VIDEO | 25th Building Anniversary

Watch the historical video HERE.

BACKGROUND OF 2000 CAMPUS 

DEVELOPMENT 

St. Anne Church and School, Barrington, Illinois

Introduction

Under the leadership of Father John Dewes, affectionately known as “Father Jack,” St. Anne parish underwent a Campus Development Plan in 2000 that was the largest in the history of the Archdiocese of Chicago at the time. This plan included a beautiful new church sanctuary with antiphonal seating on two levels; the renovation of the former church into a daily mass chapel where the Eucharist is reserved; and the creation of a gathering space adorned with a striking fireplace.  The Plan also included the renovation and expansion of St. Anne Catholic School.

Design

In 1995, St. Anne retained John Buscemi as Liturgical Design Consultant for a massive update and expansion of its undersized facilities. The parish had outgrown its original church building by such a wide margin that some weekly Masses were held in the school gymnasium. After careful consideration, parish leaders chose lead architect RuckPate and YHR Partners to jointly facilitate a comprehensive master plan for the parish expansion. 

YHR and RuckPate designed the new worship space to employ non-traditional, antiphonal seating with a shallow mezzanine to maintain the intimacy of the worship area. The project also included improvements to other parish families on site for fellowship, religious education, parochial education, youth activities, senior activities, outreach ministries, and administration functions. The project required exceptional creativity due to the restricted site, which was surrounded by homes in the old center of Barrington.

The parish dedicated the new building on April 30, 2000.  Later that year, the parish received the 2000 Association of Licensed Architects Design Award. 

Following the renovation, the expanded St. Anne campus featured: 

• New two-story sanctuary with seating for 1,300
• Fully restored chapel (site of the original St. Anne Church dedicated in 1949) with seating for 160
• Substantially improved Catholic School with many additions and renovations
• Spacious gathering space and parish library

Statues in the Sanctuary

Among numerous other artworks, the newly constructed Worship Space features twelve near life-size sculptures of saints by Jay Hall Carpenter.  [See 2001 article from the Daily Herald]

Thank You!

Thank you to all of the generous parishioners who donated their time, talent and treasure for the Campus Development Plan from 1997 - 2000, as well as the Legacy of Faith Campaign to repair and improve our campus started in 2017.