Name/Title
89-93 Hasell Street (St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church) and Associated BuildingsEntry/Object ID
HASELL.089-93.1Scope and Content
Constructed 1838-39. Christopher Kane, contractor. The present St. Mary's is the third church on the site of the first establishment of Roman Catholicism in the Carolinas and Georgia. Catholics in colonial Charleston worshipped quietly, as they were the only group not permitted toleration in the province from proprietary times. The first priest, the Reverend Ryan, found the local Catholics, numbering about 200, "few, poor and timid." After renting a Methodist meetinghouse on Hasell Street, the group purchased the site about the time that the congregation was incorporated by the SC legislature in 1791. With the first boats of refugees from the slave insurrection in French Santo Domingo, the number of congregants swelled. A handsome brick church was built under the direction of the Reverend Simon Felix O'Gallagher in 1801, but this building burned in 1838. A cornerstone was quickly laid for rebuilding on the site and the new church was completed in 1839. The present building follows a Robert Mills inspired tradition of the Classical Revival style already out of fashion in the 1830s. On the interior a fine 1814 altar painting by the local artist John Cogdell, rescued in the 1838 fire and restored by the artist for the new church, is surmounted by a ceiling executed by the decorative painter Chizzola. These images are in company with 23-three ceiling and wall paintings, copies of Roman masterpieces, by the Italian artist Cesare Portia, that were installed in 1896. The spectacular stained glass windows were completed in two campaigns by the Franz Mayer Firm of Munich. One of the most significant facets of St. Mary's is its graveyard, which holds the burials of 18th and early-19th century immigrants of French, Irish, Italian and Spanish extraction. Two daughters of the Comte De Grasse, the French admiral who helped George Washington secure victory at Yorktown, are buried here among other French refugees of the West Indies. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.)
File contains building history from Architectural Guide to Charleston (by Simons & Thomas); newspaper articles (including 1983 DYKYC).
Information about associated properties -- 89 Hasell (Office and Rectory) and 91 Hasell (Parish Hall) -- may be added in the future.
Church is also known as Saint Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church and both 93 Hasell and 95 Hasell.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
HASELL.089-93.Source or Donor
89-93 Hasell Street (St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church / Associated Buildings).Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
Churches/Synagogues/Houses of Worship, Hasell Street, Ansonborough, National Register of Historic Places, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church (Charleston, S.C.), Church buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 File FolderArchive Notes
Finding Aids: Index to Property Files
Level of Description: FolderLocation
Location
Shelf
Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Location
Container
PF Box 46Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2006.010.277-279, HASELL.089-93.2, HASELL.089-93.3, HASELL.089-93.4, HASELL.089-93.5, HASELL.089-93.6, HASELL.089-93.7Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 451General Notes
Note
Notes: Photograph in record is from Bayless Collection.
See Media tab for emails from Diocese of Charleston regarding address.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
July 17, 2008Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023