154 West Wood Street, Youngstown; present building completed 1958. Neo-Romanesque.

Exterior: St. Columba Cathedral utilizes Mankato Stone (Oneota Dolostone) set as ashlar. This stone is a cream-colored grayish orange dolostone quarried in the Mankato-Kasota area of southern Minnesota. The 132-foot high campanile and the 11-foot tall statue of St. Columba, an Irish saint, are carved of the same stone. This stone has weathered since installation, with parts (often fossil burrows) weathering more than the surrounding matrix. Much of the stone ashlar slabs used for the cathedral have been cut so that what was once horizontal in the quarry is now vertical. This stone is distinctly mottled. Much of this mottling represents trace fossils, which they have become more evident over time because of weathering of the stone, resulting in differential darkening and etching. The stone used for the statue of St. Columba is set in the same horizontal orientation as in the quarry. Horizontal stratification is visible, and the circular cross sections of the cylindrical trace fossils can be seen in the statue.

Interior: Egyptian Vein marble and terrazzo are used in the interior of the cathedral. The baptismal font is made of Nabresina Romano Italian marble and the altar is made of travertine

Remarks: The golden color of the weathered Mankato Stone on the front of the Cathedral in the afternoon sun is stunning, especially under a blue sky. The weathered Mankato stone also gives this rather modern church a distinguished, aged look.

References: Anonymous [no date].

St. Columba statue, showing details of the Mankato stone.

 

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