Thursday, December 2, 2010

Bishop Loughlin Memorial HS, Fort Greene

Bishop John Loughlin hoped to build Brooklyn's cathedral on this block, bounded by Clermont Avenue (left), Green Avenue (right), Vanderbilt Avenue (parallel to Clermont), and Lafayette Avenue (where Queen of All Saints church and school are). Through a go-between, he purchased the block in the 1860's and he commissioned Patrick Charles Keely to build a very large cathedral facing Lafayette Avenue.  Other pressing needs of the people of the diocese of Brooklyn took precedence, and the cathedral construction went slowly  About 1887, he asked Keely to design this house as a bishop's residence. The foundations for the cathedral were built, a chapel of St. John was built, but the project was later abandoned and Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School was constructed in an L-shape around the house, now LaSalle Hall, a residence for students.



Above is the Clermont Avenue entrance to Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. Queen of All Saints may be seen on the north side of Lafayette Avenue, with the 1906 Brooklyn Masonic Temple to its left.



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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Queen of All Saints, Fort Greene


The church and school of Queen of All Saints are on the north side of Layfayette Avenue at Vanderbilt Avenue, with the postal address 300 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11205. The rectory telephone is 718-638-7625. An informative and inspirational parish website is linked here.  The school telephone is 718-857-3114.   The church was built about 1913 as a chapel for the planned cathedral across the street. 


The parish school has been renamed Queen of All Saints Catholic Academy, but the website seems to be down (9.2.2016).


A friend tells me that the morning sun beautifully illuminates the windows.  An interior photo from 1913 is linked here.  The architect was Gustave Steinbeck, who also designed the impressive church of the Blessed Sacrament on West 71st Street, Manhattan.