St. Hugo of the Hills pastor Msgr. Anthony Tocco stands in front of the stone chapel that was the parish church from 1936 to 1989.Tim Keenan | Special to The Michigan Catholic
Bloomfield Hills — The story of the stone chapel at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills is as unusual as the building is beautiful.
It is the only church (it was St. Hugo’s parish church from 1936-89) in the archdiocese and one of the few anywhere built entirely with private funds. That financing came from Mr. and Mrs. Theodore F. MacManus, as did the land, which was part of their Stonycroft Farm estate. It was the MacManus’ memorial to their deceased sons, Hugo and Hubert, and by special decree of Pope Pius XI, the church’s crypt is their final resting place along with several other MacManus family members.
Designed by architect Arthur Des Rossiers, construction began in 1931 with permission from Bishop Michael Gallagher, who dedicated the stone chapel in 1936. Once the chapel was complete, at a cost of $275,000, the family turned it over to the archdiocese.
“A blessing to me when I got here was that there were still two MacManus children living,” said St. Hugo’s longtime pastor, Msgr. Anthony Tocco. “They were in their 70s, and they would tell me stories about the church.”
The elegant stone and woodwork are visible inside the stone chapel at St. Hugo of the Hills, faithfully restored by under the leadership of Msgr. Anthony Tocco.Beauty is within
Visible from Opdyke Road atop a graceful hill, the stately Norman Gothic, 250-seat structure with its 56-foot tower is fashioned after the Abbey at Cluny. The abbey is where the parish’s namesake was abbot for many years. The original was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Above the entrance to the chapel is the church’s name in gold mosaic as well as a relief of the original Abbey of Cluny and the major achievements of man, including jurisprudence, medicine, mechanics, electronics, aeronautics, agriculture and learning.
Inside the chapel, called “one of the hundred representative and distinguished buildings in the United States” by the American Institute of Architects in 1937, worshipers are greeted by a beautiful blend of stone and wood. The stone pillars of the altar and communion rail are accented with gold mosaic tiles.
Other interior features include a black walnut crucifix by Anton Lange, who played Christ in the Passion play at Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany, that particular year. The tabernacle is of forged iron with two guardian angels inset in gold mosaic. The interior is lined with gold tile. On the rear wall are mosaics of Jesus and the Blessed Mother, purchased by the MacManus family in Venice.
Rescue mission
In 2001, the parish was forced to undertake a major renovation of the chapel in order to save it. Moisture was damaging the huge cypress beams supporting the building’s roof and walls.
“I was in there celebrating Mass, and I heard a massive crack,” Msgr. Tocco recalled. “I looked up and a beam had opened up two inches. I called a couple of engineering companies and they said we needed to air-condition this church if we wanted to save it.”
After vetoing a relatively inexpensive but unsightly A/C solution, Msgr. Tocco had the beams banded as a stop-gap measure and set about raising $3.7 million to do the job right. That involved removing the pews and the stone floor, digging a new basement 20 feet into the earth and installing new HVAC, electrical and plumbing, a move that not only saved the building but ensured it will endure for many more years.
Part of the restoration was replacing the acoustical ceiling tile that had been installed at some point. Once the old tile was removed, a beautiful wood tongue and groove ceiling was exposed. “The workers said we couldn’t afford to replicate it today,” Msgr. Tocco said. “It was a gift from God.”
Before the new St. Hugo Church was built in 1989, using several design cues from the old stone chapel, most of the parish’s liturgies took place in a 650-seat wooden structure called the St. Walter Chapel. “Now we have all the daily Masses in the stone chapel,” Msgr. Tocco explained. “It’s used way more now than when I first got here. Every bride wants to get married in the chapel and most of our funerals take place in the chapel. I’ve married brides whose mothers and grandmothers were married in this chapel.”
Maintaining an historic building is an ongoing process. This year, St. Hugo is refurbishing the stone chapel’s Casavant organ at a cost of $350,000. The funds for that project are coming from the same Tiffany family trust that built the new church’s bell tower.
Tim Keenan is a freelance writer based in Farmington Hills.
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