Church of the Most Holy Redeemer

The oldest Roman Catholic church in East Boston, Most Holy Redeemer is Patrick C. Keely's earliest surviving Boston-area commission. The current stone Gothic Revival church provides the centerpiece for an intact brick parish complex. Herman Drake, an English emigrant who was one of East Boston's largest builders in the late nineteenth century, constructed the rectory (1867) at 56 Havre Street; the convent (1867, with old rectory from the late 1840s attached to the rear) at 65 London Street; and the parochial school (1892–1893) at 69 London Street. Across Maverick Street from the church is Maverick Gardens (James H. Ritchie and Associates), one of seven public housing projects constructed by the Boston Housing Authority under the 1937 Housing Act. The 414-apartment, three-story red brick, flat-roofed complex opened in 1942; renovation of the apartments began in 2003 to designs by Icon Architects, with 23 percent of the units converted to market-rate rentals.