Our Lady of the Rosary Church (Detroit)

The Our Lady of the Rosary Church is a Roman Catholic church located at 5930 Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was originally built as St. Joseph's Episcopal Church – from 1893 to 1896 – and is a historic Romanesque Revival church complex. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 3, 1982.^[1]

St. Joseph's Episcopal Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Viewed from across Woodward
Location	5930 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates	42°21′53″N 83°4′9″W
Built	1883, 1896
Architect	Malcomson and Higginbotham
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
MPS	Religious Structures of Woodward Ave. TR
NRHP reference No.	82002908[1]
Added to NRHP	August 3, 1982

History

The original building in this complex, St. Joseph's Memorial Chapel, was a gift of Mrs. L.R. Medbury, and was built on the corner or Woodward and Medbury (now the Edsel Ford service drive).^[2] The chapel, consecrated in 1884, soon proved too small, and a larger church, completed in 1896, was erected facing Woodward.^[2]

In 1906, St. Joseph's congregation merged with that of the congregation of the nearby St. Paul's Cathedral. The St. Joseph's building was sold to Father Francis J. VanAntwerp in 1907, and Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church was established.^[2] The new congregation altered some of the church's structure, extending the nave and adding an oversized, gilded statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary atop the south tower's hipped roof.^[3]

In 2021, the church became the location of Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry which serves the campuses of Wayne State University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, the College for Creative Studies, and Henry Ford College, along with other surrounding campuses.^[4]

Architecture

The church, built from 1893 to 1896, is a massive rock-faced, cross-gable-roofed, sandstone Romanesque Revival structure.^[2] The gabled façade is flanked by two towers: a tall, square, pyramid-roofed tower to the south and a round, conical-roofed tower on the north. The entrance between the towers is into a one-story vestibule; it is surmounted by a large rose window.^[2]

See also

• St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, 1926 (Detroit, Michigan)

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. "State of Michigan". Mcgi.state.mi.us. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
3. Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church/ St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church from Detroit1701.org
4. "New full-time chaplain, new location breathe life into Detroit campus ministry". Detroit Catholic. Retrieved 2022-01-10.

Further reading

• Hill, Eric J., and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)