Nomination for St. Patrick's Church

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10.900 (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections 1. Name OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only received DEC 6 I984 date entered JAN 3 1985 historic St. Patrick's Church and/or common 2. Location same street & number - 284 Suffolk Street N/A not for publication city, town Lowell N/A vicinity of state Massachusetts 3.

Classification Category Ownership &district x Public building(s) private structure both site Public Acquisition object in process being considered code 025 county Midalesex code 017 Status X occupied _ unoccupied _ work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted yes: unrestricted - no Present Use agriculture commercial educational entertainment - government industrial military museum park - private residence X religious scientific _ transportation _ other: 4. Owner of Property name Archdiocese of Boston street & number 212 Commonwealth Avenue city, town Brighton - vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state Massachusetts courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Registry of Deeds Middlesex County Courthouse street & number 360 Gorham Street city, town Lowell state Massachusetts 6.

Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of the Historical Assets of the Conmonwealth #282 and title Lowel1 Cultural Resources has this property been determined eligible? yes Inventory date 1980 tederal x state - county - *no . local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Conmission city, town Boston State Massachusetts 7. Description St, Patrick's Church, Lowe1l, Massachusetts Condition X excellent - good fair 0 deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one - unaltered x altered Check one X original site _ moved date (1904: interior rebuilt following fire) Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

St. Patrick's Church is located on Suffolk Street in the part of central Lowell traditionally known as "The Acre. Sited on a level lot of 8,140 square feet, the church, which faces east, is surrounded on three sides by residential buildings. The Western Canal (NR 1976: Locks and Canals Historic District) flows past the Church's east side, and across the canal, on Lewis Street, stands the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Church (NR 1977). Construction of St. Patrick's Church began in 1853 and was not completed until 1874. A major fire struck the building on January 11, 1904, and although it destroyed much of the church's interior, the exterior remained intact. The building retained its 1853-1874 Gothic Revival exterior,but the interiorwas reconstructed with early 20th century materials. The church was rededicated on November 18, 1906.

Stylistically, the church is derived from 13th century English Gothic ecclesiastical precedents. Its plan is essentially a cruciform,withsymmetrical transepts projecting from the rectangular nave. It is five bays wide on its main elevation. A 160-foot-tall steeple located at the east end dominates the building. Construction is of coursed rubble masonry with ashlar granite trim. The church's main entrance is at the base of the steeple, which rises four stories to a broached spire. The steeple is flanked by symmetrical, two-story hipped roof projections containing secondary entrances and, on the second story, a bank of three lancet-arched windows. The corners of both the steeple and the main block are embellished with buttresses and quoins.

The steeple base was constructed in four stages: the first contains an entrance in the base surmounted by by a lancet arch with tracery; the second includes a tripartite lancet window with trefoil-shaped Gothic tracery; the third holds a single narrow lancet window; and the fourth, the belfry, contains a pair of lancets. The spire is ornamented by eight lancet dormerswith crockets and cruciform finials. It is further ornamented by a narrow band of quatrefoils near the top of the steeple and by a three-part finial surmounted by a cross. The nave consists of two-story side aisles with a three-story main block containing a clerestory. Access to the nave is through the steeple's main entrance, and flanking that entrance, through similar secondary entrances heading the side aisles.

The nave's approximate dimensions are 270 feet in length, 100 feet in width through the transept, and 70 feet from floor to ceiling. It seats slightly more than 1,200 persons. To the north and south, 2 1/2-story transepts project from the nave. Both wings are punctuated on the end walls by a large pointed-arch window with elaborate Gothic-style tracery. On the southern side, under the transept gable, the vestry projects slightly. It is a small rectangular extension similar in style and detail to the rest of the building and was added in 1906..Balancing the vestry is a granite blind arch. NPS Form10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.

10-31-84 For NPS use only received date entered JAN 3 1985 Continuation sheet st, Patrick's Church lemnumber 7 Page 1 The west, rear elevation has a projecting single-bay center gable flanked by two bays on either side. The center gable contains a single large Gothic window with ornate tracery, while flanking bays, divided by buttresses, contain both Gothic and blind windows. The interior of the church remains as it was at the time of the 1906 reconstruction. Marble columns separate the nave from the side aisles. The ceilings of both the nave and the aisles have eight-part rib vaulting with floral-patterned bosses. Three altars adorned with statues andsculptural reliefs and a series of religious frescoes enrich the interior. Archaeologically, the property has some potential for prehistoric sites, given its proximity to Pawtucket Falls.

Two prehistoric sites (19-MD-47; 19-MD-53) have been recorded within one half mile of the property. In terms of historic archaeological potential, the following might be expected: builder's trenches and related construction features, evidence of earlier sites or structures (especially the original wood framed church), refuse scatter, and possibly privies or trash pits related to the surrounding residential neighborhood or the early decades of the church.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance St. Patrick's Chruch, Lowell, Massachusetts Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 X1800-1899 X1900- Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below archeology-prehistoric community planning X archeology-historic conservation - agriculture economics X architecture education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications industry invention landscape architecture X religion law literature military music philosophy politics/government science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation X other (specity Community Development Specific dates 1853, 1906 Builder

Statement of significance

Architect Patrick C. Keeley Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) St. Patrick's Church, built in 1853, is significant as the first Catholic Church to serve the sizable population of Irish textile workers in mid-19th century Lowell, and thus holds close associations with that industrial city's development. Architecturally, the church is significant as the earliest local example of the work of nationally known ecclesiastical architect Patrick C. Keeley and as a fine and well-preserved example of the Gothic Revival style. Built on the site of Lowell's first Catholic Church, St. Patrick's retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and feeling and thus fulfills criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level.

Lowell's manufacturing system--the "Lowell Experiment" of a planned industrial community--developed under the direction of the Incorporated Proprietors of Locks and Canals beginning in 1821. The city and canals developed rapidly, and its textile mills relied in its early years on the labor of young native-born mill workers, primarily women. In the 1840s, however, Irish laborers began to flock to Lowell, transtorming the worktorce and, lltimately, changing the nature of labor relationships in Lowell's factories. The immiarants brought with them their strong ties to the Catholic Church, ties encouraged by the paternalistic Lowell proprietors as a means of exercising control over their laborers.

Unlike the New England-born mill workers, most of whom were unmarried young women, the immigrant laborers did not live in carefully supervised boardinghouses built for them by the Proprietors, a central part of the original Lowell Experiment. Instead,most of the trish population built crude shelters when they first arrived, on a tract of land that came to be somecturo, che predaceson of nhe prason sr? agent of the Proprietors of Locks and etea geres or frig-bom prlesis A small wood-frame Under the guidance of a series of Irish-born priests, the original St. Patrick's became a center for the Irish community, providing spiritual guidance, education and health care, and perhaps most importantly to the Proprietors, discipline and social control.

Much of The Acre was unavailable for purchase before the 1840s, but in 1845, a decades-old land dispute was resolved and house lots were put on the market. Substantial housing began to replace the crude shelters. The population of The Acre continued to swell. By 1853, the Irish community's increasing size and wealth made it both necessary and possible for them to replace their original wood church. St. Patrick's was rebuilt in grand style between 1853 and 1874. St. Patrick's was designed by Patrick C. Keeley (1816-1896), a well-known ecclesiastical architect who emigrated to New York from Ireland in 1841. During the course of his career, Keeleydesigned over 500 Roman Catholic churches,primarilyin New York and New England. designs include the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, His Boston (1875, NR 1973); St.

Mary's, Newport; and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Providence (1893; NR 1975). While St. Patrick's is Keeley's earliest church in Lowell, his later works in the city include The Church of the (7892-1988; 0RCPB520 (1868); St. Michael's Church (1884-1900); and St. Peter s Church ftetnac devita Patrick s is 1mposing buil ce andei8eishifPeane arso as the Firse 9s the tairsE of man churches Biexapie 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References Coolidge, John Mill & Mansion (New York: Russell & RusselI), reissue 1967 Cheney, Liana, et al. ,The Religious Architecture of Lowell, Massachusetts (Lowell: Lowel1 Museum), 1984 Whitney, Henry F. & Elsie R., Biographical Dictionary of American Architects Los Angeles: Hennessy & Ingalls, 1970 10. Geographical Data 8,140 square feet Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name - Lowel1 UT M References Quadrangle scale 1:25,000 A 1193/019870 Zone Easting L417/213|812,0 Northing B Zone DLL F LILLLL Easting Northing LuLu LILLLIL ELI GL H Verbal boundary description and justification (See Attached Boundary Map) List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state N/A code county code state code county code 11.

Form Prepared By name/title Betsty Friedberg, Preservation Planner (MHC) with Bob Weible, Lowell National Näsneatnancek, and K. Taff, City of Lowel1, (978), Division of Technical Preservation & organization MHC Lowell National Historical Park date 10/84 street & number 80 Boylston Street telephone 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national - state X local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteriaand procedures set forth bythe National Park Service. State Historic Preservation Officer signature Valuie A.

Talmage State Historic Preservation Officer title Massachusetts Historical Commission date November 16,1984 For NPS use only hereby certity that this property is included in the National Hegister Melores Byen Entered in tabes National Register date 1/3/85 Keeper of the National Register Attest: Chief of Registration date U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1983 0 - 419-311 NPS Form 10-300-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only received date entered JAN 3 985 Continuation sheet St. Patrick's Church Item number 8 Page 1 Lowell's successive waves of immigrant groups. Visible from St. Patrick's across the Western Canal is the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Church, erected in 1908 (NR 1977).

Shurcahtsinteror sutdk dy a te damage ton the bary dingior hoe teed mte ye Within three years, however, theinterior had been reconstructed, and the church was rededicated on November 18, 1906. Archbishop 0'Connell, a Lowell native who later became archbishop of Boston, presided. Since its construction, St. Patrick's has continued to serve the residents of The Acre. The area remains the neighborhood most closely associated with Lowell's immigrants, and has been home successively to Irish, Greek, and today, Hispanic residents. The U.S. Congress recognized the national significance of Lowell's immigration history in 1978 (PL 95-290). St. Patrick's was identified as eligible for the National Register in 1980 as part of Lowel1'sCultural Resources Inventory, a massive planning study prepared by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott.

Expected archaeological resources may contribute to the significance of the property by helping to document: construction techniques and subsequent modifications; relationship between church and community (are there distinctive archaeological deposits associated with churches? How did sacred and secular activities overlap in a high density urban setting?); and social organization, especially changes in patterns of ethnicity and social status. WASO Form - 177 ('R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET St. Patrick's Church Middlesex County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: J sample -request DEC 6 1984 Working No. Fed. Reg.

Date: 2/4,84 Date Due: _ 13/85--1/20/53 Entered In tAgtion: LACCEPT - -1-3-85 National Register - RETURN REJECT- Federal Agency: _ appeal -NR decision Recom./Criteria_ Reviewer Discipline Date , see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership /Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes no 7. Description Condition excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one -unaltered I altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one -original site moved date 8.

Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) summary paragraph J completeness clarity applicable criteria J justification of areas checked J relating significance to the resource context J relationship of integrity to significance J justification of exception L other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name_ UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature date title 13.

Other Maps Photographs - Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed - Date - - Phone: _ Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet EAST- FRONT ST.PATRICK'S CHURCH #1 St. Patrick's Church East (front) elevation of St. Patrick's 1/84 NORTH- SIDR ST. PATRICK'S CHAURCH #2 St. Patrick's Church North (side) St. Patrick's elevation of 1/84