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After suffering serious damage from fire in 2008, the historic Old Saint George Church building was marked for demolition several times. But Crossroads Church acquired the property in 2015 and its rebirth as an uptown church and contemporary worship center began.
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Rather than a typical line array system, a point source stereo audio system was tailored to the room that provides ample coverage in the main seating area, as well as in the balcony and side seating areas. The system uses seven different loudspeaker configurations, including column loudspeakers from Meyer Sound (shown here, left) deployed in multiple points in the room.
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Old Saint George Church in Cincinnati dates back to the late 1800s. With twin steeples and soaring spires, it was designed by notable Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford. The church was closed for over a decade in a condition very much unlike the architect’s other projects, Cincinnati Music Hall and Town Hall, now celebrated landmarks. After suffering serious damage from fire in 2008, the historic building had been marked for demolition several times before Crossroads Church acquired the property in 2015. “We toured several other potential locations in the area,” recalls Patrick Buescher, the church’s director of technical operations. “Old Saint George Church represented the most challenges by far, but our leadership had a vision for this unique structure—and they were right.”
Preserving History
Plaster was falling off the ceiling, there had been smoke and water damage, and the church’s two iconic steeples had been lost in the fire. But even in the building’s deep state of disrepair, Crossroads Church leadership saw its potential as an attractive and important new uptown campus in a prime location near the University of Cincinnati. They reached out to Cincinnati's Platte Architecture + Design for a plan to repair and revitalize the property. Platte principle and Crossroads member, Kurt Platte, tapped architect Jeff Pearson and interior designer Tina Stear to work closely with Crossroads’ Sue Landgrebe, director of building and facilities, and the church’s technical and ministry teams to “put all options on the table” to create a modern aesthetic, without covering up the enduring history of the church.
Interior design
Working from the the original building plans, architectural renderings, and 3D software models, a new interior design for the Uptown Campus established a clear “wainscoting” around the auditorium at the height of 19 feet 6 inches. Everything below the plane would be contemporary and everything above would stay in a preserved state. Model Construction of Cincinnati implemented the plan to repair the interior that included erecting complex scaffolding to provide access to all areas of the sanctuary's vaulted ceiling. Plaster was checked for stability up to its highest point in the church’s majestic, 54-foot, 9-inch-high center vault and patched only in unstable areas before the entire ceiling and upper areas of the interior were sealed in place. The favored design for the lower interior included dark wainscoting and drywall. Acoustical analysis by acoustician, Edward Dugger + Associates of Miami, Fla., specified strategically placed Tectum acoustical panels to be installed in the lower plane. In addition to adding sound absorbent materials to the walls for better control of sound, MechoSystems’ custom-sized seamless roller shades were fitted to all window openings to optimize stage lighting and projection.
Lighting design
Creative interior and exterior lighting designs were provided by lighting integrator Vincent Lighting Systems (VLS) of Erlanger, Ky., for stage and house lighting, as well as to highlight unique aspects of the architecture. VLS Project Manager Debra Rettich and Regional Lead of Systems Sales Adam Hayward worked with Crossroads assistant lighting director, Kelly Pummell, to implement a design that includes a combination of Aquarii LED recessed downlights and strategically placed indirect lighting fixtures from GDS by ETC Pro Multicell LD wash lights. A combination of direct and indirect lighting techniques was used to create an inviting atmosphere for worship while accenting the three expansive ceiling vaults, stabilized walls, and unique interior details. During reconstruction, every effort was made not to violate the interior’s original design and appearance, including carefully color-matched fixtures to blend into the ceiling and locating them to act as direct replacements for the existing fixtures. The electrical contractor, King’s Electric Services of Cincinnati, was directed to use only existing penetration to avoid disturbing the original structure. Rather than deploying typical emergency lighting fixtures and, in lieu of an emergency generator, VLS designed an innovative house lighting system that includes battery backup, seven 400-watt inverters, and a Philips Strand Lighting’s Emergency DMX Bypass Switch to provide data to lighting fixtures in the event of power interruption.
An architectural lighting control network, utilizing ETC’s Paradigm Architectural Control Processor, ETC Unison ERN Architectural Control Network Enclosure and wall-mounted control surfaces allow church staff to easily engage presets or to simply dim lights throughout the auditorium. For further flexibility, architectural fixtures also interface with the Grand MA Lite stage lighting console for house lighting control during church services and musical performances.An additional challenge facing the teams was that all technology provisions were required to be ground-supported—because the design of the original timber-supported roof would not allow for the additional weight load of overhead rigging. To solve the problem, the lighting team designed a creative solution using the sanctuary's eight marble columns.“The design was inspired by the lattice scaffolding used during the Washington Monument renovation,” Buescher says. “Scaffolding allowed people to enjoy the beauty of the structure while supporting the needed work.”
“We quickly realized the many ties that this church building had to the community … this project allowed us to respect and preserve the history of this great building as it enters a new phase as Crossroads’ Uptown Campus.”
—SUE LANDGREBE, Director of Building and Facilities, Crossroads Church, Cincinnati, OH.
Similarly, at Crossroads’ Uptown Campus, custom truss structures wrap the columns and provide new lighting positions without obscuring the columns’ original beauty. A 6-foot circle of schedule 40 pipe atop the scaffolding provides ample positions for architectural lighting, in addition to a combination of LED and conventional spotlights for the directional lighting of the stage, audio components, and projectors used to create Crossroads’ weekend experience. “We considered trussing across,” recalls Buescher, “and while that is more of what we are used to doing for lighting and sound design, we realized that that wouldn’t work with the ceiling. We decided to work with less ideal lighting positions in order to maintain the room aesthetic.” Lighting design with Martin Mac Aura XB washes offers the Crossroads team the ability to quickly change colors to set the tone of the performance or message, while Martin Mac Aura XB moving lights provide focused lighting effects. To control intelligent lighting fixtures, each truss tower houses a customized panel with power and data/network outputs. Additional moving lights, ellipsoidal spotlights and LED washes are deployed as floor-mounted lights and backlights surrounding the stage. These stage fixtures enhance music performances, setting the mood for the worship band, and can be easily relocated or augmented for special events and holiday celebrations. Additional custom network panels were strategically located to create a flexible production environment.
Audio challenges & solutions
Buescher worked closely with Kelly Prince, president, and Craig Compton, head engineer, of ProSound & Video of Orlando, Fla., and acoustician Ed Dugger and Associates of Miami, Fla., to solve the issues of providing outstanding audio and video while preserving the aesthetic of the auditorium. “Our challenge for audio was to focus energy where it was needed,” Prince says. “Careful consideration was given to speaker selection and placement.” Rather than a typical line array system, a point source stereo audio system was tailored to the room that provides ample coverage in the main seating area, as well as the balcony and side seating areas.
The system uses seven different loudspeaker configuration deployed in multiple points in the room. The loudspeaker configurations employ a combination of Meyer loudspeaker components, including JM-1P clusters with UPJ-1P as down fills, Column Array Loudspeakers (CAL), and UPJunior and UPM powered speakers, as well as HMS-10 and HMS-5 surround speakers. Six Meyer 900-LFC compact subwoofers located on the stage were installed to reinforce low-end audio. “We have been very pleased with the performance of Meyer components at our other campuses,” says Buescher, “and knew they would perform well in this challenging environment.” Signal processing is accomplished with Meyer Galileo and D-Mitri processors and mixing is done on a Digico SD-5 mixing console located in a seating area halfway back from the stage at stage right. At that position, engineers rely on near field mixing to preserve the center aisle. According to Prince the quality of the audio systems far exceeded anything they thought could be achieved. “It’s now one of my favorite rooms,” he says.
Building restoration included the exterior of the Uptown Campus, where community congregates and connects before and after worship services.
Technology for the exterior
In addition to typical restorations of the exterior of the Uptown campus and as part of the purchase agreement, Landgrebe and the Crossroads team worked with Platte Design to produce a plan for replacing the church’s destroyed spires. “We wanted the steeple design to embrace the full story of the church,” observes Kurt Platte, “including the history of the fire and how the steeples have acted as a beacon for the community here.”
The plan called for brightly illuminated, perforated steel-clad spires, in the same shape and scale as the originals, to cap each steeple. Superior Structures of Harrison, Ohio, was contracted to complete the steel spires painted to emulate the original copper patina. To further highlight the spires, Pummell and VLS’s Adam Hayward experimented with tightly focused LED wash lighting fixtures to concentrate light within the new steeples. Four powerful CK Special, ColorReach Compact Powercore LED fixtures were selected for installation at the base, uplighting each spire with a warm white glow. Adding to the building’s after-dark charm, interior fixtures dramatically illuminate the church’s 13 dramatic stained glass windows. The exterior architectural lighting with LED fixtures proved to be cost effective while adding “curb appeal” and architectural interest. In fact, an informal review of the average power cost per KWh revealed that running the dramatic lighting 12 hours per day would only cost about $500 annually. Buescher describes the 24-hour appeal of the building as “well worth the cost.”
New life for an old space
The Crossroads Church Uptown Campus project brought together the skills of several expert teams to give a new look (and new life) to an old space, while preserving the character and history of an important Cincinnati landmark. Pummell and Buescher agree that despite the issues encountered with saving the historic structure, through the team’s hard work and careful planning, no compromises had to be made that negatively impacted their creative programming. “Our teams got everything we wanted,” notes Pummell. Throughout the renovation, all teams showed great respect for the building’s original design. “We quickly realized the many ties that this church building had to the community, and that we weren’t the first to make changes here,” says Landgrebe. “This project allowed us to respect and preserve the history of this great building as it enters a new phase as Crossroads’ Uptown Campus.”
