Chapel of the Holy Cross

Chapel of the Holy Cross: A Legacy Set in Stone

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by Cyndy Hardy

SEDONA, AZ – July 6, 2008 – Linda Yee and her mother, Mary Henshall, sitting on a polished bench overlooking the southwest views of Chapel of the Holy Cross on August 4, were nearly indistinguishable from the many visitors who came to touch the granite walls; or light a prayer candle for a loved one.

“This is a very special day for us,” said Ms. Yee, a long-time resident and recent past member of the Sedona Historic Preservation Commission.

It was the day Chapel of the Holy Cross was named as Sedona’s nineteenth local historic landmark. Mother and daughter had come to celebrate that history; and the memory of their friend who built the place, Marguerite Brunswig Staude (1899-1988).

Chapel of the Holy Cross is Marguerite’s legacy; a spiritual gift to Sedona, dedicated to the memory of her parents, that seems to rise more than 200 feet from twin buttes with a gentle force like its creator’s faith.

CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS became the nineteenth local historic landmark of the City of Sedona at a small ceremony August 4, 2008. From left: Chapel administrator Dr. Chuck Reaume, Sedona Historic Preservation Commission Chairperson Janeen Trevillyan, Sedona Mayor Rob Adams, and Father J.C. Ortiz, pastor of St. John Vianney’s church. PHOTO: HARDY

Not just Marguerite’s faith in her Catholic Church, but her faith in a dream born 76 years ago on the streets of New York City, when the young art student glimpsed an image of a cross in the sunbeams playing off a two-year-old Empire State Building.

Marguerite would become an accomplished sculptor, but her passion remained the pursuit of a place to build her chapel, meant to bring the temporal and the spiritual, the secular and non-secular, together through artful design.

Marguerite took her idea of a holy structure built around a colossal cross to colleague Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and together they collaborated on the preliminary sketches. Then they set out to find an appropriate location.

Sedona was not the first location Marguerite sought out. Her design was turned down by Los Angeles’ archbishop as “too much,” but it was accepted in 1937 by nuns in Hungary, however, World War II ended that possibility, according to several news archives.

Life went on for Marguerite, including her 1938 marriage to Tony Staude. But, her life’s dream burned like embers in her heart.

In 1941, the couple bought Doodlebug Ranch as a vacation home. Then, Sedona was a small community of about 800 people.

Ms. Henshall used to help Marguerite with social events. Stanley Henshall, Ms. Yee’s stepfather, was the caretaker at Doodlebug Ranch.

Lore has it that sometime later, Marguerite, during a leisurely airplane flight over the red spires of the valley, spotted a site near their ranch that reignited the embers into a full-blown inferno of inspiration.

Her dream had found a home.

Still, Marguerite faced obstacles including a split with Mr. Wright when she decided to scale down the cruciform’s design from a cathedral to a chapel; and permitting issues since the land she wanted belonged to Coconino National Forest.

The late Senator Barry Goldwater helped Marguerite get the permitting; and she turned to San Francisco architects Anshen & Allen for the new design. The chapel was completed in 1956, after eighteen months construction and at her cost of $300,000.

Marguerite’s emotions must have swelled when the doors to her dream opened – 24 years after her epiphany at the foot of the Empire State Building.

“My sister tells me that Mom brought her to the dedication so this is a special place for us,” Ms. Yee said.

Chapel of the Holy Cross has been something of a boon for Sedona’s economy. In 2007 Arizonans voted it one of the state’s Seven Man-Made Wonders. Its spiritual impact is evident on the faces of visitors from all nations and faiths.

Anshen & Allen won several awards for the Chapel design, including a Progressive Architecture Design Award from Reinhold Publishing Corp. in 1954; from The Church of Architectural Guild of America and an Award of Honor from the Northern California AIA in 1957; and Honerable Mention from the Architectural League of New York in 1958, according to Anshen & Allen’s Web site.

Today, it is managed by St. John Vianney Catholic Church of Sedona and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

As Ms. Yee, Ms. Henshall and a handful of spectators listened to the landmark dedication ceremony, the skies above shone with rich hues of grays, pinks, purples and blues that contrasted beautifully with the rusted rocks.



There were many apparent contrasts present that seemed appropriate to Marguerite’s vision: political and religious officials who joined to present the plaque; a tide of visitors, some who came for the weekly prayer service and some who just wanted to see the building; and a mother and daughter, the elder whom may return for a third milestone at the Chapel if it successfully gets national designation next year.

“I think [the Staudes] knew this would become a special place,” Ms. Yee said. “Now we will always have it, forever and ever, as it is. It won’t be able to be changed.”

© 2008 Cyndy Hardy. This article may not be reproduced, republished or distributed without written permission from the author. Contact the author at cyndyhardy@msn.com.