A new year, a new dawn for the Project! And we celebrate by dusting off three-plus months of slacking and getting back to what we do best: fieldwork!
The first church of the new year--and please, if you call it a new decade I will come to your house and deck you--is the Episcopalian parish of St. Martin in the Fields, nestled comfortably among Chestnut Hill's picaresque lanes and stone mansions.
St. Martin was actually the Project's backup church this week. My first choice was derailed by a parking-lot style backup on 76 (See why I proclaim that highway to be evil? Even on a Sunday morning it's torture!), so I was forced to go to Plan B.
Fortunately, in going to St. Martin the Project didn't have to "settle," so to speak. The church is actually one of the more surprising entries we've had, and certainly the Project's favorite Protestant church thus far.
It may not be as big as Holy Trinity, or even as ornate as Holy Nativity, but St. Martin succeeds because its columned, cruciform Gothic design features a terrific stone decor. Tan, black and burnt orange, it manages to be bright and airy while still possessing some of the dark, old-school, wrath-of-God type stuff.
Throw in some high-quality stained glass windows (especially the pair of rose ones), a nifty shrine in the right-hand transept, an understated and tasteful sanctuary, and some gargoyles and ornate stone sculpturing outside, and you have a building that's really very, very lovely.
How the $#%@ do I get in here? Two ways--a side door, and the door under the overhang the connects the church to the parish house. (The latter a defining feature of many Protestant churches.) Not too bad, although some people find it confusing:
OLDER USHER (as Project enters through the side door): "Oh, you came in that way! You surprised me! There are people coming from all sides. Ha ha!"
PROJECT (fake laugher): "Ha ha, yeah." (under breath) "How hard is it to watch two doors, anyway? Perhaps it's time to consider a new line of work."
Whatever. Point is, the Project digs this church a lot. Certainly the best in Chestnut Hill, and it actually redeems the area quite a bit in our view.
Size Rating: 7 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 8 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 8 out of 10 crosses
