Stunning Classical Revival building
Echoes From Calvary Church is a visually stunning Classical Revival building. Its acoustically engineered sanctuary is also an ideal concert hall, rich in resonance. What’s even more impressive than the building, however, is the client relationship and innovative work process that empowered this small independent congregation to build the worship center of their dreams, debt free!
The church’s pastor had a dream: gathering for worship in a building modeled after Jefferson’s Monticello. He also had challenges greater than the architectural demands of the project, chief among them the church’s desire not to spend beyond the limits of their modest budget and to build the project without taking on any debt—quite a challenge.
They achieved their dream of a worship center modeled after Jefferson’s Monticello, and they built it debt free!
Serving generations to come
This was a perfect project for David J. Elliot & Associates because we love challenges and we love community projects. David not only used his deep experience to make their building dream a reality, but also found creative ways to respect their budget limitations. He staged the construction so the church could build what they could pay for, empowering them to use low cost and volunteer labor as much as possible. This included creatively scheduling inspections so all permits could be extended for as long as necessary without added fees. The project took 10 years to complete, but the church community was strengthened through the process, they all had ownership of because they had helped build it and they achieved their goal of being Echoes from Calvary ended up completely debt-free! They have established a legacy, both through the sacred worship space as well as the economic stability of the congregation, that will serve generations to come.
World class sound engineering to rival a concert hall in San Francisco or New York
In addition to the visual beauty which is immediately apparent, another notable feature is the acoustic engineering. A dome shape is the ideal for distributing sound evenly throughout buildings interior, however a dome is very expensive to build, so David made a close approximation through the octagonal shape creatively achieving the same results but within the budget constraints of the project. The acoustic environment of each seat in the house was carefully modeled and examined so everyone has a rich experience of the original sound on stage. The sound design of a hall can be optimized for speaking or for musical concerts, Echoes From Calvary was designed with both in mind. An independent rural church was about to achieve a stunning sanctuary with world class sound engineering to rival a concert hall in San Francisco or New York.
Through this process, David was welcomed into the church like a family member. At the memorial service for the founding pastor, his wife told David, “He loved you like family.” Now, there is a beautiful sanctuary that serves the congregation and the community, we were able to execute on a big dream in creative ways to empower a small independent congregation to achieve what would otherwise only be accessible to larger congregations with much more affluent members and through the process we built an exceptional long term client relationship that left both sides grateful for each other.
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Contact us about your project
831-663-1418
info@djelliott.net
17800 Cunha Lane
Salinas, California 93907