Maginnis & Walsh

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.

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 Include

Archdiocese of Boston

ME

• St. John's Seminary Chapel, Brighton, Massachusetts ^[1]
• 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)^[2]
• 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^[3]
• Bapst Library, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts^[3]
• Devlin Hall, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (1925, winner of Harleston Parker Medal, Boston Society of Architects)^[3]
• St. Mary Chapel, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts^[3]
• 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^[4]
• St. Joseph's Chapel, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts^[4]

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)^[5]
• 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^[6]
• 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.^[7]
• Sacred Heart Church Washington DC (Murphy and Olmstead, architects, Maginnis and Walsh, associate architects) ^[8]
• Chapel, Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
• St. Gabriel Church, Washington, D.C.
• New Apostolic Mission House, Washington, D.C.^[9]

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^[10]

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^[11]
• 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^[12]
• Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Rock Springs, Wyoming

University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN^[13]

• Alumni Hall - 1931
• Dillon Hall - 1931
• Knights of Columbus (formerly Old Post Office) - 1931
• Student Health Center (now St. Liam's Hall) - 1934
• Cavanaugh Hall - 1936
• Haggar Hall (formerly Biology Building) - 1937
• Zahm Hall - 1937
• Breen-Phillips Hall - 1939
• Facilities Building - 1940
• Hessert Laboratory for Aerospace Research (formerly Heat and Power Laboratory) - 1941
• Farley Hall - 1947
• Nieuwland Science Hall - 1952

Boston College, Boston, MA

• More Hall (demolished in 2014)^[14] - 1954

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