Parishioners mourned the loss of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic Church, but part of that church lives on in a new bar.
Bellon Wrecking and Salvage Co. did the demolition of the church, rectory, convent and gymnasium on the St. Aloysius property in the Southwest Garden neighborhood. Don Bellon salvaged pews, doors and kneelers from the church and incorporated them into the design of The Church Key, a new bar at 4127 Manchester Ave. in the area of the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood called The Grove.
"We took the pews and we made booths out of them. We cut the backs out of leftover pews and we made tabletops out of them. We took the choir loft and made that the front of the bar," Bellon said.
For footrests, Bellon used kneelers form the church. The bar top is also made from the wood from the pews. The bar also incorporates thick interior doors from the church and uses the floor from the gym.
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Barb Messmer, a former parishioner of St. Aloysius, said using the pews borders on sacrilegious. The ends of the pews have crosses on them.
When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ decided to sell the church, it picked a developer that agreed to raze the building. Father Vince Bommarito, the priest of St. Ambrose Parish into which St. Aloysius Parish has been incorporated, said last year the decision that the church building should not be reused was made with the Rev. Msgr. Vernon Gardin, a vicar general of the archdiocese; and former parishioners of St. Aloysius.
Bommarito said Catholics saw St. Lawrence O'Toole Church on O'Fallon Street in North City turned into a warehouse. He said it would be too much for people to see their church reused inappropriately.
Messmer said she believes using the pews in a bar is inappropriate.
However, another former parishioner, who declined to have her name used, said she is glad the furnishings could be reused instead of destroyed.
Bommarito was on vacation and could not be reached for comment. The Archdiocese had made no official comment by Journal press time.
Bellon said the crosses on the ends of the pews are the only things that might be seen as sacrilegious. He said The Church Key does not contain anything overtly Catholic, such as the stained glass windows or the stations of the cross. The Archdiocese sold the stained glass windows to parishioners from St. Aloysius.
Bellon's company made sure St. Ambrose parish received the cornerstone from the church.
Bellon has reused salvaged material from other buildings, albeit not from churches, in two other businesses, Novak's Bar and Grill, 4121 Manchester Ave., and Bellon's Market 904 S. Vandeventer Ave.
"You see all this stuff. You hate to throw it away, so you do something with it," Bellon said.
The name of the bar is also recycled, Bellon said. A church key was a pointed instrument used to open beer cans before the advent of pull tabs.