The new Chaminade Arts building is completed and beautiful! We recently shot it from the air (above).
From STLToday:
"The 79,000-square-foot center is named for Albert "Skip" Viragh, a 1959 graduate and mutual fund innovator who died in 2003 of pancreatic cancer. After his death, his family acted on his wish to give back to Chaminade - the Catholic boys school off South Lindbergh Boulevard that Viragh's two brothers also attended.
The family asked the Rev. Ralph Siefert, president of the school, about his dreams for the school.
The answer was obvious. An arts center had been Siefert's dream for more than a decade.
Theater performances for years had been inside the middle school gym. Parents watched from metal chairs as students performed in front of a torn blue curtain. Band practices were held in cramped rooms with low ceilings.
Viragh's family gave Siefert money to hire an architect for a new arts center. What followed was more unexpected: $28 million to build and endow the facility. It was the largest single gift to a grade or high school in the region.
"It's unspeakable," Siefert said. "I had a dream, but I never thought it would be fulfilled like this."
