This link to monlithic concrete dome churches did not become known at first. Here are a number of built examples employing concrete domes (not limited to Southern California) but none appear to be of the Roman Catholic variety.

Monolithic Dome Churches

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The particular styles of these examples are not necessarily what will ultimately apply to our work at Saint Patrick in North Hollywood. I'm sure some indicate what not to do. There are lots of ideas here to begin the conceptual process brainstorm!

City of Corvallis - Historic Walking Tour - First Christian Church "The building rests on a high, rusticated concrete foundation and includes a daylight basement. The concrete structure is reinforced with steel but much of the structural frame is wood."

Images of Unity Temple, 1906, by Frank Lloyd Wright at Oak Park (Chicago) "The whole is built of concrete, a cheap material, and a daring move for church architecture in the early twentieth century. The church is a scaled-down version of Wright's Larkin building."

Select the Llandaff Cathedral link. "The first Norman appointment to Llandaff was a welshman, Urban, or Gwrgan, Archdeacon of Llandaff whose ambition was to build an impressive cathedral church. With a succession of builders adding to Bishops Urban�s church, every style of medieval architecture was represented in the building."

Divine Savior Catholic Church (From Parish History:) "Fr. Bob and Fr. Neil visited local parishes and introduced themselves and set a clear beginning course. They promised to set community building as the focus of the new parish. Buildings and permanent buildings would have to wait. Liturgies began in a rented Bingo hall in Orangevale."

The Church of the Transfiguration "As one enters the church nave, the eye is at once drawn to the colorful vision of the high altar and reredos. On either side of the chancel arch are two Venetian mosaic rondels - the Archangel Gabriel (on the left) announcing the birth of the Incarnate Son of God to the Blessed Virgin Mary (on the right). Both figures point the worshiper toward the sanctuary, where the high altar, with its reredos depicting our Lord's Transfiguration, dominates the vista."

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Examples of poured-in-place concrete constructed churches.

First Congregational Church of Pasadena

Welcome to Holy Family Church - South Pasadena

St. Brigid Catholic Church - San Francisco

PfarrNet St. Johannes Baptist Anrath (German text)

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The Quad-Lock Insulated Concrete Forms - ICF Building System combines the properties of solid concrete and superior insulating value of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) to give you the best environment to live in.

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Descriptions of the following are rich in detail but have no pictures. Resources - both web and books (in print) are listed at these links.

Church in Hyvinkaa - Aarno Ruusuvuori "The building is of reinforced concrete with the long sloping ribs filled in with glass or precast concrete slabs."

Church of St Francis - Oscar Niemeyer "Niemeyer employed the plastic qualities of concrete by using the same structural element for walls and roof in a series of parabolic arches."

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Some basic church building construction definitions:

- apse

- cloister

- nave

- Norman architecture

- vault

- vault History of Vaults

- vault Nature of Vaults

- vault Engineering Considerations

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- Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo

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