They found George Papastamatiou, were impressed with his work, and hired him. To find a replacement, Metropolitan Isaiah and Mike traveled to Nashville during the Clergy Laity Congress in 2018, looking for an iconographer. He was able to finish a part of the dome and chapel but because of health issues had to resign. The Johnsons then selected Bruno Salvatori as the iconographer. Construction of the building began in April of 2014 and was completed in July of 2015. After a lengthy study, the chapel location was selected, and the design process began. Master planning of the entire site began in 2010 with the engagement of Eidos Architects of Greenwood Village, Colorado. In searching, we found that completing mosaics is very costly and there are fewer iconographers that do mosaic,” added Mike. All iconography would be done in mosaic-type. “Early on, we decided that we would build a chapel unlike any existing Greek Orthodox Chapel in America. The chapel would be built next to and under the same roof as Assumption Cathedral. The Assumption parish granted them a very suitable building site. Among items that we needed were structural plans, a good builder, an experienced iconographer, architect and chapel size and costs,” according to Mike. We took the idea home with us and thought it over carefully and decided to go forward. “They had just finished building a chapel in their parish in Columbus. That idea began more than a decade ago, in July of 2010, when the Johnsons, active supporters of the Greek Orthodox Church for more than 60 years, took a trip to Columbus, Ohio to visit friends.

When Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver blessed the Chapel of Saint Basil the Great at Assumption of the Theotokos Cathedral, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis Cathedral of Denver, on May 21, 2022, the idea of Michael and Katherine Johnson to build a chapel in Denver became a reality.

Katherine johnson nasa and family