The Chapel is Transformed
The original lower-level chapel had been opened in 1946. Some improvements were made in the
renovation of 1989, but by 1999, the lower-level worship space and gathering place needed repairs and renovation. In the summer of that year, planning began.
The Chapel Liturgy Planning Team approved a proposal to make the chapel an adaptable and attractive place for worship, with the flexibility to accommodate small prayer services, parish meetings, lectures and similar events.
The finished space is graced with a new altar platform and table, font, ambo, cross and presider’s chair. A new reconciliation chapel was placed behind the chapel altar, with decorative stained glass setting it off. Stained glass friezes throughout the chapel and hospitality area echo the designs seen in the upper church, uniting the two levels visually. The renovated chapel was rededicated on August 26, 2001.
The School Takes Shape
Once the church building was in use, the school added high school classes. Before long it needed more space. In 1924, the parish approved an addition designed by Worthmann & Steinbach. It added a third story, a basement and a three-story wing to house a cafeteria, an auditorium seating 750 and a gymnasium. New classrooms brought the total to 12. Other alterations included a two-story addition along the rear of the original 1905 structure. The basement assembly hall was remodeled into Fireside Hall and the first dance was held there on October 30, 1925.
The School Grows Yet Again
At the beginning of the new century, with the renewed popularity of Lincoln Park as a place to raise families, Saint Clement School needed to expand again. The former site of two 1895 apartment buildings, next to the school, was just big enough. Purchased in 1935, the buildings had been demolished and the 50-foot-wide double lot was used as a playground and parking lot for more than a half-century. Two committees went to work in May 2001 to plan the three-story, eight-classroom brick addition to the school.
This addition ingeniously incorporates covered parking at grade, two floors of classrooms above with four classrooms per floor, and a rooftop playground, all accessible to people using wheelchairs. Several offices are tucked into spaces off the main halls. Dedicated on September 2, 2003, it was completed in just over a year at a cost of $3.23 million.
