Saints Peter and Paul Basilica - Lewiston, Maine - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

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Saints Peter and Paul Basilica - Lewiston, Maine

in American Guide Series

Posted by:  T0SHEA

19T E 402963 N 4883490

A massive granite faced building, this church was granted Basilica status in 2006. With substantial embellishment both inside and out, 31 years passed from the start of construction until completion on July 18th, 1936.

When the writers of the American Guide Series book Maine: A Guide 'Down East' passed through Lewiston the basilica (then still a church) would have been newly completed. As it still does today, it impressed them sufficiently to earn Number 6 on their tour of Lewiston.
At 316 feet in length, 110 feet in width, with two 167 foot towers at its east end (the façade), and seating*over 2,200, this is the largest church in the state of Maine and the second largest in New England. The largest is Grace Chapel, in Lexington Massachusetts. Sts. Peter and Paul is the only church in Maine to be faithfully modelled after a Gothic cathedral.

Built by French-Canadian immigrants, the parish was organized, however loosely, in the late 1850s and the first church, St. Peter's, was constructed in 1872. That church was demolished in 1905 to make way for this one, the basement of which was completed in 1906. It would be another thirty years before it was completed in 1936, with dedication taking place on October 23, 1938.

The building was actually designed by two different architects at two different times. Belgian architect Noel Coumont was the original designer, but only the lower part of the church, which was completed in 1906, followed his plans. When construction began anew in 1928, it was Boston architect T. G. O'Connell's plans for the upper section of the church, in an early English-Norman type of Gothic style, which were accepted. His design was much less elaborate than the original design submitted by Coumont.

A further description of the Basilica, from the NRHP nomination form, follows.

Saints Peter and Paul Church in Lewiston is a 20th century "Gothic Cathedral", 316 feet long, 110 feet wide, with two 167 foot towers at its east end (the façade), and seating*over 2,200. Faced completely with rough-hewn grey granite from Jay, Maine (515 wagon loads), and tawny-colored ornament and tracery of Indiana limestone, the church dominates industrial Lewiston's French-Canadian tenements in the way of its European counterparts.

Saints Peter and Paul is the second largest church in New England, and the only one in Maine to be faithfully modeled after a Gothic cathedral. Begun in 1905 and completed in 1938, after a twenty-eight-year lapse in construction and the adoption of new plans, St. Peter & Paul was one of the last Gothic cathedral projects designed and completed in the United States. The church is also one of the nation's major Franco-American cultural monuments, a symbol of French aspirations within the American Catholic Church at a time of growing French militancy and awareness in American life generally.

Saint Peter's parish originally envisioned a cathedral-type church as a means to alleviate massive overcrowding. The original building of 1872 proved woefully inadequate for the huge influx of French-Canadian immigrants who manned Lewiston's factories in the growth period of the 1880's-90's. The original small church was progressively fitted with multi-level balconies, but soon these were filled to capacity. In 1889, Lewiston architect Jefferson C. Coburn submitted plans for an enlargement of the existing structure which closely conformed with its High Victorian Gothic architecture. The enlargement can in no way be considered "cathedral building". The plan was accepted and a brick foundation laid in 1894. But the project got no further, perhaps due to the discovery that the balconies had seriously weakened the walls of the existing church.

In 1900 another plan was submitted by French-Canadian architect Father Paul-Victor Charland, calling for a full "Gothic Cathedral" on the site of the presumedly demolished old church. A cathedral-type church was seen as the most practical and lasting solution to the parish's growth, and there's no evidence that at this point the design was influenced by nationalistic sentiment. Although a model was constructed of the proposed church, the "Charland plan" never materialized. The parish was divided at the time over whether to build a single large church or split into a number of smaller parishes. The Bishop of Portland favored the former course, and ordered Lewiston pastor Mothon in Oct., 1904 to begin construction. A new set of plans was submitted by Belgian architect Noel Coumont (1859-1950), who was then residing in Lewiston. Bishop O'Connell was reportedly "overcome" by the beauty and grandeur of the proposed edifice, modelled after a late French cathedral, and gave Coumont the unprecedented title of "architect of the parish".

Work began on the basement of the new church in the fall of 1905. Coumont supervised construction until late that winter, when he was fired from the project upon the discovery that he had dug the foundation in the wrong direction. His plans were retained however; the old church was demolished that same year, and the basement, or crypt, was completed in Dec., 1906. The elaborate vaulted basement, where mass was destined to be said for most of the remaining century, is the only evidence of how Coumont's French cathedral would have appeared had the project gone forward.
From the NRHP nomination form