St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a historic former church building at 257 Main Street in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous cit ...

. Built 1864–67, it was the first Roman

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

church in the city, and is one of only two surviving buildings in the state designed by

Patrick C. Keely Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional build ...

. It was listed on 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 artist ...

in 1989. The church closed in 2009, and was in 2013 threatened with demolition. Alternative uses for the structure are still being sought.

Description and history

The former St. Joseph's Church stands on the northeastern fringe of Lewiston's downtown area, at the eastern corner of Main Street (

Maine State Route 100 State Route 100 (SR 100) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maine, running from Portland to Bangor. The south end of SR 100 is at the intersection of Forest Avenue and Cumberland Avenue in downtown Portland. Its north end is at th ...

) and Blake Street. It is a brick building with Gothic Revival style, and a projecting central tower. The main roof is gabled, with a level of clerestory windows. The tower has one of the three main entrances on the ground floor, a Gothic lancet-arch window on the second, and a belfry with lancet-arched openings on the third level. It is topped by an octagonal spire with cross finial. Roman Catholic services began in Lewiston in the late 1840s, provided by traveling priests. St. Joseph's was organized 1857, with services held in a former Baptist church. This church was constructed in 1864–67, and was the third church commissioned by the

Diocese of Portland The Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine. It is led by a bishop, and its cathedral, or mother church, is the Cat ...

from

. Keely went on to design several more, as well as the bishop's residence in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, but of the churches, only this one and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland survive. The church served the diocese until it was closed in 2009; its stained glass windows and frescoes were then removed from the building. It was purchased in 2013 by Central Maine Healthcare (CMHC), which announced plans to raze the church and the adjacent rectory. Demolition of the church was delayed to allow alternative uses for the building to be identified, but the rectory was demolished in April 2015. CMHC placed the property back on the market in August 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, Lewiston, Maine Former Roman Catholic church buildings in Maine Roman Catholic churches in Lewiston, Maine Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Lewiston, Maine Roman Catholic churches completed in 1867 Religious organizations established in 1857 Organizations disestablished in 2009

Description and history

See also

References