Continue down Centre Street to Public Lot #7. There is a convenient semi-circular enclosure to stand in to look across the street.
This church was one of five Catholic parishes in Jamaica Plain. In 2004, due to the mounting financial ramifications of the clergy sex abuse scandal the Archdiocese of Boston chose to close this parish. In 2005, the complex was purchased by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) who has done extensive redevelopment. They sold the last unrenovated structure (the church building itself) to the Hyde Square Task Force in 2015. After years of not being able to secure funding to make their dream of a cultural/arts center a reality, the HSTF put the building up for sale in 2020. It is being redeveloped into condos.
The parish was founded in 1891 (with a wooden church building which sat to the left of where the church building is now). The wooden rectory building still standing at 21 Creighton Street dates to 1894. It was moved from the corner with Centre as part of the JPNDC renovations.
The church building we are looking at was constructed between 1910 and 1917. The architect was Charles Greco. Greco was a very well-known ecclesiastical architect who also completed projects in Miami, Chicago and Cleveland. This is a Renaissance Revival building and remains a wonderful example of that style even though some decorative details were removed when the parish closed. You can still see the huge stone Ionic columns on the façade, reaching up to support the triangular pediment. The pediment is decorated with modillion blocks.
The interior of the church was once lavishly decorated with: stained glass from the Charles T. Connick studios, murals painted by local painter Henry Hammond Ahl and wood carvings by Johannes Kirchmayer. All the decorative features were removed and re-allocated to other parishes when this one closed.
We'll pass to the left of the church were we will see the octagonal baptistery which mirrors the octagonal dome which tops the building.