“Heavily damaged during the Civil War by Union bombardment.”
120 Broad Street
City Directories and History: CATHEDRAL OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
Constructed circa 1890-1907; renovated 1980s; restored 1994-95
Patrick C. Keely and Decimus C. Barbot, architects
“Although the cornerstone was laid for this stippled brownstone cathedral in 1890, it is actually the second such building to occupy the site. The Right Reverend John England was consecrated in St. Finbar’s Cathedral in Cork, Ireland, and arrived to take up his duties over the diocese of the Carolinas and Georgia early in 1821. England purchased Charleston’s favorite pleasure garden, the “New Vauxhall” gardens, shortly after his
arrival and built a small wooden building during the planning of a larger cathedral. England did not live to see the completion by 1854 of the first large Gothic cathedral designed by the Brooklyn architect P. C. Keely, the leading architect of American Catholic churches of the mid-nineteenth century. Tradition holds that Keely studied under the great English Gothic Revivalist A.W. Pugin, architect of the Houses of Parliament. This influence appears in the decorated Gothic cathedral Keely completed in Charleston called St. John the Baptist and St. Finbar. With a nave of 54 feet in height, side aisles of 25 feet, and a tower and spire of 200 feet, this was the largest and most elaborate of Charleston’s antebellum religious buildings.
With the loss of that structure in the fire of 1861 and a lack of funds due to the War Between the States, plans were developed for a nearly identical building by Keely during the episcopate of a former Confederate officer, the Right Reverend Henry B. Northrop. The cornerstone was laid in 1890 by Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore. Due to funding problems and various delays, however, the present cathedral was not dedicated until April 1907. It stands slightly larger than the former
building and is known only as St. John the Baptist; the planned spire for the 100-foot tower has never been built. On the interior, fourteen lancet arched Gothic windows depict the life of Christ, while the great rose window over the altar depicts the Last Supper (taken from Leonardo da Vinci) below the Baptism of Christ by John. The glazing was manufactured by the Franz Mayer Company of Munich and installed in 1907. The windows and interior plasterwork were splendidly restored in 1994-95. The front iron fence to the east, now a part of the cathedral property, is the sole remnant of the 1815 St. Andrew’s Society Hall, burned in 1861.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
“Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This property was once the Vauxhall Gardens, a post-Revolutionary “circus” or pleasure ground for
entertainments and plays. It was purchased by the Right Rev. John England, Bishop of Charleston, for the Roman Catholic Church in 1821. England was the first bishop of the Diocese, which when established in 1820 included South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, in which there were an estimated 1,000 Catholics. Bishop England dedicated a simple wooden chapel in 1821. The first cathedral on the site, named St. Finbar’s and St. John’s, was designed by Patrick Charles Keely, a Brooklyn-based architect who designed literally hundreds of churches throughout the country, and who was said to have been a student of Pugin.
Constructed 1850-54 the cathedral was destroyed in the great fire of 1861. Fire insurance on the building had lapsed through a oversight, before the fire. The 1861 fire also destroyed the rectory, the Seminary Library of 17,000 volumes and other valuable property. The congregation worshiped at Hibernian Hall for a time after the fire. In 1869, the Pro-Cathedral was built at 105 Queen St., as an interim place of worship. A bequest of $48,832 from John McKeegan initiated the rebuilding of the Cathedral. The ruins of the old Cathedral were removed to build the present one between 1890 and 1907. Keely also designed the present Cathedral, which has the same overall form and similar
dimensions but entirely different detailing. The intended steeple was never built. The building is constructed of Connecticut brownstone, with star-shaped indentations on the surface. Keely was assisted by a local architect, Decimus C. Barbot. The builder of the cathedral was first Henry L. Cade, who died and was succeeded by Henry Oliver. Keely also designed the altars and episcopal throne in the interior. The stained glass was made by Meyer & Company of Munich. The style of the building has been described as being patterned after German Gothic churches of the 14th century. The gates and fence, which date from the 1850s, are of a simple design.” (Rogers, Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys, 115; Rhett & Steel, 26-27; O’Connell, Catholicity in the Carolinas, 38-55, 61-65; Whitelaw & Levkoff, 43; Legerton, 66-67; Fraser, Reminiscences, 122; Ravenel, Architects, 254-257; Mazyck & Waddell, 17; Guilday, Life and Times of John England, passim; O’Brien, John England, passim; Stoney, This is Charleston, 16.) – CCPL
Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect
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