St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Roman Catholic Parish Complex

St. Stanislaus R. C. Parish is significant as the fifth parish established to serve Detroit's Polish community, which is one of the largest in the nation. The buildings of the parish are also significant as an excellent example of a Catholic parish complex of the first fifteen years of this century, anchored by the magnificent Baroque church of 1911-13, with its lavish Beaux-Arts interior. Large waves of Polish immigrants came to America after the Civil War, primarily because of conditions in Poland resulting from the partition and many settled in Detroit. At first they settled near the German community in the city because they came from Prussian occupied Poland and understood at least a little German, but soon they had established a viable economic and organized community of their own. Further immigration was caused by the Russification of Russian occupied Poland, famine in Silicia and overpopulation in Galicia. At first, the Poles attended the German St. Joseph's Church, but in 1871 the first Polish parish, St. Albertus, was founded. The priorities of the Polish immigrants were education for their children and pew rent for their church, and the new parish grew enormously, requiring several divisions in later years which resulted in the parishes of St. Josaphat and Sweetest Heart of Mary.

The parish buildings of St. Stanislaus center on the Neo-Baroque church located at the southeast corner of Dubois and Medbury. The church has its contemporary rectory attached at the rear along Dubois, while the school buildings lie on Medbury east of the church. The ensemble typifies a Catholic parish plant of the period, and dominates the neighborhood; it is also a landmark for passing traffic on the Ford Freeway (I-94), which lies a short distance north. From the freeway, the view is of the church and schools rising above the smaller scale residential buildings around them. The oldest building on the site is the school building of 1900, built of dark red brick on a stone foundation and with stone trim in a generally Northern Renaissance manner. Built under permit #953, issued December 7, 1900, the building was designed by Detroit architects Kastler & Hunter, who were designing St. Josaphat's Church (NR) for another Polish parish at almost exactly the same time. The three-story building is detailed only on its street facade, which is divided vertically into three bays. In the center, the arched entrance at ground level is under a pediment displaying the date '1900', the whole flanked by small windows. Above, a two-story oriel window is cantilevered from the wall, which rises to a gable above the roof line of the flanking facades; the building is covered with a gable roof running from side to side. There is a double window in the gable, lighting the attic. The facades flanking the central bay are recessed slightly, and have three windows on each level; those at first and second floor are segmentally arched, those on the third are round arched. All the windows are double-hung sash. Centered on the roof is a small domed cupola ventilator.