Polish Cathedral Style

Polish cathedral style is the name for large Catholic parish churches built by Polish immigrant congregations in the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of the United States. Most are brick or stone churches in Renaissance Revival or Baroque Revival forms, usually with two towers at the entrance, often a dome, and heavy exterior ornament and statuary. They are parish churches, not true cathedrals.

Examples include St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago (1877-1881), the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee (1897-1901), modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pittsburgh (1904-1905), whose two towers are 116 feet high. Baroque Revival is defined by its Baroque forms alone. The Polish churches are defined by their builders and use Renaissance, Baroque or Gothic Revival forms: Sweetest Heart of Mary in Detroit (1890-1893), by Spier & Rohns, has Gothic Revival spires.

Polish immigrants began building large parish churches in American industrial cities soon after the Civil War. St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago, founded in 1867 as the city's first Polish parish, had its first church survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. That building was demolished for the present church, designed by Patrick Keely of Brooklyn and completed in 1881. The Congregation of the Resurrection, which has run the parish since 1869, is associated with the style's use of Renaissance and Baroque forms.

Building continued into the 20th century, with Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pittsburgh (1904-1905), Holy Trinity in Chicago (1905-1906) and St. Hyacinth in Chicago (1917-1921), designed by Worthmann & Steinbach. Pope Pius XI named St. Josaphat in Milwaukee a minor basilica in 1929. Later, some churches were closed by their archbishops as economically unviable, and others now serve African-American or Latino congregations. The Kennedy Expressway cut through Chicago's Polish community and contributed to Holy Trinity's decline.