Started in 1901 and completed in 1902, St. Thomas Aquinas Church is the oldest church in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

and is a registered historic landmark. Its distinctive

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massin ...

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

style makes it a signature building for the downtown area. The church is located just three blocks south of University Avenue. At the corner of Waverley and Homer Avenues, it's at the northern edge of the historic Professorville neighborhood of the city. The church was used as a location in the

Hal Ashby William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an Cinema of the United States, American film Film director, director and Film editing, editor. His work exemplified the countercultural attitude of the era. He directed wide-rangi ...

film ''

Harold and Maude ''Harold and Maude'' is a 1971 American romantic black comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chasen ...

'' (1971).A Walkable Tour of Homer Avenue
/ref> St. Thomas Aquinas Parish also includes two other churches, Our Lady of the Rosary Church and St. Albert the Great Church, both also in Palo Alto. The three parishes, as well as St. Aloysius Church in Palo Alto and the Newman Center and St. Ann Chapel at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

were merged into one parish in 1987. St. Aloysius was closed in 1994, the Newman Center at Stanford was reestablished as St. Dominic Parish in 1997, and St. Ann was sold in 1999. As of the present St. Thomas Aquinas Church is the parish church of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, which also has two

chapels of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to travel distance. Often ...

References

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Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish
Churches in Santa Clara County, California Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California Roman Catholic churches in California Roman Catholic churches completed in 1902 Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California Carpenter Gothic church buildings in California Victorian architecture in California 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States {{SantaClaraCountyCA-struct-stub

See also

References

External links