The Cathedral of the Holy Cross, consecrated in 1875, is New England’s largest Catholic church and had gone without renovations for decades. With numerous repairs needed, Cardinal Sean O’Malley considered rejuvenating the entire Cathedral after seeing another church’s illuminated stained glass. The architecture firm latched onto that grain of inspiration to design a comprehensive renovation that brings new life and light to the holy space—inside and out. A complete lighting redesign was paramount to rejuvenating the space.
This included backlighting the stained glass windows and lighting the façade to add exterior visibility and drama. The design team relied on historical photos and a 3D digital model developed from laser scans to guide the placement of energy-efficient lighting to brighten the interior and safety improvements to bring the historic building to modern standards. Additional renovations included: • refreshing and lightening interior finishes in a palette of whites, and reintroducing red and gold paint details observed in historical photos that had long been painted over, • refurbishing original oil-painted Stations of the Cross, restoring murals in the apse ceiling, and replicating sanctuary wall patterns, • creating new liturgical appointments to match the original marble reredos—replacing fixtures not original to the Cathedral, • restoring gold accents on column capitals and adding a gold bead edge to ceiling truss trims to draw the eye up, • reconfiguring the sanctuary platforms to create more space for co-celebrants and project the altar closer to congregants in the nave, • replacing carpeting and vinyl flooring with white and gray durable natural stone floors in the sanctuary and nave, • and discretely integrating modern infrastructural upgrades and ADA improvements.
Designers achieved the comprehensive transformation of the Cathedral through a unifying renovation design much greater than the sum of its parts. Today the church once again stands as a beacon to the community.