The Project gets some southern hospitality by once again traveling down past Philly's own Mason-Dixon line, South Street. Believe it or not, it's been almost exactly two years since our last trip to South Philadelphia, Passyunk Square's Annunciation BVM.
Two years without a trip to South Philly? Pinch me, I must be dreaming.
This time our mission takes us to the former Polish national parish of St. Stanislaus. It closed in 2006, but had the good fortune to survive as a worship site for nearby St. Philip Neri. The church gets a surprising amount of work, but only holds one Sunday mass--9:30 a.m., bright and early.
Who's with me?
Stanislaus is kind of an odd building, and for that we can thank its roots as a Protestant church. Instead of building new, the parish simply purchased a Protestant church and retrofitted it. Kind of like St. Andrew, only this building didn't pull from the Catholic playbook quite as heavily.
The result is an uninspired, forgettable exterior, and a strange bit of organization. The church is actually on the second floor. The first plays host not to a lower church, but to a small chapel, some meeting rooms and assorted other administrative fare. To get to the church, you have to take one of two flanking side staircases.
Very much like St. William, come to think of it, although at least St. William had the good sense to put a lower church on the ground floor.
Once you get up into the actual church, you're treating to a fairly respectable Polish design. The Project, as you know, has nothing but love for the old Polish designers. Because whether they need to work big or small, expensively or on the cheap, they always bring the awesome. Hell, even their tweeners are things of beauty.
Here, they're saddled with a weird building, but they still manage to concoct a pretty if basic decor. Columned and non-cruciform, it features a predominantly blue and gold scheme highlighted by some nice mural and molding work. The three-dimensional stations of the cross and the oversized organ are also highlights.
Sure, the windows are an odd blend of pictorial and pattern, and the wood-panelled, rec-room feel of the foyer is distracting. And yes, everything here has been done better, bigger and badder in other Polish churches.
At the end of the day, though, for what they had to work with, everything comes off pretty well. It will never dethrone the likes of St. Adalbert for Polish excellence, but it's nice.
LOOK FOR IT: The stations of the cross are paired, but the windows are not. Usually if one is paired, the other is, too.
LOOK FOR IT, PART 2: This is the first Polish church to feature an Italian-Renaissance scheme instead of a Gothic one. Every Polish church we've seen so far has been Gothic, so it's unusual to see one that isn't. Probably a design choice necessitated by the building itself.
Size Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 7 out of 10 crosses
