St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church | |
Location | Aisquith St. at Eager St., Baltimore, Maryland |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°18′4″N76°36′8″W / 39.30111°N 76.60222°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1865 | -1867
Architect | Church, Frederick Aloysius; Et al. |
Architectural style | Gothic, Romanesque |
NRHP reference No. | 82004750 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 15, 1982 |
St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church, also known as St. James and St. John's Roman Catholic Church, is a historic Roman Catholic church located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States and was one of the earliest neighborhood parishes established in the central city (1833). The building later became Urban Bible Fellowship Church. [2] On March 29, 2020 lightning struck the steeple, causing the building to catch fire and partially collapse.
St. James the Less was built by Bishop James Whitfield, at his personal expense. He laid the cornerstone in May 1833 and consecrated the church a year later. Bishop Whitfield died the following October. [3]
In 1966, the neighbouring parish of St. John the Evangelist was closed, and the new parish of St. James and St. John, was formed, the congregation worshipping at St. James. The parish was dissolved around 1986, and the former St. James Church was sold to an evangelical church. Most regrettably, the church has been stripped of its windows, altars, marble communion rail, pipe organ, and other artifacts, and the church has been whitewashed, destroying its beautiful and historic murals.
St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [1]
On the morning of March 28, 2020, the church had a devastating fire that resulted in the destruction of the steeple of the church. [4]
The church is an early work of George A. Frederick (1842-1924), a prolific and prominent architect in Baltimore who designed various buildings in the city including the Baltimore City Hall in 1875. [5] It is a High Victorian Gothic influenced brick structure with Romanesque Revival overtones built 1865-67. It has a tall central tower and featured an ornate interior with marble sculpture and murals. The church is 184 feet long, 65 feet wide, and the ceiling is 51 feet from the floor. The steeple, at 256 feet, is the second tallest church tower in the city (next to First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church at West Madison Street and Park Avenue, in Mount Vernon-Belveere neighborhood, constructed 1875), which dominates Old East Baltimore. The cross surmounting the spire, is 10 feet tall. There is a peal of four bells in the tower, the largest weighing 5000 pounds, cast by McShane of Baltimore, in 1885. The tower clock was installed during the same year.
The magnificent and priceless 25 foot-high Mayer windows were installed in 1891. [5] The interior features three large interior murals painted about 1886 by the German-born artist William Lamprecht and marble sculpture work by the Baltimore sculptor Joseph Martin Sudsburg. [6]
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica, is a Catholic cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Catholic cathedral built in the United States after the nation's founding, and was among the first major religious buildings constructed therein after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is a cathedral serving Roman Catholics in the U.S. city of Mobile, Alabama. It is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile. The cathedral is named for Mary, mother of Jesus, under her title, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Church Street East Historic District and Lower Dauphin Street Historic District and is listed on the Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is the episcopal see of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The building itself is in German Renaissance Revival style, built in 1847, with changes after several fires. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Milwaukee Landmark. It is located just east of Cathedral Square Park.
Patrick Charles Keely was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildings for the Roman Catholic Church or Roman Catholic patrons in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in New York City, Boston and Chicago in the later half of the 19th century. He designed every 19th-century Catholic cathedral in New England. Several other church and institutional architects began their careers in his firm.
Old St. Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Cincinnati's historic Over-The-Rhine neighborhood. It is the oldest continually-used house of worship in Cincinnati.
St. Augustine Catholic Church, also called Olde St. Augustine's, is a historic Catholic church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Consecrated in 1848, the Palladian-style church was designed by Napoleon LeBrun. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Old Saint George Church is a historic Catholic church in the Corryville neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, near the University of Cincinnati. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on March 3, 1980, as St. George Parish and Newman Center.
St. Vincent de Paul Church is a historic Roman Catholic church located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore at 120 N. Front Street, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
St. Mary's Seminary Chapel, located at 600 North Paca Street in the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, is the oldest Neo-Gothic style church in the United States. It was built from 1806 through 1808 by French architect J. Maximilian M. Godefroy for the French Sulpician priests of St. Mary's Seminary. Godefroy claimed that his design was the first Gothic building in America.
St. Josaphat Roman Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church located at 715 East Canfield Street in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1985. Since 2013, it has been one of two churches that comprise Mother of Divine Mercy Parish.
Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was a historic Roman Catholic church building in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It served as the parish church for St. Joseph's Parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile.
St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, more commonly called Old St. Paul's Church today, is a historic Episcopal church located at 233 North Charles Street at the southeast corner with East Saratoga Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, near "Cathedral Hill" on the northern edge of the downtown central business district to the south and the Mount Vernon-Belevedere cultural/historic neighborhood to the north. It was founded in 1692 as the parish church for the "Patapsco Parish", one of the "original 30 parishes" of the old Church of England in colonial Maryland.
The National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori, also known as St. John Neumann Shrine and "Baltimore's Powerhouse of Prayer," is part of a historic Catholic church complex in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded by the Redemptorists in 1917, the church has extensive affiliations with important figures in Baltimore Catholic history. Since 1992, the parish has held regular Tridentine Masses. It is currently administered by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as St. Alphonsus Church, Rectory, Convent and Halle.
St. Michael's Church Complex, also known as St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church, is a historic Roman Catholic church complex located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The church was founded to serve the German immigrant community in Baltimore. The church is a late 19th-century Romanesque Revival structure, 170 by 80 feet, with a steeple 180 feet high.
St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, now known as Sweet Prospect Baptist Church, is a historic Roman Catholic church located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church complex located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
The St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a historic church at 434 Church Street. It was built in 1859 and added to the National Register in 1975. It has also been known as St. Joseph's Church. It was added to the National Register because it possesses exceptional interest for its history and architecture.
Holy Rosary Church is a Roman Catholic church located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland. It was established to serve Baltimore's Polish community.
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Frederick, Maryland, part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Founded in 1763, after the repeal of the British penal laws, as the first Catholic church in Frederick County, the parish occupied two former buildings before the completion of the present Greek Revival church in 1837. At the time of its opening, the church was the largest parish church in the United States and was the first Catholic church to be consecrated in the Diocese of Baltimore. Today, the church remains the tallest building in the city of Frederick.
Saint Anne Church, formally the Shrine of Saint Anne for Mothers, is a Roman Catholic church located in the South End neighborhood of Waterbury, CT, part of All Saints Parish. Saint Anne Parish was founded in 1886 to serve city's the French-Catholic population. For nearly 100 years, two 100 foot steeples served as a prominent Waterbury landmark; however, due to ongoing structural problems, the spires were carefully removed in 2019 and stored for possible reconstruction.