St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church

544 Main Street • New Britain, CT • Hartford County

Historical Significance

This is the first Roman Catholic church in New Britain. It was founded in 1848 Rev. Luke Daly and a group of 25 Irish Catholic families. The church was built in 1886 with labor provided by the parishioners, most of whom working in New Britain's many factories. The church burned to its walls in 1902 and was rebuilt under the direction of Keely's firm.

Photo: View northwest showing part of south elevation and façade. (Tod Bryant)

Sources

Camp, David Nelson. History of New Britain: With Sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889. Berlin, Connecticut, W. B. Thompson. 1889.

"Churches." The Keely Society.

Notable Features of Building or Site

The church is covered with rusticated brownstone with door and window trim in a lighter colored stone. It has five entrances in Gothic porches on the facade and the are reached by a flight of stone stairs which spans the entire width of the facade. There is a square tower with a flat roof and an overhanging cornice supported by brackets on the south side of the facade and a round stained glass window in the center of the facade,

Interrelationship of Building and Surroundings

The church is in a dense urban neighborhood and it is surrounded by mid-twentieth century apartment buildings. There isa late twentieth century shopping center across Main Street the the east of the church.


Additional Information

Date(s):  1894
Style(s):  Gothic Revival
Historic Use:  Church
Present Use:  Church
Architect:  Patrick Charles Keely


Accessibility:
Exterior visible from public road.
Interior accessible (during services and at other times).


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