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The plans for this Romanesque church were drawn in France, and executed here in 1869. Brick from the old Harris County Courthouse, demolished in 1866, was used in the building of the church. The church was remodeled and enlarged in 1884, on designs by Nicholas Clayton, architect of St. Mary’s Cathedral and Grace Episcopal in Galveston and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin. Clayton added the central western tower, rising to a height of 175 feet. The tower was blown down during the Great Storm of 1900, but was quickly reconstructed.
The church has a Basilican plan – a long central nave terminates in an aspe. Corinthian capitals line the nave. The main altar is semicircular, with a frescoed ceiling of Christ’s ascension into heaven.
Founded by the St. Vincent de Pauls in 1842, St. Vincent's was Houston’s first Catholic parish. Annunciation Church replaced St. Vincent's, becoming the mother church of Houston’s Catholic parishes. The parishes of St. Patrick’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Nicholas, Sacred Heart, All Saint’s and Blessed Sacrament, as well as St. Thomas University, all sprung from Annunication. The church was also the first Catholic church in Texas to be served by a black priest, Father Dorsey, and opened Houston’s first medical clinic for the poor, known as the ‘Mexican Clinic.’
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