Chapel of St. Theresa-the Little Flower

The Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower is a fine example of the Neo-Romanesque church work of its architects, Donaldson and Meier, who designed a number of Catholic churches in the Detroit area in the boom years of the 1920s. The chapel is the one of two surviving buildings, both located on Parsons, which reflect the long history of St. Patrick's Church in Detroit, Michigan. The Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower was built for the St. Patrick's parish, whose main church was located at Adelaide and John R. St. Patrick's Catholic Church, was organized in the early 1860s by the Most Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre, who was then Coadjutor Bishop of the Detroit Catholic Diocese. As a response to the need for another parish in an expanding city, St. Patrick's was begun as a mission in what was considered suburban Detroit. Built under the direction of Father James Hennessey of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul for the purpose of ministering to that parish's Irish members, St. Patrick's was to be nothing more than a 'chapel of ease' for the Irish living well north of the cathedral. Through various donations, Father Hennessey was able to collect enough money to erect a small chapel, designed by Detroit architect Gordon W. Lloyd. The original structure was completed in 1862 for $15,000. A few years later the congregation got permission from the diocese to purchase the lot adjacent to the church for the rectory, which was completed in 1867 at a cost of $7,000. St. Patrick's Chapel opened for worship on the Feast of St. Patrick, Patron of the Irish, March 17, 1862. However, regular services were not held until October of that year. Within ten short years, St. Patrick's had outgrown its small chapel and found it necessary to expand. In 1872, at a cost of $30,000, the chapel was enlarged into a church with a seating capacity of 1200: the additions were also by Lloyd. Father Charles Ormand Reilly was appointed as St. Patrick's next pastor in 1875. Under his direction, St. Patrick's began to climb out of debt. The first thing he did was to demand that St. Patrick's become an independent parish; he then abolished all fairs, bazaars, picnics, excursions, and fund-raisers for the parish. However, Father Reilly was not able to reduce the debt until he assessed each member a certain amount to be paid each year until the debt was paid in full. By 1880 St. Patrick had become one of Detroit's largest and wealthiest Catholic churches, located as it was in the then-exclusive Brush Park area. Its property was valued at $100,000 with its parish boundaries extending from the alley between Elizabeth and Columbia northward indeterminately, between Grand River and Gratiot. This geographic area took in some of Detroit's wealthiest families, many of whom were members of St. Patrick's. In 1888, Bishop John S. Foley took charge of the diocese and in 1890 St. Patrick's Church became the Pro-Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Detroit. While serving as the cathedral, the church's name was changed to Sts. Peter & Paul in response to the fact that it served as cathedral church in succession to Sts. Peter & Paul on Jefferson Avenue, given to the Jesuits in 1878. According to a newspaper article written at the time, 'the Cathedral parish was the biggest Catholic parish in Detroit and the wealthiest until time and expansion of industry and business wiped out its fine homes and residents.' St. Patrick's served as the Pro-Cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese until 1938 when Archbishop Edward Mooney named Blessed Sacrament (listed in the National Register) as the new cathedral; St. Patrick's then reverted back to its original name. By the time a parish school was a consideration, land in the area around the church was scarce, and the school was built in 1892 some distance away on Parsons between Woodward and Cass. The school children walked from Parsons to Adelaide in order to attend services in the church. By the 1920s, the walk from the school to the church through the busy streets was no longer considered safe, thus leading to the construction of the Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower on Parsons in 1926. Detroit Building Permit #8236 was issued on May 12, 1926 for the construction of the chapel. The cost of construction was estimated at $143,000. The Detroit architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier was commissioned by St. Patrick's Church to design the chapel. John M. Donaldson and Henry J. Meier entered into partnership in 1880 following the death of their employer, Henry T. Brush and went on to become a very established and prominent firm in Detroit. In addition to the chapel, Donaldson and Meier were responsible for the design of five buildings within the Cass Farm Survey Area, including four houses constructed between 1882 and 1893 and the Tudor Revival McCollester Hall, part of the First Unitarian-Universalist Church at 424 Prentis (1917). Other prominent, ecclesiastical commissions in Detroit include: St. Elizabeth (1891); St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1899-1900); St. Anthony (1901-2); St. Catherine of Siena (1919-29); St. Hyacinth (1922-4); the Sacred Heart Seminary (1923-4); and St. Aloysius (1930). By the 1960s, the Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower became the site of many of the parish's activities. As the area around the old St. Patrick's Church continued to decline, the parish activities became more oriented to programs using the chapel and old school building on Parsons. In the 1970s, the building title of St. Patrick's Church was first transferred to Woodward East Projects, Inc. for use as a community center, and later to the City of Detroit. The old St. Patrick's Church burned to the ground in 1992; the rectory having burned to a shell several years later. The Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower is one of two buildings that reflects the long history of this institution.

The Chapel of St. Theresa, the Little Flower is a red brick and limestone trim, front facing gable building that is rectangular in shape with narrow street frontage. The Neo-Romanesque building features round arch doors, blind arcading, arched windows and openings, bellcotes, and a rosary window. The Neo-Romanesque chapel is built of dark red face brick with limestone trim and topped by a red gable tile roof. Only the liturgical south facade is highly developed as a design, as the building is immediately adjacent to the Sts. Peter and Paul Academy on the west, Orchestra Hall across the alley to the east, the chancel faces an alley, and a double house and commercial building are located north of the chapel. The church is in basilican form, with side aisles so narrow they serve only as walkways. The facade reflects this, with a tall central facade flanked by low, plain-walled aisles with sloping roofs. Blind arcading runs up the gables of the central facade, implying the unity of that facade, but is interrupted by a pair of tower/buttresses that flank the main entrance and divide the surface into three parts. These buttress/tower forms consist of brick towers, two stories high, and each contains stairs to the gallery within. They are plain except for a recessed panel in the brick on each of the three sides. The panel is terminated at the top by a pair of blind arches on the sides and a triple blind arch, the central one topping a window, facing front. These elements are topped by open constructions which might be described as deep aedicules, consisting of gabled roofs supported on columns, with an arch facing forward and barrel vaults. The tower forms are continued upward by attached buttresses which terminate above the gable line in bellcotes. A stone cross tops the gable apex. Between the stair towers are paired front doors under round arched openings and, centered above each door, a window of paired round-arched openings which share a central pillar. Low broad steps fill the space between the tower elements at ground level. The chapel is entered through a small entry hall with two sets of double wood doors. The balcony is located above the entry hall and extends over a small portion of the chapel's rear. A large rosary window is located over the balcony. Wooden pews line the central, tiled aisle which leads to the altar. A columned arcade runs the length of the chapel creating two side aisles. Round arch stained glass windows occupy the space above each arch of the arcade. The altar is framed by two large columns slightly set in from the wall and support the wall above which extends to the peak of the gabled ceiling; a round arch springs from the columns. Three round arch, stained glass windows are located on the far wall at second story level. The dark wood ceiling is supported by large rafters.