St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Parish Complex

St. Augustine - St. Monica parish is significant primarily for its architectural quality. In the spring of 1912, Catholics living north of Indian Village in Detroit met to discuss the possibility of a new parish. That area of the city was growing rapidly in response to industrialization and the influx of immigrants. Three hundred families, largely German, Irish, and Belgian, petitioned for a new parish within walking distance from their homes. On September 3, 1912, $14,910 was paid for a large piece of land running from Seminole to Maxwell Avenues with 240' frontage on Sylvester Avenue, its southern boundary, and 426' north and south. The parish was dedicated to St. Catherine of Siena, and the Rev. Joseph M. Browkaw was appointed first pastor; he served more than three decades. On November 17, 1913, ground was broken for a grade school building including a chapel and parish hall, at a cost of $52,000; this served temporarily as both church and school. The architects were Donaldson & Meier of Detroit, and the relationship with that firm was retained for all the parish buildings. The debt on the school building was retired through the purchase of Liberty Bonds, and that cleared the way to begin a church building. On St. Catherine's Feast, April 30, 1919, work was begun on the basement portion of St. Catherine's Church, built under permit #7887 issued May 20, 1919; this was completed as a basement church in January, 1920. Donaldson & Meier did at least a rendering of the upper church, which appeared as a newspaper illustration; the eventual church resembles the rendering in plan and form, but is quite different otherwise, suggesting that the rendering was all that was done at the time. April 30, 1921 saw ground broken for a convent for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who were teaching in the school, located west of the church on Sylvester (building permit #19073, May 26, 1921). The building was completed in the fall for $65,000. In the spring of 1923 permit #3947 was issued for the High School facing Maxwell, and it was completed a year later at a cost of $200,000. Permit #63728 was issued on May 7, 1925, for the rectory, which was ready for occupancy May 5, 1926, after an expenditure of $70,000. Also in 1926, on October 15, a permit was issued for a small frame school building located on Seminole at the north end of the property. This was apparently an emergency measure to accommodate the growing numbers in the school, and the building was 'moved to Farmington' under a permit issued March 4, 1944. Finally, the upper church was begun in the spring of 1929, (permit #58609, May 1, 1929, $130,000) and it was dedicated on the first Sunday of October in that year. Thus was created a complex of buildings whose unity and character have been altered only by the removal of the grade school building in 1975. All designed in a derivative of the Romanesque, popular with Donaldson & Meier at the time, the buildings share characteristic dark red brick, stone, tile, and design characteristics which provide cohesion even though variety is present.

The St. Augustine - St. Monica Parish complex consists of four buildings grouped at the southern end of the city block bounded by Sylvester, Seminole, Canfield, and Maxwell Avenues. The parish property is more than twice as large as the area covered by the buildings, and the northern portion of the plot is open and used for parking and recreation. Because the church structure is dominated by the 1929 upper church, the oldest building having visual impact on the site is the convent, located at the northeast corner of Sylvester and Maxwell. The style of all the buildings was called Romanesque, but some details from other round-arched styles such as the Early Christian or Byzantine can be identified. Dark red tapestry brick, limestone, and red flat tile roof combine to create a rich but sober atmosphere, shared by all the buildings of the complex.