Alameda County, Oakland, California
Church of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic) 1853
Church of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic) -- Thirty years ago a room in a private house served as a place of worship for the Roman Catholics of Oakland and nearly the whole of the present county of Alameda. A priest from the Mission of San Jose occasionally made a visit to celebrate mass and administer the sacraments, and even these occasional visits had to be omitted during the rainy season, owing to the bad roads. The first church, a building of the most modest description, was erected in 1853 through the exertions of a few of the congregation, and for some time was the only Roman Catholic place of worship in the whole of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, with the exception of the old Mission. Subsequent additions made by the Revs. Fathers Croke and King increased the size of this edifice until it was capable of holding a congregation of several hundreds, but this, too, became entirely inadequate to the needs of the population of Oakland, although three new parishes had been formed in the county. In 1869 Father King determined to erect a church on a scale commensurate with the promised importance of the city. Plans accordingly were prepared for a building surpassing in dimensions anything in the State, though only with the intention of erecting a part of it at first, a design which has been carried out in the present structure. The foundations were laid in that year, but various causes retarded any further progress until May, 1871 when the superstructure was commenced and pushed vigorously forward. Although not quite completed the church was dedicated on June 23, 1872, the ceremony being performed by Archbishop Alemany. The sermon was preached by Father Gallagher, to whom, nearly thirty years before, the Roman Catholics of Oakland were in a great measure indebted for their first place of worship.
The church is of wood, with heavy brick foundations, and built in the strongest manner, with double walls firmly braced together. The nave roof principals are supported by posts twelve inches square and fifty-four feet long, to which the principals of the aisle roofs are secured at a height of about thirty-four feet, and these at the outside rest on posts eight inches square and strengthened by side buttresses. The style of the building is early Gothic, and it consists of a nave, side aisles, chancel and two front towers. The latter are to be surmounted by spires at a future period, but even in their present state their height (one hundred and four feet to the top of the pinnacles) and size give a highly imposing appearance to the front The roof is open; on the inside the spaces between the principals and tie-beams, and the latter and the arch braces, in both nave and aisle roofs, being filled in with light and elegant open-work tracery. The ceiling is paneled and painted blue, with stars; the woodwork being painted white, with flower patterns with tertiary colors. At the sides the arch braces under the roof-timbers are terminated in carved niches, intended to receive statues of the Twelve Apostles. The cornices are also of wood, the arches between the naves and aisles and the chancel arch being, with the walls and ceiling under the organ gallery, the only plaster-work in the building. The organ gallery projects only a few feet into the church, thus allowing its full dimensions to be better appreciated. The windows are filled with rich stained glass, the heads being ornamented with emblematic figures, and the large front window being quite a fine specimen of artistic design. It is not the least satisfactory matter in connection with this building, that it is entirely the product of California design and workmanship-Nearly all the men employed on it belonged to Oakland; the stained glass was manufactured by Mallon & Boyle, of San Francisco, and the fresco painting executed by S. Buzzi, of the same city. The entire cost of the building was about thirty-three thousand dollars, while it has a seating capacity for one thousand two hundred and fifty persons. The Sunday-school connected with the church was organized in 1853, and is under.the superintendence of the Rev. Father King. It is situated on Jefferson Street, between Eighth and Seventh Streets.
Alameda County, California,
Including Its
Geology, Topography, Soil and Productions
Oakland.: M.W. Wood Publisher, 1883
Transcribed by Julie Appletoft, November, 2007 Pages 727-728
Archive Church Records ~ Archive Index
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