Saint Patrick's Basilica
240 Kent Street
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Established in 1855, Saint Patrick's Basilica parish was the first English-speaking Catholic parish in Ottawa. In 1869, the parish commissioned Augustus Laver, a partner of Thomas Fuller (architect of Parliament's original Centre Block), to design a new church. Laver, however, moved to California long before the church was completed and construction was handed over to local architect, King Arnoldi. The Church was built in stages over a thirty-year period between 1869 and 1898.
The interior décor has an interesting past. Apparently, Laver was too busy to create an original design for the church's interior so instead he reworked an unsuccessful submission he had made for the design of the Senate Chamber at Parliament a decade earlier.
In 1875, the still-incomplete building was blessed by Archbishop Duhamel and named for the patron saint of Ireland. Long identified with the Irish, the now-multicultural parish reflects the new face of Ottawa.
