Religious Building for Monastery Youth Center in Valyermo, California

Sunward Steel Buildings, Inc., was pleased to manufacture and provide this pre-engineered steel religious building for a customer in Valyermo, California, in April of 2006.

Currently, the metal building is in use as a youth chapel on the grounds of St. Andrew’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that relocated to California from China after communists expelled it in 1955. A sacred community of Roman-Catholic men who commit themselves to a life of constant conversion, the monastery also welcomes others who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life by refreshing their minds, bodies and spirits.

An Affordable, Reliable Property Addition   

The third of three pre-engineered metal buildings on the property, the steel youth chapel joins existing steel arts & crafts and welcome centers already onsite. Equal parts practical and architecturally pleasing, the buildings offer considerable curb appeal, and the youth center, in particular, helps St. Andrew’s perpetuate the monastery’s ministry among area youths.

An increasingly common construction option for religious organizations seeking safe, affordable and long-term places to worship, steel churches, synagogues, mosques and similar buildings give parishioners of all beliefs places to come together and worship in comfort. Easily configurable in terms of ceiling height, sanctuaries, acoustics, insulation and other elements of interest to buyers seeking buildings to use for religious purposes, prefabricated churches are generally faster and cheaper to raise than wood alternatives. They also maintain their strength and beauty over time while needing only minimal maintenance in return.

An unincorporated Southern California community, Valyermo is a part of Los Angeles County. The community sits within the Mojave Desert, about 17 miles southeast of Palmdale and roughly 40 miles west of Victorville.

Considering purchasing a prefabricated steel building for use as a church, monastery, synagogue or mosque something else in California or another part of the country? Click here for a price quote.

Building Specifications

Boasting a complex, octagonal design symbolic of baptism, the steel youth chapel, dubbed the Chapel of the Annunciation, has a sunken sanctuary, and the building itself stands 68’x68’x12’ in size. Constructed using the most reliable and strongest-available steel components, the steel religious building offers unparalleled structural integrity, resulting in a safe, comfortable space for monks to worship and community members to convene.

A rugged, corrosion-resistant roof comprised of Galvalume steel panels sits overhead, featuring a 4:12 roof pitch, and the metal chapel also boasts several supplemental configurations added out of respect for the climate characteristics and building codes in place throughout the area. A 40-psf snow load serves as one such accommodation, while an 80-mph wind speed rating is another.