Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
- Architect
- Maginnis & Walsh
- Year
- 1961
- Style
- Byzantine
- City
- Washington, DC
Begun in 1920 on land donated by the Catholic University of America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is the largest Catholic church building in North America and the tallest habitable building in Washington, D.C. Designed by the firm Maginnis & Walsh in the Neo-Byzantine and Romanesque Revival styles, it serves as the patronal church of the Catholic Church in the United States, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, the nation's principal Catholic patroness.
the building
A church of superlatives. At completion the Basilica stood as the largest Catholic church in North America, and its dome and tower make it the tallest habitable building in the District — a scale meant to match its status as the country's national shrine.
the style
Maginnis & Walsh worked in a Neo-Byzantine and Romanesque Revival vocabulary, giving the shrine the massive domed, round-arched profile of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas rather than the Gothic forms more common to American Catholic cathedrals.
More on Byzantinethe architect
Maginnis & Walsh was a Boston firm known for ecclesiastical commissions; the National Shrine, raised on land given by the Catholic University of America, stands as one of its largest works.
significance
Pope John Paul II elevated the church to the status of minor basilica in 1990, Pope Benedict XVI bestowed a Golden Rose there in 2008, and Pope Francis canonized Junípero Serra at the shrine in 2015.
nearby
- Newton Theater
- President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home
- Franciscan Monastery & Memorial Church of the Holy Land
- Ralph Bunche House
- Engine Company No. 26
- St. Paul's Episcopal Church