St. John The Baptist Catholic Church Renovation & Restoration
Project Year: 2011
Architects: Cockfield Jackson Architects, Kevin Babb, Project Architect
General Contractor: Faulk and Meek
This magnificent restoration of this very architecturally and historically important 250 year old church garnered several well deserved national and regional awards. Faulk and Meek were awarded the 2012 national Alliant Build America Award as the best renovation in the country for projects under $10 million. In addition, the Louisiana chapter of the AIA awarded Cockfield Jackson the Gold Rose Award for the best design of 2011.
Bella Dura was very proud and humbled to be part of this wonderful project which brought together some of the best artisans and craftsmen in the region including stained glass artists, furniture makers, woodworkers, and skilled paint artisans. This was a rare gathering of the best of the best.
The primary focus of the work of Bella Dura was the fabrication and installation of the beautiful baptismal font designed by Kevin Babb. The eight foot diameter pool has a raised smaller bowl where recirculated water cascades down a stone spillway back into the pool. The stone is our Macedonia. In addition to some small tops for pieces made by the furniture maker, Bella Dura also provided stone flooring and wall cladding and molding for the votive candle area and a large stone top in a niche which features a Byzantine painting of the Crucifixion.
The font sits front and center some thirty feet inside the main door at the head of the main aisle. Everyone entering the church must pass either to the left or right of the font.
Worthy of note is the incredible rededication and sanctifying ceremony that reopened the church. It was a spectacle worthy of Rome with a clergy cast of dozens with song and incense in abundance
