"The counterpoint of vertical lines and horizontal lines, of round and rectangular shapes, is delicately balanced. The bell tower is open on two sides and gains a look of strength without bulk. The round brick apse with its indented pattern of crosses, relieves the narrow windows and wooden mullions of the nave wall. The apse is wider and higher than the nave and thereby allows clerestory and side light into the interior of the chancel."

— Jo Stubblebine, ed. The Northwest Architecture of Pietro Belluschi. New York: F.W. Dodge Corporation, 1953. p50-51.

The Creator's Words

"Architecture, unlike other arts, is not an escape from, but an acceptance of, the human condition, including its many frailties as well as the technical advances of its scientists and engineers. It may rise to great art if it achieves unity, order, and form by appropriate technical means, and if it meets its purposes with conviction. I suppose only then will we have achieved the 'Great Society.' The great architect strives for comprehension, rather than originality for its own sake; a thorough study of a problem, made within the freedom that knowledge provides, is always the greatest source of originality.

"An architect should not be afraid to vary his philosophy to suit a particular project. We must accept the enormous variety of situations that our age has created, and try to find solace in the thought that nature has evolved the orchid and weed, the whale and the mouse, the eagle and the hummingbird—all from a wonderfully complex yet orderly system. We should not attempt to formulate a rigid intellectual program for architecture. Anyway, it seems impossible for us to draw laws and conclusions that cannot be challenged.

"To have a certain consistency as a social art, architecture must have integrity and it must be based on what is possible, extracting whatever beauty may be hidden, while doing it in an understated way. Most important, probably, is structure. Not only the way in which a building is put together, or the simplicity of its structural idea, but how this is expressed without striving to make the bones be the whole answer. Structure that has been hidden, twisted or polluted as an idea, will seldom produce good architecture."

— Pietro Belluschi. from Paul Heyer. Architects on Architecture: New Directions in America. p228-229.