{"nrhp_refnum":"89000625","name":"St. Mary's Catholic Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"159 Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winchester","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.45423776200005,"lon":-71.13192749299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Mary's Catholic Church is a brick Gothic Revival church at 159 Washington Street in Winchester, Massachusetts. It began as a wood-frame church built in 1876 and was remodeled and clad in brick in 1897 by architect Patrick W. Ford.","why_significant":"The church is significant as a well-detailed example of Gothic Revival architecture designed by P.W. Ford, an architect noted for Roman Catholic Church commissions. It is also important for its association with Winchester's emerging Irish Catholic community, which grew near the town's industries and the railroad.","narrative":"St. Mary's Catholic Church sits on busy Washington Street in Winchester, in an area once at the center of the town's 19th-century Irish community. Winchester had no Roman Catholic church until 1874, when a small wood-frame chapel was built. In 1876 a larger church replaced it, and in 1897 architect Patrick W. Ford renovated the interior and clad the exterior in red brick. The design loosely follows the early 19th-century meetinghouse form, with the gable end facing the street and an offset tower. Pointed arch moldings over doors and windows, buttresses, and heavy corbeled cornices give it Gothic Revival character, with Romanesque Revival influence. The upper belfry was rebuilt in 1907. A small brick building of about 1900 beside the church was first built as a library and later used as a Baptistry and meeting hall. The church reflects the growth of Irish immigrant residents, who made up about 12 percent of the population by 1865.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Patrick W. Ford (P.W. Ford)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as the present church; use is given as a church. A small brick Baptistry c1900 adjacent has served as a meeting hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.930758-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7916/63791686/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000625.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000625/ccc9b5d75c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000625/ccc9b5d75c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WinchesterMA_SaintMarysChurch.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:WinchesterMA_SaintMarysChurch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791686","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Catholic_Church_(Winchester,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7590123"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/st-marys-catholic-church-89000625/"}