Holy Family Catholic Church
- Year
- 1857
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
Founded in 1857 by Fr. Arnold Damen, SJ, at the request of Bishop Anthony O'Regan, Holy Family is the second-oldest Catholic church in Chicago and one of the few structures to survive the Great Chicago Fire. Damen pushed ahead with a large parish complex even as Chicagoans worried about funding it after the Panic of 1857, raising $30,000 himself by the end of that May.
the style
Holy Family was built in the Gothic Revival style, part of the wave of nineteenth-century American parish churches that borrowed medieval church forms to signal permanence for a growing immigrant congregation.
More on Gothic Revivalsignificance
As one of the only buildings left standing after the 1871 fire, Holy Family has outlasted several ownership changes: the Society of Jesus leased it to the Archdiocese of Chicago for decades, then regained the building in 2019 after the archdiocese's Renew My Church campaign merged the parish with the former Notre Dame de Chicago. It still serves students and alumni of St. Ignatius College Prep.
nearby
- St Ignatius College Prep Building
- Jennie Foley Building
- Hull House
- Produce Terminal Cold Storage Company Building
- International Tailoring Company Building
- Old St. Patrick's Church