Auburn Alabama Area Real Estate Living

Being a Chicago native (and growing up Irish-Catholic), I'm primarily attuned to news about this culturally rich city. I was sad to learn of the famous Holy Names Cathedral, caught in a burning blaze early this morning, that lasted about two hours. HOLY NAMES, which is attached to Xavier Ward K-8 School and located on State Street in the heart of downtown, is often called "where Chicago goes to pray." It is the central, place for Catholic worship in the city. Chicago is well-known for extensive architectural preservation in timepieces like this Cathedral, where you step off the city streets into breathtaking, Gothic design and spiraling carvings in marble, much like those of medieval Europe. Holy Names Cathedral has been undergoing restoration this past year...and now, the fire has burned down much of the progress, returning the project to square one. At least it wasn't the disaster of a fire started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow back in the dry summer of 1871! In fact, my Chicago-based sister and her family were home from school and work today because of a few feet of snow that had fallen last night, which, around the cathedral, became stained with soot. Aside from the worker who was preparing for the 6:00 A.M. service and discovered the fire in the attic, Chicago firefighters are credited for the keeping the fire from flaming into a complete disaster.

THE HISTORY of cathedrals as real estate is fascinating to me, which is another reason why this story caught my interest. In the 1st century (1000 A.D.), when people began to accept the fact that the world was NOT going to end, as had been long predicted and expected (remember our own concern before the new millenium?), there was a tremendous surge in the construction of places of worship, especially cathedrals. In fact, in the span of one century, 500 cathedrals were built! Stories and prayers and tributes to The Blessed Mother or Mother Mary had created powerful inspiration and motivation for such works in this span of a hundred years---just before The Dark Ages cast its dismal shadow and ran its course of history. These CENTERS of the community were really like small cities at that time. Markets were always nearby, and much business was conducted inside the cathedrals. It was also a shelter for homeless and some who were sick. Even plays were performed, indoors or on the steps. The understanding of all this, among the culture of those times, was their community living was a daily sermon and testament to God... and the loftiness and ornateness of the structure, represented their adoration and lifting up of their views to spiritual things. There was no limit to how high you could build a cathedral, and I think it bacame a bit of a contest, much like modern-day skyscrapers (ie, the tallest building in the world). Notre Dame in Paris was considered amazing at 114 feet. until Chartres exceeded that at approximately 10 feet higher. The next highest one (Amiens) was up about 15 feet more! I believe it ended there, although another one tried adding 20 feet more to outdo everyone, but had some major construction issues in the end, in addition to running out of money (does that sound like a familiar real estate story?)  Typically, too, the building of these cathedrals spanned over generations... I can only imagine the disappointment of the last one that couldn't achieve its vision. 

And oh, the acoustics! What a most magnificent place to hear music performed... Besides the famous Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the music of Luciano Pavarotti once reached heights of heaven at HOLY NAMES CATHEDRAL.

The really GOOD news of today is that Holy Names Cathedral will be SAVED and once again, restored... and isn't that a bit reminiscent of our own quest?

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Active in Alabama, Mara Hawks, REALTOR with FIRST REALTY of Auburn, AL, #1 Real Estate Team in Lee County, THE LEADER in professional real estate services in Auburn, Opelika & Lee County for over 3 decades! Committed to INTEGRITY, KNOWLEDGE & SERVICE.

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