St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex

Written by in the A Place in Time category and the Winter 2003 issue Topics in this article: Adams County, Altoona, anthracite, architecture and architects, Berks County, Blair County, Catholic Church and Catholics, Colonial Revival, Franklin County, French, Gothic Revival, Hazleton, Luzerne County, National Register of Historic Places, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Robert A. Janosov, Washington County, Waynesboro
A Place in Time spotlights a significant cultural resource - a district, site, building, structure or object - entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex in Hazleton, Luzerne County, is more than a collection of imposing ecclesiastical edifices. The complex is significant because it reflects the parish’s status as the city’s first Catholic parish, and is integrally associated with the growth of its Catholic population stimulated by the development of the anthracite industry. Hazleton grew from four thousand residents in 1870 to nearly forty thousand by 1930. Immigrants – many of them Catholics – accounted for much of the population spurt. The emergence of St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex as one of the area’s most dramatic architectural landmarks reflects the influx and growth of the coal region’s Catholic population.

In addition to its religious and social significance, the complex is also noted for its architectural importance. Two of the buildings in the complex, its church and convent, were designed by prominent ecclesiastical architects Peter B. Sheri­dan and Anthony J. DePace, whose works include commissions in northeastern Pennsyl­vania, New Jersey, and New York. Sheridan, born in 1889 in the nearby village of Audenried, opened his architectural office in Hazleton in 1918, and designed the church building, erected in 1925, in a high French Gothic Revival-style. Sheridan was familiar with a variety of historical styles, typical of many designers of Catholic churches at the time. DePace, a New York architect, designed the convent, built in 1937, in a picturesque Gothic Revival-style to minimize its institutional scale, as well as to complement and not overshadow the
church.

St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex, occupying most of a city block in a residential neighborhood, includes a hand some Colonial Revival-style rectory, the architect for which is unknown, com­pleted in 1908. The complex is located on one of Hazleton’s main thoroughfares and at one of its highest elevations, presenting a monumental, architecturally impressive landmark that takes a prominent (and rightful) place on the city’s skyline. The buildings remain basically unaltered in design, materials, appearance, and association.

St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex was entered in the National Register of Historic Places on August 22, 2002.

 

Recent Additions to the National Register of Historic Places

Broad Avenue Historic District
Altoona, Blair County
July 25, 2002

Llyswen Historic District
Altoona, Blair County
July 25, 2002

Jeremiah Burns Farm
Waynesboro, Franklin County
August 15, 2002

Cline’s Church of the United Brethren in Christ
Menallen Township, Adams County
August 22, 2002

Berkley Historic District
Ontelaunee Township, Berks County
August 22, 2002

Handycraft Farmstead
Washington Township, Franklin County
August 22, 2002

St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex
Hazleton, Luzerne County
August 22, 2002

Warburton House
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County
August 22, 2002

Stephenson-Campbell House
Cecil Township, Washington County
August 22, 2002

 

The editor is indebted to the research of Robert A. Janosov and Lawrence Newman, who nominated St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex to the National Register of Historic Places.