Two years ago, Capri Senior Communities set out to replace a beloved community church and adjacent unused buildings with a six-story, senior-care campus and adjoining church. St. Rita’s Church in Milwaukee’s Lower East Side was built in 1939 and was the heart of the Italian American community. The new St. Rita Square was designed to honor that history and sense of community in its design, including the relation of its worship space to residences. Echelon’s Cordova Stone™ was chosen to tie into the Sicilian architecture that was identified as a precedent for the design of St. Rita Square.
THE CHALLENGE
St. Rita’s school and convent were no longer used and were severely in disrepair. The church itself needed some maintenance but was also outdated in terms of accessibility. There were 14 exterior steps to traverse before entering the church, no air conditioning, no main floor bathrooms, and no elevator.
THE VALUE OF STONE
The architect incorporated design influences from both St. Rita’s and Our Lady of Pompeii Church, located in the Historic Third Ward before it was demolished in 1967. The design of an outdoor courtyard, or piazza, was a key programming component. “Italian piazzas are thought of as the heartbeat of Italian towns,” explains Eric Harrmann, chief design officer at AG Architecture, who designed the project. “The piazza was created to be the heartbeat of this community, framed by the strong Sicilian feel of the masonry walls.”
The Cordova Stone was recommended by General Contractor Pepper Construction during the value engineering phase of the project. “The plans originally called for the building to be 100% stone, but that couldn’t be supported by the budget,” explains Ryan Eberly of Pepper Construction. Based in Chicago with offices in cities including Milwaukee, the company regularly works on large, complex projects such as St. Rita Square. “We recommended Cordova because it fit within the budget, matched the intent of the design, and has the kind of durability required to endure Milwaukee’s four-season climate.”
Arteaga Construction, the masons on the project, also recommended Cordova when they were asked to find cost savings in material and labor. “Cordova Stone was the obvious choice,” says Jamie Sadowske, field superintendent and project manager for this project for Arteaga. He also felt confident with Northfield as a supplier who, “knows how we operate and would be accountable throughout the scope of the job.”
CORDOVA FIT THE PROJECT
Originally, 12-inch by 18-inch Cordova was specified for the facing of all six stories of the building. “It takes two men to lift each large stone, however, and that was impacting both the workforce required and the budget. The architect instead chose to instead use the larger stone at eye level (the bottom three stories) and then moved to the smaller Cordova (8-inch by 18-inch) for the higher levels,” says Eberly.
“The reduced size stone also helped show the layering of the architecture, as the horizontal bands separated ‘layers’ of stone,” explains Harrmann. “The light-colored Cordova Stone and the horizontal layering of material and banding in this way is influenced by the type of Sicilian architecture the client wanted to reflect in this project.”
THE PROJECT
Demolition began in August of 2018 and Pepper Construction took over the site in October, starting with the rerouting of the alley and utilities. To reduce costs, the masonry from the old buildings that were demolished on site was crushed and used as foundation backfill for the new buildings. “This saved the developer hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says Eberly.
Construction began going vertical in December that year and Pepper Construction was getting ready to finish in the spring of 2020 when COVID hit. “With the delays that caused, it worked best to turn over the building to the owners in stages. We delivered the church and Independent Living Tower in June of 2020 and the Assisted Living/Memory Care tower in August,” says Eberly.
At more than 182,000 square feet, the finished project includes a newly constructed St. Rita Church with 3,600 square feet on the first floor and a lower-level fellowship hall with a servicing kitchen. There are two apartment towers that make up a 118-unit, age-restricted senior living community that includes 72 independent living apartments and 46 community-based residential facility/memory support units.
FINISHED BUILD
The new build incorporated 17 restored stained-glass windows from the original St. Rita’s, the bronze bell from Our Lady of Pompeii, a bronze statue of the Angel Gabriel which was cast in Florence in 1904, and 10 statues of saints from both churches. Also, installed above the front entry of the new church at St. Rita is a new 6-foot-diameter signature rose window depicting the logo of the parish to which the church belongs, Three Holy Women.
Additionally, all the stained glass and statuary from the old church were built into the new church and the piazza space. Stone works such as the original entablature stone and signage from the church were saved on the exterior wall as part of the cladding, built into the courses of Cordova Stone.
CLOSING THOUGHT
Capri Senior Communities sold the church portion of the property, which sits on about a quarter acre, back to the parish for $1. Capri owns the remaining acre of property and the St. Rita Square building.
“Eric did a really good job of creating a building that will stand the test of time in downtown Milwaukee. It looks like such a classical building,” says Schoenemann. She notes there has been a building renaissance in Milwaukee with many multifamily structures built with a modern, super-contemporary vibe. “Ours, with the senior community and relationship with St. Rita’s, has a classic look that will forever be in style.”
For More Information:
As the consolidated masonry brand for Oldcastle APG, a CRH Company, Echelon Masonry is North America’s largest manufacturer of the highest-quality masonry products for the architectural and masonry industries. For more, visit www.echelonmasonry.com.
Modern Contractor Solutions, January 2022
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