LEGO builder discovers hidden window at Spokane’s St. John’s Cathedral

When Christian Gill began working on his Lego model of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, he made the strange realization: the inside of the church has fewer windows than the outside.

Gill’s model – and his journey to depict the correct number of windows – started when Brick Buy Brick co-owner Bryce Colvin and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture decided to include the cathedral in its collaborative “We Built This City” exhibit, which is on display at the MAC until June 11.

One of Spokane’s iconic buildings

The exhibit features seven Lego models of Spokane buildings, including the Historic Davenport, the Spokane County Courthouse and the Monroe Street Bridge. The exhibit webpage says each building was picked because it “defined downtown” and was integral to the landscape.

Rob Worstell, director of Education at the MAC, said the team had to pick between two cathedrals: St. John the Evangelist or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes.

St. John’s ultimately won, partially because it was approaching its 100-year anniversary celebration – an age that matched the early 20th-century era of the other builds in the exhibit.

“We thought it would be kind of cool to celebrate that with them in a way,” Worstell said.

Also, Worstell said it was chosen because it would be easier to find bricks matching the cathedral’s tan walls instead of Lady of Our Lourdes’s maroon walls.

Finding a hidden window

Gill’s project started on July 30, 2025, the day Colvin pitched the idea to build the Lego cathedral to him. In the following months, Gill spent more than 150 hours building – and countless lunch breaks – visiting the church to take pictures or to study the architecture.

During one visit, Gill realized something was off: He counted 20 tall windows on the outside of the church, but only 18 from the inside.

“So I ended up going back to the church a third time and spoke to the dean there, the Very Rev. Heather VanDeventer. And she kind of looked at me funny,” Gill said.

Gill said he and VanDeventer walked outside the church to identify the mystery window and took note of its geometric, orange pattern. When they returned inside, they realized the window had been covered up by the church’s pipe organ.

“And she had told me she’s been up there before, but there’s no window, so apparently it’s a facade window they’ve never known about,” Gill said.

The cathedral shares a story

Gill said his visits to the church brought him to an important realization about its construction.

“I came to the conclusion that the church really identifies with the windows and the stories that they depict on the windows,” Gill said.

Windows in the church depict the life of Jesus, scenes from Revelation, heroes and heroines from the Old and New Testaments, and more.

One window even features Spokane Gary, honoring the role he played during Christianity’s introduction to Spokane.

Replicating the window’s intricate art proved to be difficult for Lego blocks, Gill said. He ended up making custom Lego stickers using pictures he took of each window so he could preserve its beauty.

“I originally had planned to do kind of a simplistic, generic color form out of Lego with what they call ‘cheese wedge’ blocks with translucent brick to make some stained glass, but it wasn’t going to actually depict what is there. After these tours, I decided this church really identifies with these windows, and they really need to be exactly that,” Gill said.

What will happen to the Lego cathedral?

Worstell said the exhibit is supposed to help visitors learn new things about the buildings they pass by everyday.

“As museum people, it’s really a different way to look at stuff that you’re so familiar with, right?” he posed. “When you’re able to see them in a different kind of perspective, they come to life in a different way.”

Each exhibit is paired with a poster with information and a historical photo from the Joel E. Ferris archives.

Chuck Elson, who gives tours of St. John’s Cathedral and helped teach Gill its history, said he hopes visitors to the MAC exhibit will recognize the cathedral’s unique structure and take in its history.

“It was designed back in the 1920s by a local architect, and managed to survive the Great Depression, the second World War and be completed in the mid-1950s, exactly the way it was designed,” Elson said. “The building just kind of reflects the whole history of that century.”

After the MAC exhibit ends, the Lego cathedral’s future is uncertain. Gill said he hopes to bring it to Lego conventions and added that staff at St. John’s expressed interest in giving it a home at the cathedral.

Kaylee Gill, Christian Gill’s wife, said she hopes people recognize the passion each builder put into their builds.

“We’re very proud of this build and put a lot of love into it and a lot of passion, and I hope that the community can see that in the final product,” she said.

The Gills and their son, who was born in the middle of the project, can be seen in Lego form standing at the front of the cathedral. “We Built This City” is on display at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture through June 14. Tickets can be purchased at the MAC’s website or in person.

This story was written in partnership with FāVS News, a nonprofit newsroom covering faith and values in the Inland Northwest.