LB2018.10.38

LB2018.10.38

St. Mary's Church stands on the north side of Western Avenue, southwest of Augusta's downtown and north of the state capitol complex. It is a single-story masonry structure, built out of ashlar granite. The long nave is oriented perpendicular to the street, with a steeply pitched gable roof. Set back from the front are side projections, a single-story entrance vestibule on the left, and the main tower on the right. The main entrance is at the center of the nave end, in an ornately decorated projecting Gothic-arch opening, with buttresses and pinnacles at the corners. The main tower is equally ornate, rising first to a gabled roof with a tall steeple above that. The interior has seen only minimal alteration since the building's construction.[2] The church was built in 1926-27 in order to handle growth in the city's Roman Catholic population. It was built as the third sanctuary for a parish established in 1830. It was designed by the Boston architectural firm of O'Connell and Shaw; T.G. O'Connell had by then a well-established reputation, with numerous commissions for Roman Catholic church and school edifices in Maine.[2] St. Mary's was merged with four other congregations in 2007 to form a single large parish called St. Michael's; this continues to be used as one of that parish's churches.