Madonna Della Strada Chapel
- Architect
- Andrew N. Rebori
- Year
- 1938
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- chicago deco
Madonna della Strada Chapel is the main chapel of Loyola University Chicago's Lake Shore Campus in Rogers Park, built directly on the lakefront with Lake Michigan at its front doorstep. It was the dream of Father James Mertz, S.J., who raised the money for its construction, and architect Andrew Rebori designed it in the Art Deco style, opening its doors to the university community in 1938.
the building
Built for a road that never came. The chapel was sited expecting Lake Shore Drive to be extended directly in front of it, a project that was ultimately abandoned, leaving the building facing open lake instead of traffic.
Edgar Miller's touch. Scant record keeping makes it hard to say exactly which artist made which piece, but Chicago artist Edgar Miller figured prominently in the chapel's artwork and decoration.
the style
Rebori designed the chapel in the Art Deco style, an unusual choice for a Catholic chapel of the period, named for a painting of the Virgin Mary enshrined at the Church of the Gesu in Rome, the Jesuits' mother church.
More on Art Decosignificance
The chapel was designated a Chicago Landmark (L-137) on September 2, 2004.
nearby
- Mundelein Center
- Perkins-Nordine House
- Edwin Colvin House
- Gauler Twin House
- Episcopal Church of the Atonement and Parish House
- Senn High School