St. Michael's Church Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in Convent, Louisiana, in

St. James Parish, Louisiana St. James Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Jacques) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Convent. The parish was created in 1807. St. James Parish is a part of the New Orleans–Metairie, Louisiana metropolita ...

. The area was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is located on River Road ( Louisiana Highway 44), about downriver from Sunshine Bridge. It included six

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

and a contributing site on . It includes: StMikeChurchWM

*St. Michael's Church (c. 1875), a cruciform basilica with a tower in

Gothic Revival 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 ...

and Romanesque styles. It has a "five bay, aisled nave, and a massive altar set in a great niche whose back wall is cut through with a colonnade screen. The church is entered through a vestibule set in the base in a single central tower. In the ornate nave, multishaft columns rise to foliated capitals which support sets of Romanesque double arches. The exposed truss roof features King posts and foliated hanging pendants. The building is constructed of brick laid up in common bond. The exterior features the verticality, pinnacles, buttresses, and multiple arches of the Gothic style. Yet the numerous semicircular arches and blind arcading are Romanesque. Despite the mixture of styles, the blend is entirely harmonious and elegant. At one time there was an octagonal spire; however, it was blown down in the 1975 hurricane." *a rectory *a large school building, "the old St. Michael's School for white children, which operated from 1940 to about 1966. From 1966 to 1971 it was an integrated Catholic school." *a small school building, "the old St. Joseph's School for Negroes, which originally occupied a different site. The school began in 1867 and operated until the coming of integration to the parish in the late 1960s. The building, which dates from the middle to late nineteenth century, was moved to the church grounds in 1932 and continued to function as a Negro Catholic school. It may be the same building in which the school was inaugurated in 1867." *two cottages *"the Shed" *a cemetery "consisting mainly of fairly ordinary above-ground tombs ... noteworthy for three high style Renaissance Revival tombs near the entrance. The Welham tomb is particularly significant with its castiron vermiculated quoins and arches." With

References

Roman Catholic churches in Louisiana Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Greek Revival church buildings in Louisiana Victorian architecture in Louisiana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in St. James Parish, Louisiana Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Clergy houses in the United States Houses in St. James Parish, Louisiana Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Schools in St. James Parish, Louisiana School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana {{Louisiana-church-stub