Holy Cross Church and Convent is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

complex in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, with six structures built from 1862 to 1932 in various architectural styles. Currently, it is also a

church school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

. With The complex was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on June 28, 2001 for its architectural significance. Holy Cross parish has roots going back to 1834, when Father Van den Broek established a chapel in the Bay Settlement area. Around 1852 Father Edward Daems bought land at the site of the current complex and the parish built a pine church building, which no longer exists. In 1862 the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

was built next to the pine church. In 1868 a school was added, which no longer exists. Surviving buildings include: * The Holy Cross Church Rectory was built in 1862, a two-story cube with

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

details, including a fine wooden bracketed

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. Walls are local

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

with

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

of cut stone. In 1900 a block of matching style and materials was added, probably as a kitchen. Another one-story addition was added around 1950. * The Old White Laundry is a simple one-story frame building built around 1870, on a stone foundation. The north-facing gable has an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

window. The building is now used for storage and as a

root cellar A root cellar (American English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground. or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods. Its na ...

. * The bathhouse/outhouse, built around 1880 just south of the laundry, is a one-story cube with Italianate details matching the rectory. It is wooden, but the wood is scribed to look like limestone to match the rectory. Inside are two rooms. The front room was a washroom, and the back a

privy Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to: * Privy council, a body that advises the head of state * Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin * Privy Pur ...

. * The Rectory Garage was built in 1930, brick and stone in

Craftsman style American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

. * The current Holy Cross Church was built in 1931 to replace the original 1852 pine church. It was designed by William E. Reynolds of Green Bay in

Romanesque Revival style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

, with an exterior of brown brick. The main entrance is flanked by two square towers, with the left tower larger and holding the original 1852 bell. Inside, the nave has a barrel-vaulted ceiling supported by columns. The Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross Convent was located to the North of the rectory, and consisted of several sections. A frame convent was built in 1880. In 1916, a two-story red brick building was added to the south of the 1880 section, designed by Foeller, Schober and Berners of Green Bay with

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

details. It had a corner turret, a center bay, and a gable roof topped with a stone cross. In 1932 a three-story section was added to the north, designed by William E. Reynolds with

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

details. After a fire in 1959, the original 1880 convent was replaced with a four-story brick section, joining the other two sections into a U-shaped floorplan. In 2006, The Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross moved into a new convent closer to the bay, to the west. The entire former convent was razed in 2012.

References

{{NRHP Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay Convents in the United States Catholic schools in Wisconsin Schools in Brown County, Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Green Bay, Wisconsin Romanesque Revival church buildings in Wisconsin Italianate architecture in Wisconsin Roman Catholic churches completed in 1862 Churches in Brown County, Wisconsin 1862 establishments in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Brown County, Wisconsin Churches completed in 1862 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Italianate church buildings in the United States