Saint Michael's Episcopal Church, Barrington, Illinois, Perspective

Yale-trained architect Edward Dart is best known for his sensitive designs for church buildings in the Chicago region. Built from simple materials, including common brick, concrete, and wood, his churches balance serene solid volumes with expressive structural elements. In his very first church commission for his own parish, St. Michael’s in Barrington, Illinois, Dart framed the building with heavy steel girders more commonly used in industry and bridges. In the interior, however, the exposed girders divide the space into three aisles, just as stone columns would frame the central aisle in traditional basilica churches dating back to ancient Rome. A belfry at the center of the building creates a double-height space above the altar with windows that provide the kind of dramatic indirect lighting that Dart incorporated in many of his religious buildings.