Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District (Newton, Massachusetts)

Last updated

Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District
Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton, Massachusetts.jpg
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Newton, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°21′19″N71°11′53″W / 42.35528°N 71.19806°W / 42.35528; -71.19806
Area6.6 acres (2.7 ha)
Architect James Murphy; J.W. Wentworth
Architectural styleGothic
MPS Newton MRA
NRHP reference No. 86001758 [1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 4, 1986

Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District encompasses a complex of Roman Catholic religious buildings in the Nonantum village of Newton, Massachusetts. It includes four fine examples of brick Gothic Revival architecture: the church, convent, and rectory, as well as Trinity Catholic High School. The first three buildings were designed by noted ecclesiastical architect James Murphy, and were built between 1873 and 1890. The high school building was built in 1924, also in the Gothic Revival style. [2] The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [1]

Contents

Description and history

Our Lady Help of Christians is located on a large parcel at the northwest corner of Washington and Adams Streets, just north of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The church is located nearest this corner, oriented south toward Washington Street. The rectory is located to its west, and the convent to its north. The school complex extends northward from Washington Street, to the left of the rectory and behind the convent, with the 1924 high school building at the front, and a 1960 elementary school at the rear. [2]

The congregation was founded in 1872, and was originally known as St. Brendan's. It was established to cater to the growing Irish Catholic population in the Nonantum/Newton Corner area. The church was designed by Providence-based ecclesiastical architect James Murphy, and construction took two years (1873–75), hampered by funding difficulties and the death in a fall of its principal brickworker. Due to defects in the construction, the building underwent a major renovation in 1900 that added further supports to the walls, as well as the facade with three Gothic porches. The rectory, also a Murphy design, was added in then 1880s [2]

The first convent was built on the site in 1890, replaced just three years later by the present Colonial Revival structure. A three-story elementary school was built in 1892-93 (demolished in 1960), with the high school following in 1924. The present elementary school building was built about the same time the old one was demolished. [2] The high school closed in 2012, and the space is now occupied by a secular private school. The elementary school building now houses the Newton School for Children, a private preschool and day care center.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maginnis & Walsh</span>

Maginnis & Walsh was a Boston-based architecture firm started by Charles Donagh Maginnis and Timothy Francis Walsh in 1905. It was known for its innovative design of churches in Boston in the first half of the 20th century.

Robert Cary Long Jr. (1810–1849) was the son of a late 18th Century - early 19th Century famous architect Robert Cary Long Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland and was himself a well-known 19th Century architect. Like his father, Cary was based in Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newtonville, Massachusetts</span> Village in Newton, Massachusetts

Newtonville is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church (Central Falls, Rhode Island)</span> Historic church in Rhode Island, United States

The Holy Trinity Church Complex is an historic church complex on 134 Fuller Avenue in Central Falls, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Lady of Lourdes Church Complex</span> Historic church in Rhode Island, United States

Our Lady of Lourdes Church Complex is an historic Roman Catholic church complex at 901–903 Atwells Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island within the Diocese of Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Complex (Taunton, Massachusetts)</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

St. Mary's Complex is a historic Roman Catholic Church complex at Broadway and Washington Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The parish, the first in Taunton, was established in 1830, and the present church, its second was built in 1868, to a design by Patrick C. Keely. The complex, also including a rectory, convent, and school, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Mary of the Assumption Church, Rectory, School and Convent</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Saint Mary of the Assumption Church, Rectory, School and Convent is a historic church complex at 67 Harvard Street, and 3 and 5 Linden Place, in Brookline, Massachusetts in the Archdiocese of Boston. It was the first Roman Catholic Church in Brookline, and the first in the nation to bear the name. Most of its buildings were built between 1880 and 1906, and are reflective of the growth of the area's Irish immigrant community during that time. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Heart Church (Raleigh, North Carolina)</span> Historic church in North Carolina, United States

Sacred Heart Church is a Catholic church located on Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The church served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Raleigh from 1924 to 2017. In 1978 it, and the other parish buildings, was included as a contributing property in the Capitol Area Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sacred Heart is also the location of the Cathedral School, formally called Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Church (Newport, Rhode Island)</span> Historic church in Rhode Island, United States

St. Mary's Church, officially the Church of the Holy Name of Mary, Our Lady of the Isle, is a historic Catholic parish church complex at 14 William Street, the corner of Spring Street and Memorial Boulevard, in Newport, Rhode Island within the Diocese of Providence. It is the church of the oldest Catholic parish in the state. The church is also notable for hosting the wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier and Senator, later President, John F. Kennedy in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Augustine's Catholic Church (Napoleon, Ohio)</span> Historic church in Ohio, United States

St. Augustine's Catholic Church is a historic church in Napoleon, Ohio, United States. Located on the edge of the city's downtown, two blocks away from the Henry County Courthouse, the church is a prominent landmark in Napoleon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (Maria Stein, Ohio)</span> Church in Ohio, United States

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Located in the unincorporated community of Maria Stein, it is the home of an active congregation and has been recognized as a historic site because of its well-preserved late nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Wapakoneta, Ohio)</span> United States historic place

St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Wapakoneta, Ohio, United States. Built in 1910, this church is home to an active Catholic parish, and it has been declared a historic site because of its well-preserved Romanesque Revival architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minster Elementary School</span> United States historic place

The Minster Elementary School is a historic Catholic school building in Minster, Ohio, United States. Built in the early twentieth century, it has been recognized as a historic site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church</span> United States historic place

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church is a Catholic church in Cassella, an unincorporated community in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. One of several Catholic churches in Marion Township, it was designated a historic site because of its well-preserved 19th-century architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Rose's Catholic Church (St. Rose, Ohio)</span> United States historic place

St. Rose's Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church in St. Rose, an unincorporated community in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Peter's Catholic Church (Council Bluffs, Iowa)</span> United States historic place

St. Peter's Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Des Moines. The church is located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as St. Peter's Church and Rectory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (Celina, Ohio)</span> United States historic place

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Celina, Ohio, United States. Founded later than many other Catholic parishes in the heavily Catholic region of western Ohio, it owns a complex of buildings constructed in the early 20th century that have been designated historic sites because of their architecture. Leading among them is its massive church, built in the Romanesque Revival style just 43 years after the first Catholic moved into the city: it has been called northwestern Ohio's grandest church building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church Complex</span> Historic church in Wisconsin, United States

Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church Complex is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 for its architectural significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Heart Parish Complex</span> United States historic place

The Sacred Heart Parish Complex is a historic former Roman Catholic church complex located at 321 S. Broadway in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It consists of five buildings built between 1899 and 1936, including a fine Gothic Revival stone church. A historic district encompassing the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 2011. The complex was sold by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in 2004 in order to help pay for the liabilities related to the sex abuse scandal, payouts for the scandal so far is approximately $4,000,000,000 church wide.

St. Francis deSales Church is a historic Catholic church in Geneva, New York. A historic district of the church and three associated buildings, designated St. Francis de Sales Parish Complex, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "NRHP nomination for Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved April 19, 2014.