Armenia in the Desert
Among the other things he learned on his visit is that the drum – or cupola – needed to have plain, rather than stained glass.
“You’re supposed to have the pure light of heaven come through there,” Martin explains.
And, the towers at the four corners of the building serve a very practical purpose. Throughout history, the region has been a volatile one, with the land and political power changing hands many times.
Click photo to enlarge“I was told the towers were for women and children,” he says. “The churches were made of stone, and they were beautiful, but they were also built for defense.”
In one church, Martin saw figures of a man and his two children – the stone carver likely being paid extra to including the trio – on the façade, along with the date, which happened to be A.D. 1004.
CHOICES
Back in this country, Martin decided to base his design on St. Hripsime, a seventh-century stone church in Etchmiadzin, Armenia.
However, there were problems. Both Martin and contractor Asaro says some of them came from the Rancho Mirage city government.
“I originally fought for a 92’ tower, and the city council shot me down because there’s a 20’ limit in the city,” says Martin. “I ended up getting 57’, plus the cross.”
“When the city told Charlie to lower it, he had to make it smaller to maintain the proportions,” says Asaro. “It ended up being smaller than what he was trying to do. Still, it’s quite a structure.”
Martin re-proportioned the building based on an Armenian church in New York.
Then, there were Martin’s concerns for authenticity versus the congregation’s desire to get the project completed. That included the architect’s desire to face the building with traditional 4’-6’ travertine cladding.
Click photo to enlarge
“Because the building was going to have that cladding, it’s a masonry building,” says Asaro. “It’s built of 12” thick block filled with rebar and fully grouted. It’s a very solid structure.”
“When I designed it, I designed it for the stone I saw in Armenia,” says Martin. “We had steel angle-iron that ran horizontally to hold the weight.”
Martin had even speced a traditional dark Armenian travertine for the exterior. He says Armenians historically would lay out their cladding in random heights, with color changes between the courses.
“I’ve stood and admired the Duomo (Basilica of St. Mary of the Flower) in Florence [Italy] which is done in cream and dark-green marble,” Martin says. “The Armenians had already done that in 800 A.D.”
However, Martin’s color choice wasn’t well received by the congregation, and Rancho Mirage city officials felt a lighter shade would be more appropriate.
For awhile, Asaro says there was considerable debate over how the building would be finished as the building committee struggled to arrive at just the right answer.
“I told them the city probably wouldn’t let them go with an old block building,” says the contractor. “We had options to paint it or stucco it – just to do something in case the city had problems with it not having an exterior finish.”
Asaro says also under discussion was the use of a manufactured stone that could be made in Southern California. However, he said the desire for natural stone was quite strong.
“Then, they found another option,” he says.
