","zonda_dfp_zone":"","zonda_exclude_recommended_contents":false,"zonda_exclude_most_popular":false,"zonda_exclude_tagged_results":false,"zonda_eyebrow":"","zonda_last_newsletter_date":"2099-12-31T23:59:59.999-05:00","zonda_original_url":"","zonda_pdf_version":0,"zonda_print_headline":"American Gothic","zonda_promo_abstract":"In some parts of the country, numerous well-preserved historic churches may be common. But in other areas, these buildings can be rare architectural treasures.The Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield, Mo., is one of only a few buildings on both the Springfield Historical Registry and the National Registry of Historic Sites. It is the oldest surviving church in Springfield, and one of the most well-preserved in the Ozarks region.","zonda_promo_headline":"","zonda_promo_image":0,"zonda_subheadline":""},"tags":[],"news_item_type":[9],"section_10":[12719],"subject":[950,54,822,796],"organization":[],"award":[],"person":[],"product_type_10":[],"content-group":[135],"event":[],"location":[10760],"state":[680],"brand":[84326],"jlc-category":[],"year_tax":[],"sponsor":[],"coauthors":[84184],"class_list":["post-93071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","news_item_type-project-article","section_10-projects","subject-masonry-construction","subject-preservation","subject-religious-projects","subject-stone","content-group-residential","location-springfield-mo","state-indiana","brand-masonry-construction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>American Gothic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/american-gothic_o\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/american-gothic_o\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Gothic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In some parts of the country, numerous well-preserved historic churches may be common. But in other areas, these buildings can be rare architectural treasures. The Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield, Mo., is one of only a few buildings on both the Springfield Historical Registry and the National Registry of Historic Sites. It is the oldest surviving [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/american-gothic_o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Concrete Construction Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-14T15:52:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Shelby O. 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