Building a life of architecture, family and faith

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Anne Mooney and John Sparano are the husband-and-wife team who form Sparano + Mooney Architecture. They are shown in front of renderings of some of their projects, including Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan.

SALT LAKE CITY — John Sparano and Anne Mooney are active in the Diocese of Salt Lake and in local architectural circles, but their work is more visible still.

The couple, who were married in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, are the architects of the recently remodeled Saint George Catholic Church in Saint George and Saint Joseph the Worker’s new church that’s under construction in West Jordan, among other projects. Their award-winning work has been featured in numerous publications, most recently in the July/August issue of Dwell Magazine and in Michelle Galindo’s 2010 book “Masterpieces: Chalet Architecture + Design.”

“Catholic churches are interesting,” John said. “For us on all architectural projects, what’s the most interesting for us is the ideas that are embodied in the architecture. We are looking for things that are fundamental to the projects that we can then build on, to interpret into architecture.”

For non-religious projects such as museums or custom residences, they have to tease out ideas, he said, but for churches, “those ideas, that meaning, are already there. It’s there in the liturgy.”

For example, because the St. George church was a renovation, “the vocabulary was already there” in the parish’s history and the building’s California mission style, Anne said. “We took what they had and highlighted what was working and hid what wasn’t working and tried to bring a new life to that.”

A highlight of the St. George project for both architects is the courtyard with its shade and water fountain.

“It’s a nice transition space now (from the parking lot) through that outdoor space into a gathering space that’s hospitable and then into the sanctuary,” Anne said.

By contrast, with the St. Joseph the Worker project, they started literally from the ground up, although the parishioners and Father Patrick Carley already were educated about how architecture could enhance the liturgical experience, John said.

Sparano + Mooney was among a number of architectural firms considered for the new church, Fr. Carley said, and the parish committee was “most taken by them and their creativity and their presentation and their own persons. We liked them; they were very Catholic people and at great pains to do things in the best way for the parish and for the church with regard to Catholic principles and liturgical principles. And we’ve found them to be so all along the way. We’ve been very, very pleased.”

The couple first met socially in Los Angeles, where both were working as architects.

“We dated for a long time,” Anne said.

Though they agree that it was love at first sight, “It wasn’t marriage at first sight,” John said.

They continued to live in Los Angeles after they were married, and began their professional practice together in a downtown LA office; in 2003 they won the Los Angeles Business Council Award for Outstanding Civic Architecture.

However, when they started their family they moved to Salt Lake City, where Anne’s parents lived – Anne is a graduate of both Judge Memorial Catholic High School and the University of Utah.

The couple, parishioners of Saint Catherine of Siena/Catholic Newman Center, are active with The Madeleine Choir School, where their twin daughters attend. John sits on the diocese’s liturgical arts committee and is the current president of the Utah chapter of American Institute of Architects; Anne is a member of the diocesan building board as well as the Utah Arts Council board. She also is a professor at the University of Utah, where she teaches a design studio.

Sparano + Mooney now have offices in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and they have continued to win awards for projects ranging from the Arcadia Museum to the Lakeview Performing Arts Center to St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church. “The idea now is to develop it into a regional practice throughout the western United States,” Anne said.