St. Joseph's Church and Complex
historic place
St. Joseph's Church and Complex in San Francisco, California, is a historic place. The parish was founded in 1861 by Archbishop Joseph Alemany. An earlier church on this site was destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The current Romanesque Revival church was constructed in 1913. San Francisco architect John J. Foley designed the building, which features two prominent towers with gold cupolas. It initially served a predominantly Irish community. By 1980, it had become the largest Filipino parish in the United States. The complex was designated a San Francisco Landmark in 1980 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The church sustained damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, leading to its closure. In 2018, the building reopened as the Saint Joseph's Arts Society, a new cultural space. This site illustrates San Francisco's architectural history and its evolving community.