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)
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.
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,
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.
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).
CT Irish-American
Heritage Trail
640 Arrowhead Drive
Orange, CT 06477
The Irish experience has had a profound impact on Connecticut's past, and its narrative spans all periods of the state's history and touches every one of its eight counties and 169 towns.
