660 California St.
(at Grant)
(415) 288-3840
Towering over the corner
of Grant Avenue and California Street is Old St. Mary's
Cathedral, the first cathedral built in California.
Just a block and a half
from the Chinatown Gate, Old St. Mary's also hosts a popular
series of lunchtime classical chamber music concerts Tuesdays
and Thursdays.
At the time of the
church's construction in 1853, San Francisco was struggling
through the tail end of the Gold Rush. Many of the gold strikes
were unsuccessful and the city went from boom to bust:
businesses went bankrupt, unemployment rose and the city's first
depression set in.
But it was also a time of
spiritual activism; various churches, temples and synagogues saw
the need to provide an alternative to the brothels, pool halls
and other Gold Rush entertainments, and pushed to create well as
centers of education, social and civic activity.
Old St. Mary's was
designed by architects William Craine and Thomas England, who
followed the instructions of the church's Bishop, Joseph Sadoc
Alemany, to replicate a cathedral in his hometown of Vich,
Spain. The new cathedral, built mostly with Chinese labor, had
parapets on either flank, surmounted with embrasures, and
buttresses finished cut-stone pinnacles. Inside, a vaulted
ceiling with groin arches rises above a Carrara marble altar
imported from Rome.
The original plan included
a steeple, but fear that an earthquake would send it toppling
into the street led the designers to change the plans, leaving
only a bell tower.
Granite, quarried in
China, was used around the base of the structure to deflect
rainwater, while bricks minted in New England for the outer
walls came around Cape Horn as ship ballast.
In keeping with its
tradition of community involvement, the church is home to
several Twelve-Step groups and a vibrant gay and lesbian
ministry, and holds a regular "Saturday for Engaged
Couples," a one-day, all day series of presentations
focusing the engaged couples' attention on the meaning of
marriage from a Roman Catholic perspective. As a part of its
"Music Ministry," the St. Mary's church choir sings
Sundays at the 11 a.m. service and Saturdays at a liturgical
service at 5 p.m.
Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday
concerts start at 12:30 p.m.
Admission/fees:
Suggested donation $3
OLD
ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL
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