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ST. ALPHONSUS CHURCH

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1842, Robert Cary Long Jr. 114–120 W. Saratoga St.
  • (Alexander Heilner)
  • (Alexander Heilner)

This German Catholic Church is a landmark of early Gothic Revival architecture and the master-work of Baltimore architect Long Jr. His admiration for English architect and proponent of Gothic design A. W. N. Pugin is evident in his work and in his belief that Gothic and Greek were the only styles worth emulating. This was Long’s first Gothic Revival church and first major commission. Executed in the English Perpendicular mode, its towering height and overall stability was achieved through an early use of structural cast iron. The symmetrical brick building, originally painted in imitation of stone, features a crenellated parapet pierced by buttresses topped with finials and telescoping central tower, and ogee windows replete with drip moldings and delicate tracery. The exterior, however, appears austere when compared with the soaring, richly ornamented interior with slim clustered marbleized columns supporting elaborate fan vaults, full-height stained glass windows, stenciled ornamentation, and high altar. It was commissioned by German and Austrian Roman Catholic Redemptorist fathers who came to Baltimore to minister to a growing working-class congregation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "ST. ALPHONSUS CHURCH", [, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-BC18.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 162-163.

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