St. John’s Abbey Church

This edifice is part of a large Benedictine monastery and consists of a trapezoidal nave and a bell tower the shape of which is itself reminiscent of a bell. With the sculptural use of exposed concrete on a monumental scale, the church is considered a key item in Breuer’s oeuvre (Breuer’s first religious building), and in North American church architecture per se. Here, for the first time, there is a massive, rough-walled interior and thereafter the folded plate walls became an ever more prevalent feature. In Europe, there is nothing comparable at that time, either.