Sacred Heart Parish Complex, San Francisco
historic place
The Sacred Heart Parish Complex, a historic place in San Francisco, stands in the Western Addition neighborhood. The parish was founded in 1885. The present Romanesque Revival-style church, designed by master architect Thomas J. Welsh, had its cornerstone laid in 1897 and was completed in 1898. The complex also includes a rectory from around 1891, a school built in 1926, and a convent from 1936. Thomas J. Welsh designed over 400 buildings in San Francisco, and Sacred Heart Church is his only remaining Romanesque Revival church design. The complex notably survived the 1906 earthquake with minimal damage. From 1968 to 1972, Father Eugene Boyle served as pastor. He was a prominent civil rights activist, and under his leadership, the parish hosted the Black Panther Party Breakfast Program, anti-Vietnam War meetings, and the start of the 1970 United Farm Workers Union lettuce boycott. The parish closed in 2004 due to the estimated eight million dollar cost for seismic retrofitting. In 2013, the church building found new life as the Church Of 8 Wheels roller disco. The Sacred Heart Parish Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017 and designated a San Francisco Landmark in 2024. It remains a significant example of Romanesque Revival architecture and a site important to San Francisco's social and architectural history.