Church of the Most Holy Trinity

Begun in 1857 and consecrated in 1863, this stuccoed-brick Catholic church at 720 Telfair Street in Augusta is a basilica-plan building in the Round-Arch style, also called Romanesque Revival. Baltimore architect John Rudolph Niernsee designed it. The five-part north facade has two corner towers and a central entrance tower, and the interior has vaulted aisles, gilt cast-iron columns, painted decoration, marble altars made in Baltimore, and stained glass. A 29-rank Jardine organ, delivered in 1868, is described as the largest surviving 19th-century organ in the South. The church was listed for its architecture, its art, its religious standing as one of Georgia's two oldest Catholic church buildings, and its social role. Its priests used church property as a hospital and orphanage during yellow fever epidemics, and the earlier church building served as a hospital ward during the Civil War. The period of significance runs from 1857 to 1919, when the side-aisle stained glass was installed.