Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, located in Asti just south of Cloverdale, stands in a serene landscape of vineyards and mountains. The church was built in 1960 by the agricultural co-op known as the Italian Swiss Colony that produced old world wines. In keeping with the spirit of the colony, wine barrel staves were used to construct the roof and interior wood workings of the church. Its exterior was designed to echo the shape of a wine barrel.
Lovely!
Thank you Serena!
Wonderful, Richard — I love how you’ve done the beautiful purple plum tree, especially. I learn a lot from looking at your sketches!
Thanks Diane! The plum tree was painted in many layers of paint and I’m lucky it didn’t get muddy.
I believe this is the replacement church. The original was much smaller and across the parking lot. It was torn down 15 years ago or so.
I remember the old Italian Swiss Colony ads and the “little old winemaker”.
Thanks for the comment Dick. Yes, from what I understand the original was built in the late 1800s. This one was built in 1960 as a replacement to the other ailing structure. I prefer the styling of the older church but this one still has unique styling and was built at the height of the popularity of the Italian Swiss Colony.