Maginnis & Walsh

Maginnis & Walsh was an architecture firm started by Charles Donagh Maginnis and Timothy Walsh in 1905. It was known for its innovative design of churches in Boston in the first half of the twentieth century.

Maginnis was born in Derry, Ireland. He emigrated to Boston at age 18 and got his first job apprenticing for architect Edmund M. Wheelwright as a draftsman. Influenced by the work of modern architect Ralph Adams Cram, Maginnis became a distinguished Gothic architect and an articulate writer and orator on the role of architecture in society.

In the Boston area he built St. Catherine of Genoa Church on Spring Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts, regarded as a masterpiece. St. Catherine's, begun in 1907 and completed in 1921, is still (2010) a working parish. He also built St. Aidan's in Brookline, Massachusetts where he was a parishioner along with the Kennedy family and other prominent Irish-Americans. St. Aidan's, the location of the baptism of John F. Kennedy, has since been closed and may be converted into housing in the near future. The firm also designed Our Lady of the Presentation Catholic Church in the Oak Square neighborhood of the Brighton section of Boston. That church was also closed by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005, but it has not yet been converted to another use. In 1909 Maginnis & Walsh won the bid to build the new campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts and he built Emmanuel College in the Fens area of Boston, Massachusettsin 1914. Maginnis also designed the chancel at Trinity Church in Copley Square, the high altar at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York and the Massachusetts Veterans War Memorial Tower on the summit of Mount Greylock. Also designed by the firm is Our Lady of Sorrows church located in South Orange, New Jersey, which was dedicated in 1931. In 1948 Maginnis received the AIA Gold Medal for "outstanding service to American architecture," the highest award in the profession. He died in 1955.

The Maginnis and Walsh collection at the Boston Public Library contains work of the architectural firm from 1913 to 1952.

Works

Archdiocese of Boston

• St. John's Seminary Chapel, Brighton, Massachusetts ^[1][2]
• St. John the Evangelist Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Immaculate Conception Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts (closed)
• St. Catherine of Genoa Church, Somerville, Massachusetts
• St. Catherine of Sienna Church, Norwood, Massachusetts
• St. George Church, Norwood, Massachusetts
• St. Julia Church, Weston, Massachusetts
• Most Blessed Sacrament Church, Greenwood, Wakefield, Massachusetts
• Campion Renewal Center (former Jesuit Novitiate), Weston, Massachusetts
• St. Paul Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts
• St. Theresa of Avila Church, West Roxbury, Massachusetts
• Our Lady of Mercy Church, Belmont, Massachusetts
• St. Raphael Church, Medford, Massachusetts (destroyed, replaced by Keefe Associates)
• St. Angela Church, Mattapan, Massachusetts (superstructure, basement by Patrick C. Keely)
• St. Teresa Church, Watertown, Massachusetts (closed, converted to housing)
• St. Aidan Church, Brookline, Massachusetts (closed, converted to housing)^[3]
• Our Lady of the Presentation Church, Brighton, Massachusetts (closed)
• St. Gabrael Shrine Church, Brighton, Massachusetts
• St. Edith Stein Church, Brockton, Massachusetts
• Gasson Hall, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts^[4]
• Bapst Library, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts^[4]
• Devlin Hall, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (1925, winner of Harleston Parker Medal, Boston Society of Architects)^[4]
• St. Mary Chapel, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts^[4]
• Administration Building and Chapel, Emmanuel College, Boston, Massachusetts
• Sacred Heart Church, Roslindale, Massachusetts (replacement of destroyed tower, interior redesign of 1890 Patrick W. Ford church)
• Sacred Heart School, Roslindale, Massachusetts
• Sacred Heart Church, Manchester, Massachusetts (demolished)
• St. Mathias Church, Marlboro, Massachusetts
• Trinity Episcopal Church, Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts (chancel remodeling of famous H.H. Richardson church)

Diocese of Worcester

• St. Patrick Church, Whitinsville, Massachusetts (very influential, referred to as the 'Concord Bridge' of Catholic church architecture, Maginnis first church)
• St. Joseph Church, Fitchburg, Massachusetts
• St. Leo Church, Leominster, Massachusetts
• Dinand Library, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts^[5]
• St. Joseph's Chapel, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts^[5]

Diocese of Fall River

• St. James Church, New Bedford, Massachusetts (alteration to church by Patrick W. Ford)
• Holy Name Church, New Bedford, Massachusetts
• St. Joseph Church, Taunton, Massachusetts
• Holy Family Church, East Taunton, Massachusetts
• St. William Church, Fall River, Massachusetts (basement only)
• Holy Name Church, Fall River, Massachusetts
• Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, Fall River, Massachusetts
• St. John the Evangelist Church, Pocasset, Massachusetts
• St. Margaret Church, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
• St. Patrick Church, Falmouth, Massachusetts
• St. Teresa Church, Sagamore, Massachusetts
• St. Bernard Church, Assonet, Massachusetts
• Holy Trinity Church, Brewster, Massachusetts
• Holy Trinity Church, West Harwich, Massachusetts (burned, replaced)
• St. Patrick Church, Wareham, Massachusetts
• St. John The Evangelist Church, Attleboro, Massachusetts

Diocese of Springfield

Blessed Sacrament Church, Northampton, Massachusetts

Diocese of Providence

• St. Raymond Church, Providence, Rhode Island (demolished)

Diocese of Burlington Vermont

• St. Stephen Church, Winooski, Vermont
• St. Dominic Church, Proctor, Vermont
• Christ the King Church, Rutland, Vermont

Diocese of Portland, Maine

• Sacred Heart Church, Hallowell, Maine
• Immaculate Conception Church, Fairfield, Maine

Archdiocese of Hartford

• Basilica of The Immaculate Conception, Waterbury, Connecticut

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

• St. Louis Church, Cincinnati, Ohio
• St. Joseph Church, Dayton, Ohio
• Holy Angels Church, Dayton, Ohio

Archdiocese of New York

• St. Andrew Church (Manhattan), New York (with Robert J. Reilly)
• Regis High School (New York City)^[6]
• St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, New York (new Lady Chapel altar, new high altar and Balanchino, cathedral designed by James Renwick Jr.)

Diocese of Brooklyn

• Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, Forest Hills, New York

Diocese of Albany

• St. James Church (now St. Francis of Assisi Church), Albany, New York

Diocese of Ogdensburg

• St. Mary's Cathedral, Ogdensburg, New York

Diocese of Marquette (Michigan)

• St. Peter Cathedral, Marquette, Michigan

Archdiocese of Newark

• Our Lady of Sorrows Church, South Orange, New Jersey
• Holy Name of Jesus Church, East Orange, New Jersey
• St. Vincent DePaul Church, Bayonne, New Jersey

Archdiocese of Baltimore

• Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore, Maryland^[7]
• St. Ambrose Church, Baltimore, Maryland
• Chapel, St. Mary Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland
• Church, Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland
• Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, Georgetown Preparatory School, Garrett Park, Maryland

Archdiocese of Philadelphia

• Holy Name Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Carmelite Monastery, Philadelphia, 1914

Diocese of Scranton

• St. Paul Church, Scranton, Pennsylvania

Archdiocese of Washington, DC

• Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.^[8]
• Sacred Heart Church Washington DC (Murphy and Olmstead, architects, Maginnis and Walsh, associate architects) ^[9]
• Chapel, Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
• St. Gabriel Church, Washington, D.C.
• New Apostolic Mission House, Washington, D.C.^[10]

Diocese of Gary, Indiana

• unnamed church, Gary, Indiana

Archdiocese of Milwaukee

• St. Robert Church, Shorewood, Wisconsin

Archdiocese of San Francisco

• Carmelite Monastery, Santa Clara, California^[11]

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

• Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, Los Angeles, California (plans submitted but cathedral not built)
• St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Los Angeles, California
• St Agnes Church, Los Angeles, California
• Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, Los Angeles, California

Diocese of Dubuque

• unnamed church, Dubuque, Iowa

Diocese of Des Moines

• All Saints Church, Stuart, Iowa^[12]
• St. Anthony Church, Des Moines, Iowa
• St. Augustin Church, Des Moines, Iowa
• Basilica of St. John, Des Moines, Iowa

Diocese of Cheyenne

• Chapel, St. Joseph’s Children’s Home, Torrington, Wyoming^[13]
• Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Rock Springs, Wyoming

Schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA^[14]

• Gasson Hall (1913) (The signature building of BC).^[15][16]
• St. Mary's Hall and Chapel (1917) ^[17][18]
• Devlin Hall (1924) ^[17][19][20]
• Bapst Library (1924? 1928?) (The fourth building on BC campus.)^[17][21]

The above four buildings are the "original architectural gems" of the campus. (-Fr. Charles F. Donovan) ^[17] The additional Gothic buildings (or "English Collegiate Gothic") that had been part of the original campus plan (1909,^[22] 1928^[23]) were no longer feasible to construct after the economic crash of 1929. Architect partner Timothy F. Walsh would die in 1934 (aged 66).^[24]

• Fulton (1948) ^[25]
• Lyon's Hall (1951) ^[26]
• More Hall (1954; demolished in 2014)^[27]
• Campion Hall (1955) ^[28][29][30]

Firm's original partner, Charles Donagh Maginnis, died in 1955 (88 yrs of age).

Emanuel College, Boston, MA

• Administration Building and Chapel ^[31]

George Washington University, Washington, DC

• Basilica of The National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception (started in 1919; completed 1959). The largest Catholic Church in North America.^[22][32] "The architectural style is composite of a Romanesque exterior and a Byzantine interior."^[33]

Georgetown Preparatory School, Rockville, MD

• Our Lady of the Lourdes Chapel ^[34][35]

Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA

• Dinand Library - 1927 ^[36][37][38]
• Saint Joseph Memorial Chapel - 1922 ^[39][40][41]

Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

• Chapel and 4-story wing ^[42][43]

Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT

• McDonough and Mercy Halls - 1935 ^[47]

Saint Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore, MD

• Main Administration Building - 1929 (Beaux Arts Classical Revival Style).

Trinity Washington University (formerly Trinity College), Washington D.C.

• Notre Dame Chapel - 1924 ^[48][49]
• Alumnae Hall - 1929 ^[49][50]

University of Northwestern (formerly Northwestern College) St. Paul, MN

• Nazareth Hall - 1923 ^[51]
• Nazareth Hall Chapel - 1923 ^[52]
• Island Chapel and Peninsula - 1925 ^[53]

University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN^[54]

• Alumni Hall - 1931
• Dillon Hall - 1931
• Knights of Columbus (formerly Old Post Office) - 1931^[55]
• Student Health Center (now St. Liam's Hall) - 1934^[56]
• Cavanaugh Hall - 1936
• Haggar Hall (formerly Biology Building) - 1937^[57]
• Zahm Hall - 1937^[57]
• Breen-Phillips Hall - 1939^[58]
• Facilities Building (formerly Ave Maria Press)- 1940^[59]
• Hessert Laboratory for Aerospace Research (formerly Heat and Power Laboratory) - 1941^[60]
• Farley Hall - 1947^[61]
• Nieuwland Science Hall - 1952

Hospitals

Boston's Children Hospital?

References to "Children's Hospital" are found in "[Boston] City Auditor's of the Receipts and Expenses" Reports (1912-1913, 1913-1914, 1914–1915); and the "Documents City of Boston, For The Year 1914."

Uncertain if this facility is within the "Boston Consumptives Hospital" campus or a separate facility altogether.

Boston Consumptives Hospital (Boston Sanatorium

A "tuberculosis hospital," this 52-acres campus had 18 buildings^[62]), Dorchester, MA ^[63][64]

• Administration or Foley Building (1910, 1928-1930) (The largest building on campus)
• Doctors' residences, Dormitories or Wards (4) (ca. 1910) (currently vacant and are decaying [reported 2016])
• The Power House (1903)

Outside United States

• Holy Redeemer Cathedral, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada
• Our Lady of the Snows Church, Campbellton New Brunswick, Canada
• St. Patrick Church, Mexico City, Mexico

References