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This church was built as a missionary church for the large population of Irish Catholics who settled in this neighborhood to work in the nearby B&O Railroad yards. Designed as a Greek Revival temple, it was modeled after the classical Athenian structure known as the Theseum. The red brick church features a massive hexastyle front, with fluted Doric columns, triglyph- and metope-patterned molded-brick frieze, and cornice with guttae ornament. The church was a cornerstone of the community, expanding to include a rectory (c. 1849), also designed by Long; a convent (c. 1860); girls’ school (1869); and the House of Mercy (1869) for distressed women and girls. The rear chancel was extended and the semicircular apse added later. Stained glass windows (1898–1912) were created by the Mayer Studio in Munich. This was the first of four landmark religious buildings by Long, including the similar Lloyd Street Synagogue (BC61), built the following year.