Location: Valerymo, California
Johnson Fain has been selected to design five major buildings at St. Andrew’s Abbey, an 1800-acre Benedictine monastery that sits on a historic high desert site along the Pearblossom Highway, 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Johnson Fain was selected from a short list of architects that included Venturi/Scott-Brown and Michael Maltzan. The new Abbey Church will seat 300 and include a gatehouse and visitor’s center, refectory with kitchen, and library for 70,000 volumes. The expanded facilities are needed to accommodate the tens of thousands of visitors who come to The Abbey each year for retreats, youth activities, and its annual Arts & Crafts Fall Festival. The Abbey also produces a distinctive line of ceramics that are sold on-site and worldwide.