St. Francis Chapel...

...being torn down because the Sisters of St. Francis can't afford its' upkeep , and to say it's a shame is a huge understatement! The chapel was built in 1894 in a beautiful Gothic style & seated 250 people. It was designed & built by Erhard Brielmaier, the architect who also designed St. Josaphat Basilica in Milwaukee. He had three daughters in the order of the Sisters of St. Francis, so it was a labor of love for him to build a lovely chapel for ALL of the sisters. The superb stained glass windows were imported from Innsbruck, Austria & I was very taken with them when I was inside the chapel a number of years ago. Now they've all been removed. I have to say I was shocked to see it was being taken down--I'd had no idea it had been planned--but glimpsed the open end of it from the road as we drove past, so turned around to get a closer look. Some of you may recall my pictures of the removal of old St. Mary's High School & the Sisters' living quarters last year on these same grounds, as well as the building of a new retirement home for the remaining 30 or so Sisters of St. Francis--now all in their 70's & 80's. The two old brass domes from the original 1850's  buildings that were torn down last year had been saved and placed on top of the Sisters' new living quarters. In my extra, I took a picture of two of the many windows that framed the walls of the chapel. I took it from the West side as you can see right through to the windows on the East side, one of which is framing the smaller of the two domes. It's a bit of an illusion in that it looks like the dome is right outside the east-facing window, when in fact the dome is about a block away. It just broke my heart to see all the bricks laying on the ground. The weather here today was a balmy, spring-like 56 degrees (F)  (13C); very UN-winter like! :))  (I've tagged it for derelict Sunday, and thanks to Marlieske for hosting!)