Imaging - Religious Architecture

Sometimes it's fun for me to revert back to my standard history major training of comparing and contrasting for the purpose of study or appreciation.  Following is a 1920s aerial view image of Mission San Fernando which is located on the northern fringe of the San Fernando Valley in the suburban area north of Los Angeles in Southern California:

The long Covento building at the bottom-right portion of the image looks much same today, and Brand Park / Memory Garden, (which was recently developed in this photograph), still has most of its original features. A host of major changes to the Mission church and grounds and have taken place over the last 90 years. As it's shown above, this dilapidated structure was the third (and by far the largest) church built on the site and was completed prior to 1810.  Several major renovation projects had taken place before the entire church was demolished and duplicated in the early 1970s following the great Sylmar Earthquake of 1971 that irrevocably damaged the ancient house of worship.  The 'L-shaped' row of workshops and facilities that now include the popular gift shop were reconstructed c.1950, and were extended from the church towards the Convento as well as towards the center-right edge of the photograph.  That extensive construction project (initial funding was provided through the Hearst Foundation) also redeveloped the Mission quadrangle, added a still extant caretaker and maintenance shed, and preceded the extensive modern development of the surrounding areas including the new San Fernando Mission Cemetery and campus facilities for the Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary that now house Alemany High School.  The modest two-story building that houses our Archival Center was completed in 1981 and lies between the Church and the Convento, adjacent to the long-gone orange grove in the left-center section of the image. These days, the extensive landscaping is lush and green.

And, lastly, a link to a recent aerial view that illuminates just how much change the built environment in the immediate vicinity has experienced over the course of the last 90 years.