Holy Cross Church, Boston
- Architect
- Charles Bulfinch
- Year
- 1803
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Boston, MA
- Collections
- bulfinch’s bostonfederal boston
Designed by Charles Bulfinch and completed in 1803, the Church of the Holy Cross on Franklin Street was the first church built for Boston's Roman Catholics, who had previously worshipped in a decaying former Huguenot meetinghouse on School Street. In 1808 it became the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It stood at the southern end of Bulfinch's Tontine Crescent, on land that had belonged to the proprietors of the Boston Theatre.
the building
Raising the money. Boston's few hundred Catholics, mostly French and Irish, had been meeting in a run-down former Huguenot chapel on School Street. When that lease neared its end, a committee formed in March 1799 to raise funds for a proper church, choosing a site at the south end of the Tontine Crescent, at what is now 214 Devonshire Street.
the style
Federal (c. 1780–1830): Refined American Georgian: oval fanlights over doors, slender proportions, and delicate garland ornament.
More on Federalsignificance
The last Mass was held there on September 16, 1860, and the building was demolished around 1862; it was replaced by a new Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End.
nearby
- Compton Building
- International Trust Company Building
- United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building
- McCormack Federal Bldg/Post Office/Courthse
- Old South Meeting House
- Filene's Department Store