Facade

The outside of the Cathedral features massive walls and buttresses of buff-colored brick and limestone trimmings which reach to the multihued slates of the roof.  The front is flanked at the east corner by a 150 foot high bell tower and contains the bell that once hung in the belfry of the old marble church.  Remnants of the marble church can also be found in the fence posts in front of the Cathedral and around the parking lot across from the Cathedral as well as the cornerstone that can be found to the left of the front entrance. The cornerstone for the current cathedral can be found on the right side of the front entrance. The bell now hangs in an open bell chamber behind some stone tracery.  A stone cornice and open stone tracery railing encircles the tower where the tower changes from a square to an octagon shape.  Gargoyles, a truly Gothic feature, project from the corners of the tower.  Two stories higher the tower terminates in a leaded copper cupola surmounted by an aluminum cross.  On the west corner of the facade a smaller octagonal turret, terminating in finials and carved crockets frames the front facade. 

The main feature of the facade is a thirty foot arched tracery window divided into five lancets.  The gable above this window, surmounted by a stone cross, is enriched with a series of arched recesses, the middle one is enlarged with a richly carved canopy.  On a pedestal in this niche stands a seven foot carved statue of St. Agnes.  

Four broad granite steps lead to the main entrance portico.  Here, between two sets of paneled oak doors, surmounted by a tracery rose window, stands a statue of Christ the King, carved in stone.  Entering these doors brings you to the Cathedral vestibule.