{"nrhp_refnum":"83000723","name":"St. Mary's Cathedral and Rectory","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"407 Spring St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fall River","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.69861771200004,"lon":-71.15717210299994,"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":"St. Mary's Cathedral and Rectory is a granite Catholic church with a side tower and spire, plus a granite rectory, at 407 Spring Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. The church was built 1852-56 to designs by Patrick C. Keely; the rectory dates from 1927.","why_significant":"It is the oldest Catholic church in Fall River and a key local landmark that visually dominates the adjacent Corky Row Historic District. It is an early, fine example of Gothic Revival design by Patrick Keely, a leading American Catholic ecclesiastical architect. The rectory was designed in the same style by Maginnis and Walsh, a firm known for Catholic Church work.","narrative":"St. Mary's Cathedral and Rectory stand at 407 Spring Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. The church is built of rock-faced Fall River granite and has a square side tower with a four-sided stone spire, pointed-arch windows and a rose window in the north gable. It is the oldest Catholic church in the city. Irish immigrants who came to work in the mills in the 1840s outgrew an earlier wooden chapel, and work on the present church began in 1852. Patrick C. Keely, a Brooklyn architect who designed more than 500 churches, drew the plans, and parishioners did part of the construction. The steeple was added in 1858. The church became a cathedral in 1904 when the Fall River Diocese was formed. The granite rectory, built in 1927 in the same style by Maginnis and Walsh, replaced an earlier Victorian stick-style rectory. The complex was listed for its age, its role in local Catholic history and its Gothic Revival architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Patrick C. Keely (church); Maginnis and Walsh (rectory/parish house)","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic / Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is church; the form lists the cathedral as in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.668431-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/83/7894/63789483/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000723.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000723/21dcabd1d7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000723/21dcabd1d7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"ToddC4176 (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Marys_Fall_River_-_Northeast.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">ToddC4176 (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Marys_Fall_River_-_Northeast.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789483","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_St._Mary_of_the_Assumption_(Fall_River,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2942494"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/st-marys-cathedral-and-rectory-83000723/"}