St Anthony of Padua Church - Las Vegas, NV - Heritage Restoration and Design, Inc.

Project Overview: St. Anthony of Padua Church – Multi-Purpose Worship Space

After over a decade of planning and growth, the parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua were finally able to construct a new church. However, due to budget constraints and the size of the congregation, the new building needed to serve as both a worship space and a pastoral center. Heritage Restoration & Design was brought in to develop an innovative solution: a fully functional, transformable space that retained the reverence of a traditional sanctuary while offering the flexibility of a parish hall.

Vision and Design Goals

A key challenge was harmonizing the needs of traditional Catholic worship—particularly the traditional Latin Mass—with the modern architectural “mission style” of the new building. Working closely with the parish leadership, Heritage developed furnishings that blended old and new, enabling the space to adapt between liturgical functions and community use.

All major liturgical furnishings were designed to be mobile—except the high altar, which featured imposing triptych doors weighing nearly 300 pounds each. These doors could be closed to protect the tabernacle and artwork when the space was used for non-liturgical purposes.

“The people were in awe... They gave a standing ovation.”
— Rev. Robert Puhlman, Pastor, St. Anthony of Padua Church

Execution and Custom Furnishings

Heritage Restoration designed, built, and installed the following key elements:

Main Sanctuary

High Altar with Triptych Doors: A fixed wooden altar featuring large hand-tooled metal icons of adoring angels on its doors, which close to shield the tabernacle when not in use. The altar also includes a mural of St. Anthony of Padua and a custom tabernacle box.
Sacrificial Altar: Movable and built with marbleized wooden columns, this altar features a hand-painted relief of the Last Supper. Locking casters enable it to be discreetly relocated for different uses.
Large Crucifix: Installed above the high altar to anchor the sanctuary.

Liturgical Furnishings

Baptismal Font and Pulpit: Made of wood with marbleized columns for visual elegance and cost efficiency.
Presider’s Chair and Candlesticks: Ornate wood construction with marbleized and brass detailing. The candlesticks are removable for processions.
Side Chapel Altar: Features a carved paschal lamb relief and accompanying sanctuary lamp and monstrance stand.

Additional Features

Custom Canvas Murals: Painted and designed to rotate with the liturgical seasons.
Congregational Seating: Several hundred stackable wood chairs with red cushions and removable kneelers.
Kneelers and Clergy Seating: Padded kneelers and custom wood furniture for deacons and clergy.
Stained Glass Window: A circular depiction of St. Anthony having a vision of the Christ Child, selected for its iconic religious significance.
Stations of the Cross: Custom-designed canvas prints with wooden frames, gold Roman numerals, and integrated crosses.
Baroque Statue Base: Gold-painted with a marbleized top, designed to hold a prominent statue.
Statue Restoration: A 150-year-old, 6-foot plaster statue of St. Anthony was fully restored and reinstalled.
Exterior Mosaic: A large exterior mosaic of St. Anthony with the Child Jesus was designed, manufactured, and installed.

Conclusion

Heritage Restoration & Design successfully delivered a flexible, reverent, and beautifully executed space that serves both liturgical and community needs. The integration of traditional iconography, high-quality craftsmanship, and movable design elements ensured that this project not only met the parish’s goals but also exceeded expectations—both aesthetically and functionally.