Saint Mary of the Annunciation Melrose, MA=

The nave of Saint Mary’s Church, built in 1895, had come through the manifold and sundry changes in architectural fashions largely unchanged. The chancel on the other hand, had been transformed twice: ‘de-Victorianized’ in the 1920s and liturgically updated following Vatican II in the 1970s.

In resorting the church’s interior, we brought back rich color, decorative painting, and Victorian style furnishings – all things that had been lost as a result of a changing Church. Other notable upgrades executed at this time included sensitive installation of a ramp to make the raised chancel accessible to all parishioners, an arched screen to define the apse as a chapel for the Blessed Sacrament, and new devotional shrines housing statues of Our Lady and Saint Joseph. Keefe Associates