Old St. Mary's
San Francisco
Old St. Mary's is a Catholic church from 1854 on the corner of California Street and Grant Avenue, in Chinatown. It was the first church in California built as a cathedral.
A cathedral for a new city
The first stone was laid on July 17, 1853, three years after California joined the United States. The church opened on Christmas Eve 1854. It was San Francisco's cathedral until 1891, when a new one was built.
Bricks and stones from far away
The style is Gothic Revival: a brick tower, carved stones and pointed windows, like many churches in Europe. The bricks and stones came by ship from very far away. Back then the city had little building material of its own.
The fire of 1906
The church survived the 1906 earthquake. But then came the fire, which burned the interior. The restoration work ended in 1909. It is a historic site protected by the city, and by the State of California too.
The Chinese mission
Since the late 1800s the church has been run by the Paulist Fathers. The first Catholic Chinese mission in the United States began here, with a school for the neighborhood's children. Today the church still welcomes the Chinatown community.
