The Monastery Event Center is now an award winning project, please see our winning entry here!
The Holy Cross Monastery and Church is situated on the crest of a hill in Mt. Adams and has been a landmark structure in the areas since its construction in the late 1890s. Abandoned by the Archdiocese in the late 1970s the building sat vacant until a developer in the mid-80’s transformed the monks quarters into offices. However, the attached church never found a new use until now with the renovation of the building into an Event Center.The interior space deteriorated significantly over the years and only echoed the ornate character of its former self. Although aged, the spirit of the space lived on from the remaining elements that had not been destroyed through neglect. We believed that the space could tell a story about its past by preserving what was left in the present. The space was intact enough to conjure the memory of what it was and the people shaped by its spaces.
Along with preserving the old sanctuary space, the building needed significant structural work to repair the massive roof trusses and rotting floor. Great thought was used to creatively conceal all of the HVAC ductwork and electric by building a new textured plaster wall around the perimeter. Although this space functions as a modernized event center, great care was taken to imply an “untouched space.”
