Saint Joseph's Episcopal Church, 1883 (Detroit, Michigan)

Infobox_nrhp | name =St. Joseph's Episcopal Church
nrhp_type =


caption = Saint Joseph's Episcopal Church, seen from across Woodward
location= Detroit, Michigan
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 21
lat_seconds = 53
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 83
long_minutes = 4
long_seconds = 9
long_direction = W
locmapin = Michigan
area =
built =1883
architect= Malcomson & Higginbotham
architecture= Other, Romanesque
added = August 03, 1982
governing_body = Private
mpsub=Religious Structures of Woodward Ave. TR
refnum=82002908cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church is located at 5930 Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was built in 1883 as the Saint Joseph's Episcopal Church.

History

The original building in this complex, St. Joseph's Memorial Chapel, was a gift of Mrs. L.R. Medbury, and was built on the corner or Woodward and Medbury (now the Edsel Ford service drive). [http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/16203.htm State of Michigan] ] The chapel, consecrated in 1884, soon proved too small, and a larger church, completed in 1896, was erected facing Woodward.

In 1906, St. Joseph's congregation merged with that of the congregation of the nearby St. Paul's Cathedral. The St. Joseph's building was sold to Father Francis J. Vananthwerp in 1907, and the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church was established. The new congregation altered some of the church's structure, extending the nave and adding an oversized, gilded statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary atop the south tower's hipped roof. [http://www.detroit1701.org/Holy%20Rosary-St.%20Joseph%27s.html Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church/ St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church] from Detroit1701.org]

Architecture

The church, built from 1893 to 1896, is a massive rock-faced, cross-gable-roofed, sandstone, Romanesque Revival structure. The gabled facade is flanked by two towers: a tall, square, pyramid-roofed tower to the south and a round, conical-roofed tower on the north. The entrance between the towers is into a one-story vesibule; it is surmounted by an enormous round window.

References