Day two in Detroit. The only plans on our agenda for the second and third days of our Michigan trip were to hit some antique stores. Looking on line, several stores in the area seemed interesting, but more on that in a bit. When planning for the vacation, I Googled Art Deco Detroit and The National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica popped up in my search list. Not knowing how much this stop would mean to Chris (I was fine with it – C.), I came up with a plan for the day. The antique stores in the area didn’t open until 11:00 AM, so we had time to stop at the basilica, take some photos and be on our way.

 

The National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica

Not only is the Shrine a beautiful example of Art Deco architecture, it has another 1920s – 1930s connection that also interested me.

 

Father Charles E. Coughlin

No post about the National Shrine of the Little Flower can be written without mentioning Father Charles E. Coughlin (1891 – 1979). Personally, I had been aware of Father Coughlin since I was in junior high school. Later, the more I read about the 1930s and the more I learned about him, an unsavory history emerged.

In the 1920s, Coughlin took to the airwaves as a way to teach catechism to children. He soon realized that it was also a great way to give sermons and to raise money for his new parish in the Detroit suburbs. Within a few years the tone of his sermons started to change from the spiritual to the political, especially as the depression worsened. Fervent anti-communist, he initially supported Roosevelt’s New Deal, seeing this as a way to combat the communist threat. Eventually he became disenchanted with FDR and the New Deal and used his radio platform of 30 million listeners to spread his message. He was also anti-Wall Street and anti-Semitic. These views were doing more harm to his church than good and he was eventually banned from the airwaves. Coughlin continued to serve the National Shrine of the Little Flower until his retirement in 1966, and passed away in 1979. Unfortunately his legacy is his  controversial and vitriolic political views and today he is known as “the father of hate radio”. But we did not visit the shrine to pay homage to Father Coughlin, we were there to see the magnificent Art Deco church that he helped to create.

 

Operating continually in Royal Oak since 1926, Detroit Bishop Michael Gallagher chose Father Coughlin the task of establishing this Catholic parish in the largely Protestant community. The new church was named in honor of the recently canonized St. Thérèse de Lisieux, the Little Flower. This original chapel, a small wooden structure, burnt down in 1936.

Within two weeks of its opening, the Ku Klux Klan placed a burning cross in front of it. The church response to the cross burning was to build one they could not burn. Architect Henry J. McGill received the commission to design the new church. Construction took place in two phases. First came the Charity Crucifixion Tower, with construction beginning in 1929. The 104 foot limestone tower is adorned with sculptural figures designed by Rene Paul Chambellan (1893 – 1955). Using Chambellan’s plans the figures were executed by Enrico (Harry) Liva, an Italian stone carver of the Ingalls Stone Company located in Bedford, Indiana. The western facade features the 28 foot high figure of Christ. Immediately below the sculpture are Christ’s seven last words.

Just below the seven last words is a doorway with “Charity” and “Christ Crucified” carved above it. Items associated with the Passion surround the doorframe. This doorway opens to a pulpit at the center of the Tower’s base. The pulpit consists of five stepped stone slabs, each representing an Archangel, with Michael at the center. The entire tower stands on a base of polished granite.

 

Framing the tower’s northwest and southwest corners are four more figures, also designed by Chambellan. On the northern corner there are representations of John the Apostle and the Virgin Mary. And opposite on the southern corner are Mary Magdalene and the Roman Centurion Longinus.

Crowning the tower are the symbols of the Four Evangelists, the Angel for Saint Matthew, the Lion for Saint Mark, the Ox for Saint Luke and the Eagle for Saint John.

 

Between the Charity Crucifixion Tower and the main body of the church is the Narthex.

Covering the Narthex’s walls is Vermont granite, laid out in random ashlar. A ziggurat design made of Indiana limestone frames the doors and the windows. The doors leading into the Narthex are bronze and on each is a meaningful Catholic symbol. On the north entrance doors is a pelican and her hungry brood, while the other door is a ship.

 

The header above the doors are decorated in a very modernistic style, in bronze and polished nickel and features a cross at its center. The header is framed by stepped polished granite that matches the foundation base and that is framed by ziggurat limestone.

Window frames of bronze with flower design relief work are throughout the church. But the southern windows of the Narthex have a special feature. These windows are built out to form a conservatory for the preservation of flowers in the winter.

 

A good amount of the money for the Shrine’s construction was raised from donations of listeners of the National Radio League of the Little Flower. It was originally intended to incorporate the seals of the 48 states on the exterior walls of the Shrine. Father Coughlin had the inspired idea to use state flowers instead and also to include the flowers and / or symbols of Hawaii and Alaska (still territories at the time of the Shrine’s construction), Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, the Virgin Islands, the Philippines, the Dominion of Canada and Cuba.

 

 

The main body of the church comprises of three wings with intermediate foyers. These foyers along with the Narthex, face the four points on the compass and are the church entrances. The exterior walls of the wings are constructed from the same limestone as the Crucifixion Tower. Two splayed-jamb designed to present radiant suns break up the limestone wall covering each wing.

The northern and southern wing walls also have four very slender windows, pierced into the shape of a two edge sword of justice. These windows are the ventilators for the Confessionals.

The majority of the exterior walls are covered in the same Seam-faced granite, from quarries in Massachusetts, laid out in coursed ashlar, the same as the Narthex.

The tent shaped roof is faced with copper and nickel-chrome steel. The roof is capped by a crown surmounted by a golden cross. The crown also serves as ventilating grillage from the church.

The relief carvings over the foyer entrance represents the patron saint of some member of the Coughlin family. The saints depicted are Saint Amelia, Saint Thomas, Saint Charles and Saint Agnes.

Now that we’re at the entrance, let’s go inside the church. The Narthex, originally planned to serve as a winter time chapel when crowds were smaller and to costly to heat the main church. The walls are line with Travertine marble, while Belgian marble bands the pillar and black marble terrazzo covers the floor.

Hand painted flowers originally decorated the ceiling and long, bent, flashed opal, etched Czechoslovakian glass lights ran its width. Vigil lights are bracketed to the columns with wrought bronze. These brackets harmonize with the delicate bronze gate leading into the Narthex’s sanctuary. At the base of the tower at the end of the Narthex is the Shrine of the Little Flower. The marble  full relief above the alter shows the Little Flower kneeling before the child Jesus seated on the knees of the Virgin Mary.

Through the years, a few changes have been made to the Narthex interior. The ceiling no longer has hand painted flowers or the Czechoslovakian, etched glass lights. Today a crystal chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling.

Because of the odd position of the property and various construction restrictions of the time, the architect, Henry J. McGill, had difficulty devising a plan for the church. After many schemes, McGill thought of expanding out the wings creating a form of a cross. Despite the church seemingly circular on the inside, from above one can see the cross shape. The tower is the base, the Narthex and altar the long beam and the two confessionals and main alter forming the cross arm.

The Nave’s main entrance is through two columns of Roman Breche marble standing on emerald-pearl granite bases.

At the center of the church is the alter. Surrounding the alter are the pews. Because of the limited area of the plot the church is built upon, the wings have two levels which greatly increases the seating capacity.

At twelve feet long, four feet ten inches wide and three feet high, the alter of Carrara marble and weighing eighteen tons, the alter was the largest in the United States at the time. A carved, gold leafed covered oak Baldachin hangs above the main alter. Suspended by eight bronze chains, originally draped with red damask valances. Today stained glass replaces the damask.

The Nave’s acoustical ceiling is painted with a modernistic design of rays and crosses. Early photos of the completed shrine show a plain ceiling. The painted design, although part of the original plan, was added a bit later.

On the eastern side of the Nave in the balcony is the pulpit. It is placed so it can be seen from every part of the church. The front of the pulpit features statues of six preacher-saints; St. Francis of Assis, St. Basil, St. Francis Xavier, St. Dominic, St. Paul and St. Anthony. These statues were carved by the firm of Jungwirth & Co. architectural sculptures and woodcarvers of Detroit. The canopy directly above the pulpit also houses a public address system.

Along the perimeter of the church, are five side chapels. These chapels form a crown around the main alter. Directly under the pulpit and opposite the Narthex is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

The other chapels all feature an entrance with an arabesque carving in the shape of a perfect octagon.

Visiting the Shrine was a wonderful start to the morning. Should you find yourself in the area do not miss the opportunity to visit it, you will not be disappointed.

After leaving the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, it was time to go antiquing!

Vintage Eastern Market

The first stop was Vintage Eastern Market. We had a bit of trouble finding this store as it is advertised at one address but had moved. Luckily, it was only a two block walk to get to the new location. The store front looks small. However, there are several areas off the main room each jammed packed with neatly displayed goods of all kinds.

Anthony found and bought a 1935 Wolfgang Hoffmann smoking / side No. 100 table. It was designed for the Howell Company.

It has a chrome banded black Formica top supported by three chrome tubes on a stepped base. The top is 13 1/2 inches wide and 18 inches high. It is also very heavy (14 lbs). This table originally retailed for $6.00 (the equivalent of $134.75 in 2023). The asking price was good. But if you know me, it wasn’t quite good enough! A quick call to the vendor and he got a bit knocked off the asking price.

While speaking with the shop keeper at the Vintage Eastern Market, we asked if there were any other store local that might have deco items. They mentioned a couple of places but felt Oddfellows’ Antiques store would suit us better than others.  Now, we passed this one on the way to the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica but it was closed. They said that store opens late and assured us it was now open.

Oddfellows’ Antiques

They also told us that Oddfellows’ stock is eclectic and leans more to mid-century. But they were sure to have some deco pieces.

It was just a short drive and on the same road as the shine.  This is a multi-floor business and we were pleasantly surprised.

The deco started at the first booth with a small stepped ashtray with chrome sailboat. Next up, a Homer Laughlin Tom & Jerry Punch bowl set followed by a display of some  Chase.

One vendor had an interesting chrome and ebonized wood triple plant stand / display unit. We liked it but ultimately passed. Mainly, we didn’t know where to put it and we realized it was just too long and not a practical design our needs.

Some dealers here display early American, deco, and mid-century all on one shelf. Other dealers organized item by style, era, etc… And still others piled things up in their booth like a Jenga.

It was in this last type of booth that I saw a tray. Made circa 1935 by Evercraft the “Finger Grip” has fluted chrome handles that aid in carrying your precious cargo of desired beverages. Initially Anthony passed on this but was a “possible” depending on what else we found.

Sure enough, in a different booth at the back of the store we found three Evercraft cocktail cups. The price was right for the cups and with the tray, (yes, we went back for it). Now, we are on our way to building a complete cocktail set.

The cups are apparently very rare and I was only able to find one example online but it offered no details about what they were called or actual year of production.

Evercraft giftware is not particularly difficult to find and is contemporary to Chase Copper & Brass and Revere giftware. It is good quality though perhaps not as good as Chase or Revere. However, it is equal in style to its competition. Evercraft never achieved the status of its rivals.

And more surprisingly, there is very little info out there about this company or their giftware lines.  In our opinion, Evercraft is worthy of collecting.

 

Heading downstairs we were excited to see what we would find – if anything.

In my teen age years, I (Anthony) was an avid collector of Coca-Cola memorabilia. And although I more or less no longer collects it, there are some items I still seeks out, like the early straight-sided bottles and serving trays. So I was excited when I noticed that one of the dealers on the lower level had for sale a 1930 Coke serving tray. In 1930 Coca-Cola issued two style of trays (the last year they would do so), The one made for bottle distributors feature a young lady in a white bathing suit. And the tray for the soda fountain market featuring a lady on the phone and just above her is a quote: “Meet me at the soda fountain”. This is the tray that I came across at Oddfellows. Collectors referred to this tray as the “Telephone Girl”.

As with all collectibles, condition effects the value. This tray is not in perfect condition. There is slight paint loss in the background of the image, along the rim and on the red boarder, and one corner is bent in.  But the seller’s price, originally $150 and marked down to $99, reflected its condition, and was more than fair.

Over the years some Coca-Cola trays have been reproduced (“Telephone Girl” isn’t one) and can fool novice collectors, here a few tips I have learned to distinguish an original from a repro.  The paint on original Coca-Cola trays in very vibrant. The gold paint is very metallic and is flecked. And the back of vintage trays is painted black. Along the bottom border of the image is marked with © COCA-COLA CO. and the year the tray was produced. Then comes the manufacturer (most Coke trays in the 1920s and 1930s were made by the American Art Works, Inc. of Coshocton, Ohio), and lastly MADE IN U.S.A. And finally my litmus test of an original tray – in the tail of the “C” in Coca is written TRADE MARK REGISTERED. All original Coke trays up till 1942 are marked this way. The tail of the “C” in reproduction trays is blank.

Across the aisle from the Coca-Cola tray, I (Chris) saw a beautiful unmarked art deco corner, curio table. The only draw back was the price. As lovely as it is, I just could not justify spending $295.00.  In a rare (read this as meaning never) moment of antiquing, Anthony actually encouraged me to haggle!

This is a delicate act. When haggling, you want to make a reasonable offer to your favor but not so low as to be insulting. I offered $200.00 and it was accepted.

As neither of us are carpenters, we are still trying to identify the woods used to create this. It is possible part bamboo strand tiger stripes or Madagascar rosewood, or Macassar ebony with either walnut and / or beech. Or, some combination of them.

Any wood workers out there? Your expertise is identifying the woods used is much appreciated. I can tell you it is a solid and well-built piece and in excellent condition. I would have kicked myself had I passed on this.

And there you have it. An exciting day for tabernacles, tables and trays!

Oh, my!

Anthony & Chris (the Freakin’ ‘Tiquen Guys)

Sources:

Emmett, Ric. American Art Deco Furniture. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Art Deco Pros Books, 2014.

Pencil Points, September, 1935

Petretti, Allan & Beyer, Chris. Classic Coca-Cola Serving Trays. Dubuque, Iowa: Antique Trader Books, 1998.

shrinechurch.com

Shrine of the Little Flower: souvenir book, dedicatory volume