| Shrine Church of St. Ann | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Collegiate Gothic with Decorated Gothic and Tudor Gothic |
| Town or city | The Bronx, New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Construction started | 1928 |
| Completed | 1929 |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Steel structure faced in red brick with terracotta trim over fieldstone raised basement |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York |
The Shrine Church of St. Ann is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at Bainbridge Avenue, just north of Gun Hill Road, in the Bronx, New York City. The parish was established in 1927.[1]
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The parish was founded in 1927 to serve the growing population of the North Bronx, due to the recent completion of various subway lines which were extended to that northernmost region of the City of New York. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day at the Montefiore Home and Hospital located across the street from the planned site of the church.
The new parish had from the outset the unique distinction of being designated not parish church but a shrine dedicated to its patron saint, Saint Ann, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the grandmother of her son, Jesus. From the time of its founding in 1927, an annual novena to this saint has been observed in the days leading up to her feast day.
The original property purchased for the parish extended from East Gun Hill Road one block north. The decision was made by the founding pastor to make the school the first building to be constructed for the parish complex, with the worship area to be in the school gymnasium until a church could be constructed. This was not to be, however, as the Great Depression started just as that building was being completed. As a consequence, the pastor had to make the lower part of the school the permanent site of the parish church. Additionally, the adjacent lot had to be sold to cover the debts from the construction of the school and an adjoining convent. The convent had to be taken over by the clergy to serve as the parish rectory, and plans for any further building were scrapped.
In the 1950s, a new convent was built at the north end of the property to house the Dominican Sisters teaching in the school, who had been required to live in a neighboring parish where they also taught. These Sisters withdrew from serving in the parish in the 1980s. Later the building became occupied by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who initially used it as their novitiate. It is currently occupied by their coworkers, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, who run a soup kitchen for the parish.
The church and parish school are located in the same building, a common school-above-church design feature of several New York City parishes,[1] such as St. Gregory the Great, Manhattan. It is a red brick multistory Collegiate Gothic structure with Decorated Gothic and Tudor Gothic design elements with terracotta trim over a raised fieldstone basement and entrance breakfront. The church is located at the building's piano nobile, above the raised basement and accessed by both a perron or external stairs through an ornate Tudor-arched entrance and a second flight within the building. The school is located on the floors above the church.[1]
The school may have around 280 students and was staffed for years by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, New York.[1]