Architect James Murphy, a partner with the prolific Roman-Catholic-church architect Patrick C. Keeley (402 Broadway and 86 Hope Street) before his independent work here, may well, like Keeley, have been born in Ireland. Exposure to Gothic architecture during an Irish youth is certainly the best explanation of the high level of design quality found here, for Gothic churches contemporary with this were generally the work of foreign-born architects like Keeley and Richard Upjohn. Clearly related in design to Keeley’s earlier St. Joseph’s (86 Hope Street), this is a forceful, vigorous building, rendered especially dynamic by the powerful corner tower nicely balanced by the small, spired turret in the rear. Its location at the top of the hill that descends to the west into Olneyville reinforces its presence, which was all the more prominent from that vantage point before the installation of freeway overpasses in the mid-twentieth century. On the inside along the nave walls is a handsome ensemble of stained glass by Innsbruck’s Tiroler Glassmalerei.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
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