St. Mary's Basilica (Phoenix)

The oldest Catholic parish church in the greater Phoenix area, St. Mary's was the only parish in Phoenix until 1924 and is home to Arizona's largest stained glass windows collection and a 26-rank pipe organ built by the Schantz Organ Company.

Architecture

The church's structure supports four domes spanning the length of the basilica. All the domes are compound design with the pendentives, following Roman architecture, transferring the weight of the roof to the pillars. The dome over the intercept point of the crossover, the nave center aisle and the apse, is topped with stained glass and features a lantern above the dome to emit light into the nave and sanctuary. The dome located over the altar is topped with a cupola designed to provide light to the altar. The two bell towers are topped with onion shaped domes, typical of the churches of Bavaria and Austria, where Novatus Benzing, the pastor at the time, and Leonard Darscheid, the architectural consultant, both originated. The towers house four bells which ring daily. The large upper windows depict scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the lower nave and transept windows depict images of popular saints of the Franciscan Order and of the heritage of the cultures represented in the community at the time (German, Spanish, Irish).

According to its National Register nomination, "All stained glass was done by Emil Frei Art Glass Company of St. Louis. The Stations of the Cross, cast in high relief on gold background, were made by Andrew Kaletta Company of St. Louis. The woodwork and pews, all of oak, were made by Theodore Kuntz of Cleveland."

The design for the church was developed while it was under direction of the Franciscan Fathers of the Sacred Heart Province of St. Louis, Missouri. One source describes its architecture as Mission Revival with some Romanesque features; that source and another indicate that plans for the church evolved from Gothic Revival sketches by pastor Novatus Benzing. Upon request for consulting, Franciscan Father Leonard Darscheid of St. Louis "added a number of features, including the design for the baptismal font, to what at that point was a gothic plan". In its detail it was designed by parishioner and architect George Gallagher (architect) and design was completed by Gallagher's partner R. A. Gray (architect). It was built, at least partially (including its basement), by contractor W. J. Ripley.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, deemed significant for its architecture, as "St. Mary's Church". The building was deemed architecturally significant "as the largest, earliest, and most impressive Mission Revival structure in Arizona."