The limestone-clad church with its red clay tile roof has been standing at the corner of Elm and Third Streets in Trenton since 1930. The old stone church is dear to the hearts of this tightly-knit Downriver parish, originally founded in 1849. Over 150 years old, St. Joseph Catholic Church is one of the oldest parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit and in the Downriver area. Time hasn’t changed the face of the existing building, but it has altered the size of the parish, itself. This parish of 1,300 families was clearly outgrowing the confines of this small country Gothic church. Yops & Wilkie’s sensitive design expanded the seating capacity and retained the historic integrity of this gracious structure.

“Maintaining the historical value of the old church and duplicating it in the new church addition was the key to the project’s success,” said Steven J. Bainbridge, chairman of the parish building committee.
By the late ‘90s, the small stone church with a seating capacity of only 270 was hosting six masses a weekend. The new church addition more than doubled the seating capacity to 585 and reduced the number of masses from six to four, relieving the strain on the parish’s sole priest - then Fr. Jim Vedro, the former pastor who spearheaded the ambitious building program, added

Bainbridge.

“Initially, I don’t think anybody believed that they could double the seating capacity in the church and not ruin the architecture of the original building,” said John S. Wilkie, AIA, principal of Wyandotte-based Yops & Wilkie, Architects. But seeing is believing. The building committee hosted open house meetings in the church basement and converted many a doubting Thomas after displaying a model of the proposed project.
Yops & Wilkie converted a rectangular processional church into a square configuration. “The original church is essentially rectangular, but by doubling it we have made a space that is close to an actual square with seating surrounding the new center altar,” said David M. Zanley, project designer for Yops & Wilkie.

Sensitive to the parish’s devotion to the original church, Yops & Wilkie and Site Development, Inc., as general contractors, duplicated the interior of the old church, removing and recreating the south wall in almost exact detail and placing a new center aisle between the original church and the new addition. “The new altar is in the center, and the old altar serves as the reservation chapel,” said Wilkie. “The old church is intact and the new addition almost

exactly replicates the old. You can hardly
tell the difference.”

The project extended well beyond the church addition and included renovating a former convent into parish offices and constructing a small elevator and classroom addition on the south side of the existing school. The main component of the expanded school facility is a new 11,430-square-foot addition to the parish elementary school, originally built in 1947 on the church grounds. The elementary school is part of the close bonds of family and community weaving together this long-established parish. Bainbridge’s wife was the first first-grader in the elementary school, and the current pastor, Fr. Steve Wertanen, was also a student at St. Joseph Elementary.

Yops & Wilkie and Site Development handled the concerns of this tightly-knit parish and also worked within the confines of an extremely tight site. “We didn’t have much room to maneuver and to store construction materials,” said Leonard J. Theisen, president of Madison Heights-based Site Development. Demolition of an old rectory, a stone-clad house in ill repair, carved out space for the two main additions, both snuggly sandwiched between the existing church and school.