Specializing in the Design and Restoration of Historic and Sacred Spaces
Est. 1963
TORONTO
ONTARIO
Saint Michael's Cathedral
Saint Michael's Cathedral was consecrated in 1848. Designed by William Thomas in the style of the English Gothic Revival, the construction of St. Michael's Cathedral was funded primarily by Irish immigrants. Throughout its history, the interior of the Cathedral was painted in a variety of schemes. Currently, the renovations are focused not only on necessary structural and exterior repair work, but also on an extensive interior restoration to its original Gothic Revival intentions.
Our studio's design for the ceiling, beams, walls and shields focused on maintaining the spirit of the original intent while simultaneously presenting completely new and original designs specific to the Cathedral. The design of the stars and use of gold leaf draws the eyes upwards while highlighting the architectural and structural elements.
The originality in design of accenting the diagonals in our ceiling composition is not only reminiscent of monumental Gothic architectural motifs, but also emphasizes the grandeur and verticality of St.Michael's Cathedral.
The use of genuine gold leaf in ecclesiastical art symbolizes eternal and divine light. In our design of the ceiling and structural elements we used two contrasting karats of gold leaf.
The blue and red borders around the gold stars serve to emphasize the existing Sanctuary and West-end stained glass windows. The background blue color of the ceiling composition correlates to the stained glass lancet windows throughout the Cathedral. It unifies the entire space under one cohesive composition.
There are eight, intricately sculpted plaster bosses at the apex of the ceiling. By utilizing gold leaf and colors introduced into the space with other elements of our design work, we highlighted the bosses and anchored them within the ceiling design.
