{"nrhp_refnum":"83000719","name":"St. Anne's Church and Parish Complex","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"780 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fall River","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.694142748000075,"lon":-71.16333939584604,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Catholic church and parish complex facing Kennedy Park at 780 South Main Street and 818 Middle Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, built 1891-1905 with a rectory (1905) and a Romanesque Revival convent.","why_significant":"It was the first French parish in Fall River and a major religious shrine, serving the city's growing French Canadian mill-worker population. The church is a local ecclesiastical masterpiece in French Baroque style, designed by Napoleon Bourassa and supervised by local architect Louis Destremps. The form states that it meets criteria A and C.","narrative":"St. Anne's Church and its parish complex face Kennedy Park in Fall River, Massachusetts. The parish was founded in 1869 as the city's first French parish, serving Quebec immigrants who came to work in the mills. In 1891 Father Bernard Sauval conceived a monumental shrine church. Napoleon Bourassa drew the plans and Fall River architect Louis Destremps oversaw construction. The basement opened for Mass in 1895, and the upper church was dedicated in 1906 after a long pause over debt concerns. Its French Baroque design features twin onion domes, towers 155 feet high, and blue Vermont marble on a granite base. The nave measures 273 by 90 feet and the upper church seats 1600. The complex also includes a granite and marble rectory of 1905 and a four-story brick Romanesque Revival convent, begun between 1891 and 1894 and enlarged in 1908 and 1916. Pilgrims still visit the shrine, which reflects the city's expanding immigrant population in the late nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"1891-1905","architect_builder":"Napoleon Bourassa (plans); Louis Destremps (supervising architect)","architectural_style":"French Baroque (church); Romanesque Revival (convent)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The complex remains an active shrine and pilgrimage destination, and the church windows have recently been replaced with stained glass.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.100259-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/7896/63789629/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000719.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000719/ed069368f8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000719/ed069368f8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2021_St._Anne%27s_Church,_Fall_River.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2021_St._Anne%27s_Church,_Fall_River.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789629","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anne_Shrine_of_Fall_River","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3584912"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/st-annes-church-and-parish-complex-83000719/"}