Gather & Grow

01/05/2026

What. It was all about!

05/13/2025

We made the news!

"A $1 million elevator and disability access project has been completed at the Cathedral of St. James Episcopal Church in South Bend that officials there hope better serves the community.

The decade-long multi-phase project involved an office remodel five years ago, and the elevator addition most recently at the church, located at 117 N. Lafayette Blvd.

The church officials said planning and fundraising for the project was done over the course of a decade, so as to not involved the church going into debt.

The Very Rev. Brian Grantz, dean and rector of the church, said there is a 1954 record in the church archives that the congregation had made a recommendation for an elevator for the church.

This south side of the Cathedral of St. James Episcopal Church at 117 N. Lafayette Blvd. in South Bend has the $1 million elevator renovation and the new entrance that gives the church nearly full access for people of all abilities.
"We have taken 71 years to get it done," he said.

Grantz explained some work was done in 2018-19 to the addition on the church. The current project consisted of the elevator, which now services the basement and the two floors of the church and the new entrance on the south side of the building.
Grantz said the design from Principal Architect Joseph Dzierla blended the old and new structures well. He also gave praise to the city of South Bend whose staff, in looking over plans, suggested a window and sconce lighting for the project that he said enhanced the aesthetics.

With the completed work, the church is now 95% accessible for people of all abilities. The remaining work to be done in the future will involve accessibility renovations for the restrooms, sanctuary, gathering room and outside landscaping areas."

A longtime goal of access to the downtown South Bend Episcopal church has been done with completion of an elevator project on the building's south side.

03/30/2025

Done!

03/26/2025

Meanwhile, there's a new ceiling and light fixtures in Cathedral Hall, and our in-house carpenters have already begun work installing the new storage room walls. Smile for the camera, Mike and Rick!

03/26/2025

In the new hallway outside the upstairs office area, there's fresh paint and the new light fixtures are on!

03/26/2025

Tile being laid in the new lobby area - while the elevator installers are doing some more fine-tuning

03/26/2025

The fences are down and the entrance sidewalk is in!

03/13/2025

Feeling so grateful for the many skilled people who have been working on our site, from architects to engineers, from bricklayers to our amazing site manager Steve. Not even the most sophisticated AI could ever compete!

Step into a world where AI takes on the construction industry and delivers... masterpieces? Our hilariously warped corporate parody video showcases a "constr...

03/08/2025

LEFT: Looking out the new entrance from the main floor hallway. TOP RIGHT: Looking through the ground level elevator door - the elevator floor is visible & you can see both the main level and lower level hallways. MID-RIGHT: The upper level elevator opening with newly completed brick work. BOTTOM RIGHT: The grid for the new ceiling in Cathedral Hall was installed on Thursday. Lighting and ceiling tiles might just maybe be done by the end of this coming week.

03/04/2025

Father Brian calls this "the mountain goat path," adding "the photo does no justice to the amount of mud on the stairs." 😆

03/04/2025

All blocked in! Brickwork soon to follow.

03/01/2025

What an improvement in our basement stairwell - new ceiling has been drywalled and mudded. Our new admin workstation is looking snazzy, too