2459 Washington Avenue at West 25th Street, Cleveland; built in 1945 (original church completed in 1868, restored in the early 1940s, and destroyed by fire in 1943.) Gothic.

 

Exterior: Tennessee Crab Orchard stone (Crossville Sandstone) set as random ashlar was used for the 1945 St. Malachi's Church. The trim is Indiana limestone. According to specifications for the building, the roofing is purple, sea green, black, gold, and unfading green slate. Now that the slate has weathered for a number of years, the colors range from shades of gold to brown to dark gray, with the latter predominant. The stone entranceway of the old church still stands to the north of the current church, on Washington Street. Two cornerstones are built into this entranceway, one from the 1868 church and the other inscribed "rebuilt from original stone 1867--75 years--1942." This stairway contains several types of sandstone, including beige Berea Sandstone from northern Ohio, and red and purple sandstones. The red sandstone with gray spheres is probably Portage Entry Red sandstone (Jacobsville Sandstone) from the upper peninsula of Michigan.

 

West facade of church with exterior facing of Tennessee    Crab Orchard Stone (Crossville Sandstone).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interior: The windowsills are made of a gray limestone (probably Tennessee Gray or Ozark Gray marble) with fossil brachiopods. The original main altar uses three types of marble: a red and white mottled stone, a gray and white mottled "marble," and a beige-colored limestone. Side altars feature a beige nodular limestone and a brecciated limestone consisting of beige clasts in a darker matrix.

References: Hannibal, 1997; Papers in Diocese of Cleveland archives

 

 

 

Detail showing cornerstone made of Indiana limestone and exterior facing of Tennessee Crab Orchard stone.

 

 

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