Archdiocesan employees appreciate history, memories of the soon-to-be-vacated Chancery, Gabriel Richard buildings

Detroit -- The employees of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Central Service -- the “downtown headquarters” of the local Church -- for some 20 months have been preparing to leave their office buildings and settle into a new chancery building in Detroit’s capitol park.

But it’s not lost that, when they leave the current chancery on Washington Boulevard and the nearby Gabriel Richard building for the last time on February 10, they’ll be leaving behind two cherished and historic structures that have served the Archdiocese of Detroit for decades.

“I feel saddened by leaving the buildings, especially 1234 Washington Boulevard,” says Archbishop Vigneron, whose predecessors had actually lived across the street from the chancery on Washington Boulevard a century ago. “It has been an important part of the history of the diocese, and especially with our relationship with St. Aloysius.”

The Chancery on Washington, which in fact is attached to St. Aloysius church, has been the headquarters of the Detroit Archdiocese since 1926. The piece of property had belonged to the Church even longer, dating to 1873 when then-Bishop Caspar Borgess purchased a house across the street from his own residence (presently occupied by the Book Building).

To accommodate the growth of the diocese, and later archdiocese, the Weil building – the 10-story structure on the corner of Michigan Ave. and Washington Blvd. – was purchased by St. Aloysius Parish in 1945, named for pioneer Fr. Gabriel Richard, and given over for diocesan use in 1948.

At various points since, the two building have accommodated more than 300 employees of the local Church, have housed all the services provided to the area’s parishes and schools, and have been the bases from which the Detroit Archdiocese has experienced the leadership of 6 archbishops, 8 popes and even a papal visit.

A Storied Chancery

Architecturally, the Washington Boulevard chancery is considered the gem of the two buildings. An eight-story building sheathed in limestone, it was commissioned by Bishop Michael James Gallagher in 1924 and designed by the firm Donaldson and Meier, which during the same time had been commissioned to design a new St. Aloysius church based on a cathedral in Milan, Italy.



The chancery building was designed in the style of Romanesque-Italian Renaissance, visible from the arched bays at the bottom and top floors and the uncommon loggia in front of the windows on the top two floors. Its histories and features have made it the subject of numerous profiles in local architectural publications, and with the Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board.

The building was given a significant upgrade in the early 1960s – it was only then, in fact, that the ground-level came to feature its arches and buttresses that give the building such distinction to sidewalk passers-by. The marble-lined arches were installed by well-known architects Nodstrom-Samson to provide a sheltered walkway running the length of the ground-floor.

How the chancery building had been used had shifted over the years. For most of its history, it served as a base for the work of the diocesan staff, as well as the residence for the priests of St. Aloysius, who lived on the fifth floor.

The ground floor, easily accessed from the sidewalk, had at various points served as the offices for St. Aloysius Parish, a Catholic Information Center for the public, a Catholic book store, and the Van Antwerp Library operated by the Home Visitors of Mary religious order. Most recently, the ground-floor has returned to being the office space for St. Aloysius Parish – which it will remain even after the old chancery building is vacated.

In addition to housing the various offices and departments of the Archdiocese of Detroit, the chancery building also contained the archbishop’s main office – though its location had moved around the building.

The building was even used for a sacrament, too.

Into the 1960s, the Chancery housed two confessional facilities – separate ones for priests and nuns – as well as a “meditation room” for those waiting to have their confessions heard.

Usage of the old chancery building had even changed during the tenure of present archdiocesan employees. Nowadays, visitors are greeted by a security desk and an ornate hallway leading to the elevators, and access to the offices.

That wasn’t always the case.

“When I first started in 1982, there was no guard station,” says Dan Oliver, special projects coordinator for the Department of Finance & Administration. “The lobby was just very plain. It was not ornate as it is now. The ‘guard’ was a woman by the name of Sophie, who ran the elevator. She literally had a chair in the corner of the elevator. If she didn’t know you, and if you couldn’t give her the name of the individual you were coming to visit, you would not get off the first floor until a phone call was made.

“She was kind of like our pseudo-security guard, and she did a very good job.”

Oliver recalls, also, have stepping out of the elevator on the second floor would put a visitor in the waiting area just outside of Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka’s office. That area is now a large conference room and meeting area, with the archbishop’s domain now on the fifth floor.

Many other employees have been taken in with the quirks of the building over the years. Sharon Gorman, who has spent the last dozen years working in the chancery building, is one of many who have been captivated by a number of stories about the building… and it’s often hard to separate the fact from rumor.

“There are a lot of stories,” Gorman says. “How true they are, I don’t know.”

But realities feed into them. For example, the building’s second floor features a hidden door which leads to the balcony of the adjoining St. Aloysius church. There’s also a second elevator that leads occupants to the back alley – rumored to be an “escape route.”

More into the realm of rumor, it’s been said that the building has treasures hidden deep in a basement that reaches into Detroit’s salt mines. Also, looking across the street from the upper floors, one notices images of skeletons and naked women etched into the Book Building across the street – supposedly done intentionally by one of the building’s owners out of spite for the Church.

Be it for the realities or mythology, the longtime employees say they’ll miss the artful and storied chancery building.

“It’s going to be difficult to move out of that building because that’s the only building I’ve ever worked in,” said Oliver.

 

The Gabriel Richard

While the steel-structured Gabriel Richard Building doesn't have the architectural chops of the chancery, it nonetheless has its own distinctive features that’s made it an interesting home to archdiocesan ministries since the 1940s.



It’s actually older than the chancery, having been completed in 1914. When it was purchased, it was known as the Weil & Co. Furniture Company, bearing a rooftop sign that rose high above its top, 10^th floor.

St. Aloysius Parish was the deed holder of the building at first, and gave its use over to Cardinal Mooney. The Archdiocese of Detroit first housed its  Catholic Family Center in the building, and leased a number of the remaining floors.

When it was acquired by the archdiocese, its name was changed to bear that of the famed Detroit pioneer priest, Fr. Gabriel Richard. Having come to the Michigan territory in 1798, Fr. Richard was known for tremendous, lasting contributions to the area – including coining the city’s motto, founding the school that would become the University of Michigan, and being largely responsible for securing the construction of a road between Detroit and a then-smallish outpost at the southern part of Lake Michigan (now known as Chicago).

Fittingly, the building named for him would sit on that road, at 305 Michigan Avenue, just a short walk down Washington from the chancery.

The building itself has some architectural character, particularly because of its odd quadrilateral configuration, which made for unpredictable floor configuration on the interior when it was converted into office spaces.

Eventually, the building would come to be the headquarters of the majority of archdiocesan personnel, housing all aspects of the Parish Life and Services Department, Education Department, Christian Services Department, Catholic Youth Organization, Communications Department, and Information Technology Department.

In 1976, the building became home to the Catholic High School League Hall of Fame, along with being a central headquarters for the active sports league. Placards adorned the walls of the 7th floor, honoring hundreds of Catholic League athletes, coaches and administrators dating to 1926.

Also uncommon among Detroit buildings, the Gabriel Richard Building came to be home to a television studio in the 1980s, when Cardinal Szoka founded CTND. Under the high-ceilings of building’s second floor resides a studio that hosted a number of Catholic television shows, along with the NASA-esque control panels, monitors and technical equipment, which was wired up an old elevator shaft to a transmitter on the building’s rooftop.

Angela Naylor, the longest-tenured employee of the Gabriel Richard building, says the building holds a great deal of significance, mostly for the ministries done and friendships formed within its walls.

“I’ve been in the Gabriel Richard Building most of my career history – on the 4^th, 6^th and 7^th floors,” says Naylor, who for most of her time at the archdiocese has been part of the education department. “Wonderful friendships. Wonderful memories. The education department is quite large, so we’ve always had to occupy two floors at least. At one time we had three floors.”

The building’s features don’t stand out so much – but familiarity with it is what Naylor says she’ll miss.

“I will miss that presence of walking in and seeing that particular guard, and going to that floor, at that location.”



Like the chancery, the Gabriel Richard Building has some unverifiable stories behind it. For example, the elevators have been famous for malfunctioning or seizing. There are even more conspicuous stories of strange noises, and mysterious images on security cameras. Some employees have even pointed to the vicinity’s history – a placard outside the building marks the burial site of hundreds of war dead from the War of 1812 – questioning whether there’s a link.

Speculation aside, though it’s a part of archdiocesan history, it’s not hard to point out the shortcomings experience within the Gabriel Richard Building.

“The fluctuating heat and cold depending on what season it is, the leaky roof…” recalls Lory McGlinnen, who has worked in the building since 1993 and now serves as director of the Parish Life & Services Department on the building’s top floor. “But it was a great place to work because it’s really about the people.”

McGlinnen says she’ll miss most the sizable meeting space in her own office, which “has become kind of a center of where people gather and come together and come up with ideas.”

Still, she voices hope that the new chancery in Capitol Park will facilitate the same spirit of cooperation.

 

Building the future

The old chancery and Gabriel Richard Building aren’t the only two sites being left behind. The archdiocesan print shop building, neighboring Most Holy Trinity School in Corktown, was sold in 2012. And the Department of Development has been housed at Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 1992.

“It’s a matter of reminiscing and growth,” says Terry Kach, who is in her 47^th year with the archdiocese and works in the Development Department at the seminary offices. Kach has served at each of the three main buildings – chancery, Gabriel Richard and seminary.

“You relate the buildings with your growth aspect with the archdiocese,” she says.

But, “Better Together” has become the recent motto of Central Services as employees from all areas will come together under one roof at 12 State Street in Capitol Park.

For most, it’s hard not to see the benefit of a united office.

“It’s an opportunity to experience something new,” says Naylor. “It’s a new beginning in a sense – and that’s not taking away from anything we’ve experienced in the GRB, the Chancery or the Seminary. We’re just transitioning, moving our gifts and ministries to another location.”

McGlinnen has long compared the Central Services move to some of the difficult, but beneficial, transitions that many local parishes have experienced through clusters and mergers in recent decades.

“What I’ve said to the people at our parishes is, ‘Look what we’re doing with the diocese… We’re merging the diocese right now. We’re going from four buildings to one, and we’re going to a third of the space.’”

As staff members look forward excitedly, and often nervously, to what will mark the next chapter in the office life of the Archdiocese of Detroit, there’s little argument that leaving behind the historic chancery on Washington, and the Gabriel Richard Building, constitutes a huge step into the future.

“This move to 12 State Street is going to be one of the biggest changes,” says Kach. “It’s going to make the biggest impact on myself and on everyone in Central Services, because it’s such a change from what we’re used to.”

In the words of Archbishop Vigneron, it’s about entering the new age of Christianity in our area.

“It’s not a relaunching, but it’s a shift in focus,” Archbishop Vigneron says, pointing out that the Church’s need to build and maintain institutions has given way to a need, instead, to reinvigorate the Catholic community.

“It’s a new era for the Church in the United States.”