Interior Floors, Wall Base & Liturgical Furnishings
Location: Tampa, FL
Owner: Jesuit High School
Materials:Arabescato, Rosso Francia, Bianco Carrara, Giallo Reale, Breccia Violetta, Nero Marquina, Rosso Verona, Giallo Siena, Rosso Levanto, Verde Issorie, Bardiglio
Description: Located on a newly formed quadrangle at the center of Jesuit High School campus, the 900-seat Chapel of the Holy Cross was designed as a transcendent space for sacred liturgy and for daily convocations of the student body.
The façade features a limestone portico with 24-foot-tall Doric columns. The façade has a monumental central doorway and two side doors framed in limestone. A six-foot-tall hand-carved limestone escutcheon is found above the central door.
The rectangular exterior encloses an octagonal interior. Four shrines on the diagonal feature paintings of martyrs from around the world flanked by Rosso Levanto and Verde Issorie marble columns with Carrara marble bases. Carved Verde Issorie palms are displayed on the front of the four Arabescato marble altars.
The sanctuary floor is designed as a classic tessellated pattern comprised of Rosso Verona, Bianco Carrara, and Nero Marquina marbles. The raised sanctuary features both a freestanding altar and a high altar composed of Arabescato marble from Carrara, Italy, with intricate classical carving. Sourcing and fabricating four nine-foot-tall Rosso Francia high altar columns and pilasters as single pieces required a dedicated effort. Below a three-foot-tall tabernacle is an octagonal tempietto fabricated in Spain from Bianco Carrara Venatino marble. To ground the larger interior volume, a Bardiglio marble wainscot tie the interior spaces together.
