It was late on a Tuesday afternoon in 1989 when Chuck Toeniskoetter swung open the doors of Saint Joseph’s church in downtown San Jose to show his family what he’d been working on.
Alongside his wife and all three children, he invited them in and pointed upward, where two artists were lying on scaffolding and repainting murals on the ceiling above.
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Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s beautiful ‘Usonian’ homes in the Bay Area San Francisco’s incredible beauty, as photographed from above David Childs dies at 83; architect oversaw One World Trade Center that rose on Twin Towers site after 9/11Toeniskoetter, who had been leading the five-year restoration project required for the century-old church to earn basilica status from the Vatican, was in awe of the artists’ craftsmanship. Original murals from 1928 were starting to shine again.
While his family marveled over the beauty, the floor began to shake.
It was the beginning of the Loma Prieta earthquake, a 6.9 magnitude disaster that killed at least 63 people and caused more than $6 billion in damages. Toeniskoetter rushed his family under the scaffolding and held on tight as objects began flying off on each side.
When it was over, Toeniskoetter couldn’t believe it: Nobody in the church was harmed.
The building, first erected in 1877, had survived almost entirely unscathed.
A miracle, perhaps. Or just great timing.
“If we hadn’t just done all that work to restore the ceiling, my family and the artists and I would’ve been more than likely decimated,” Toeniskoetter said recently.
It was just weeks earlier that Toeniskoetter’s construction team discovered that the church’s roof, a series of triangular trusses without any columns to support them, were starting to fail. Toeniskoetter quickly called some engineers and began rebuilding the roof with copper and fiberglass, a combination of material he says will last forever.
As soon as the construction on the roof was complete, artists were called in to work on the ceiling murals, original 1928 oil paintings by Italian artist Father Luigi Sciocchetti.
Then the earthquake hit.
“And if we hadn’t redone that roof, it would’ve collapsed and we’d have all been gone,” Toeniskoetter said. “So yeah, that building means a lot to me.”
The following year, Toeniskoetter’s team of 50 to 60 people completed their five-year restoration project, and the church was dedicated as a cathedral.
In 1997, it was granted basilica status by the Vatican.
Today, only 93 churches in the United States have earned that designation, which honors churches with particular architectural beauty and, among other designations, allows them to host bishops, cardinals and even the pope.
On its way to becoming the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph, the church has undergone tremendous evolution.
The first St. Joseph’s adobe was built on San Fernando and Market Streets in 1777 and lasted until an 1818 earthquake caused the church to crack. A new one built in 1846 was destroyed by another earthquake in 1868. The next was accidentally set on fire by children playing with matches in 1875. In 1877, the final version of the church was erected.
Created in Roman Corinthian Cruciform architecture, the church welcomes visitors through three towering doors nestled behind four Greek columns that makes the building look like it could’ve once existed in the Roman era. Walk through the lobby and into the church to catch a glimpse of its majesty.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 26: Pedestrians cross the street on West San Fernando Street near Saint Joseph Cathedral in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)Colors of gold, sky blue and pomegranate red glow around the well-lit ceilings. Giant lanterns hang from above, though a few shine more brightly than the others; the church ran out of money during the installation and not all of the lanterns were able to be coated in real gold.
On the ceiling is a series of artwork all done by Sciocchetti in the 1920s. Oil paintings of New Testament biblical figures Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — designed with longer torsos to create the illusion of depth from below — were glued into the dome and surrounded by more ceiling art. Gold-colored angels with heads and wings line the perimeter. They were once thought to be made of plaster, but one fell down during Mass in the 1970s, and parishioners were stunned to see it floating. It was made of papier-mâché.
There are original stained glass windows all over the walls, though the windows to the north are dim; the adjacent building was constructed too close to the church and blocks the light from coming through. The window glass was mouth-blown, and the colors on most of them still shine brightly.
On each side of the church are large Italian marble shrines, though the top half of the shrines are actually made of wood from old sailing vessels and painted to look like marble.
Lifelike statues of Saint Clara (for Santa Clara) and Joseph (for Saint Joseph) are perched in the walls.
The church remains true to its original floor plan: the shape of a cross that is unique in that each of its symmetrical arms has exactly the same area, making it look more like a plus sign. Right under the midpoint of the church is the new altar, which was moved during the late-80s restoration project. The Vatican required the altar be visible to all in attendance, “to encourage more participation,” said church docent Annette Wen.
The original 1877 altar, which weighs 20 tons, is now in the back of the church and was turned around to create a small praying area for folks looking for some privacy. Across from the altar are three new stained glass windows that were also added during the restoration.
The domed ceiling of Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in San Jose. (Marta Yamamoto/Contra Costa Times Correspondent)To its right, there’s a large umbrella that only basilicas are allowed to have; it remains closed but would theoretically open if the pope were to visit — though no pope has yet.
The church can seat 800 people, possibly more on busy holidays and special celebrations, such as the annual blessing of the holy oils.
On a recent Friday, folks could be seen in the pews praying, kneeling at the marble shrines to the north and south, waiting for confessions on the south end and walking around the edges of the church to appreciate the art.
“People come from all over the world to see it,” Wen said. “But it costs a lot to maintain, and that’s really challenging.”
Toeniskoetter still visits often and thinks of all the hard work put in by the dozens of construction workers who spent years restoring the church to make it the sturdy, architectural wonder it is today.
And he thinks about the roof, how he finished it just in time and how it protected his family from the ‘89 earthquake.
“Look what it means to downtown San Jose — it’s the centerpiece,” he said. “When we started our business, this is what we wanted to do. And after that earthquake, the historic Santa Clara court houses on Saint James Square, we got to go in and redo that one because of what we did with the cathedral. And we got a whole lot more after that, a lot of historic buildings that we were able to do because of the experience with that building.”
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