The Project returns to Germantown to check out the “other” Immaculate Conception (see Jenkintown), and boy, what a return it is. If you looked up “enormous” in the dictionary, you might just see a picture of this church. It’s almost larger than life itself. It towers over everything else in Germantown, and when you stand next to it you can’t help but feel dwarfed by its awesome expanse.
Inside, well…the best word is cavernous. As you’d expect from the outside, the interior is a cavernous mass of stone, culminating in a broad, expansive arched roof. Just looking at each individual brick in said roof, and imagining the labor it took to lay said bricks, well…it’s enough to inspire both awe and a splitting headache. Even more impressive is that it does it without columns. That's right, you get the full, expansive effect! Like our friend St. Martin of Tours, the interior also features a lot of tile work, but unlike St. Martin, it eschews the green for mostly red and gold, so it doesn’t seem like a gigantic shower.
Two interesting things stand out here. First, Immaculate has the same cruciform shape we've come to know and love. But the transcept isn't entirely rectangular, like we're used to seeing. Instead, each arm is home to a huge circular shrine featuring paintings of various saints. That’s unique enough, but it’s really strange to see how large the transcept really is. In most cruciform churches, the nave takes up most of a church’s length, with the transcept occupying on a small part. Here, though, the transpet is longer than nave, which makes for an unique effect.
Fat Girl Principle, v4: Fourteen people showed up for Saturday mass, most of them Black, so we certainly stuck out like sore thumbs. The pastor, Father John Holliday, invited us to do the dreaded “stand up and tell us where you’re from!” You’d think I’d be used to this by now, but somehow I always seem surprised when it happens.
Anyhow, this church is simply magnificent. It’s not quite as ornate as others we’ve seen, but it makes a gimmick out of being ridiculously gigantic. It’s not “European cathedral" gigantic, but it’s larger than anything in this area.
Size Rating: 10 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 9.5 out of 10 crosses
