St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is a parish of the

Roman 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River (Wisconsin), Root River, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. It is the List ...

. It is noted for its historic parish church built in 1925 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979 for its architectural significance. Prior to 1925, St. Patrick's congregation worshiped in a

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

building near the current church. In 1923 the congregation had

Barry Byrne Francis Barry Byrne (December 19, 1883 – December 18, 1967) was a member of the group of architects known as the Prairie School. After the demise of the Prairie School, about 1914 to 1916, Byrne continued as a successful architect by dev ...

of Chicago design a new building. Byrne had worked for

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

and by this time specialized in designing church buildings and schools - this being his second church. With

Architecture

The 1924 building of St. Patrick's features a nearly square floor plan, with its corners cut off by short angled walls topped with triangular spires reaching skyward. The walls are made of wire-cut brick and are adorned with tall

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

. The main entrance is three equal doors side by side, topped with terracotta ornament and small spires, with three windows above. In the design Byrne mixes

Neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style (the emphasis on the vertical and the lancet windows) with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

(the areas of wall space) with a modern feel that could be

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

influence. Inside the front entrance is a wooden

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

which supports an organ balcony. Stained-glass windows depict Old Testament prophets, the evangelists, and St. Patrick. The

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

and Mary and Joseph appear in

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

panels. Alphonzo Ianelli, who had also worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, designed many of these interior ornaments. The design of the building is fresh. Byrne's plans were exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

where they were influential, and Byrne used a similar design for the Church of Christ the King in

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

in 1926.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Racine, Wisconsin Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee Prairie School architecture in Wisconsin Roman Catholic churches completed in 1925 Churches in Racine, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Racine County, Wisconsin

Architecture

See also

References

External links