The four churches of St. Dominic

Posted on December 28, 2024 by editors

Photograph of St. Dominic’s Church by Alex Mizuno

ST. DOMINIC’S CATHOLIC CHURCH is celebrating 150 years in the neighborhood — and 100 years in its landmark Gothic home — with the publication of a new book, Radiating the Joy of the Gospel in the Heart of the City.

The book captures key moments in the life of the church in words and photographs. These excerpts tell the story of the four buildings St. Dominic’s has occupied.

The First St. Dominic’s Church

As early as 1863, the Dominican Order bought a square block bounded by Steiner, Bush, Pierce and Pine Streets for $6,000. On June 29, 1873, Archbishop Joseph Alemany blessed the first St. Dominic’s Church at the corner of Bush and Steiner Streets, the site of the present church.

The original priory building was located at the corner of Steiner and Pine Streets, with the entrance on Steiner. This is where the Dominican friars lived as a community.

An article in The Monitor, the official publication of the archdiocese, described the territory around St. Dominic’s when the church was first founded: “At that time the Western Addition was a waste of sand dunes on the outskirts of the city. Of residents, there are very few in the district, and its houses, some of them small ranch houses, were far apart. Old fathers have told of how they went over the hills on horseback for provisions, and the old residents of the city of how they came to it from the Mission, in buggies and on foot, by ways made almost impassable by the drifting sands.”

The Second St. Dominic’s Church

Within a short time, the area grew. The little church of St. Dominic, though still new, was proving inadequate for the growing needs of the people. Although the plan of the first church provided for the addition of a transept, the decision was made to move it to another part of the block and transform it into a parish hall, while an entirely new church would occupy the original site at the corner of Bush and Steiner Streets.

The second St. Dominic’s Church was first authorized on April 18, 1880. Even before the plans for the church had been approved, the first church was lifted and moved to about the middle of the Pine Street side of the block.

After the laying of the cornerstone in 1883, work on the new church languished for some time. These were years when money was hard to come by on account of the gradual depletion of the Comstock Lode in the Nevada mines and the consequent depression in San Francisco.

Archbishop Patrick Riordan blessed the new church on Sunday, November 13, 1887, although there were a good many parts still to be erected or installed. In September 1892, The Monitor reported: “During the past week, a number of plasterers have been giving the finishing touches to St. Dominic’s New Church. The church has a seating capacity of 2,000.”

By 1893, the church was essentially finished except for some proposed interior decoration and also for the organ. It would be five years before the organ was installed. The total cost of the church was $188,926.77.

Then catastrophe struck. On the early morning of April 18, 1906, came the disastrous San Francisco earthquake and fire. The church was destroyed. Part of one of its towers fell on the priory.

The Third St. Dominic’s Church

Less than three weeks after the earthquake, ground was broken in the middle of the Pierce Street block for a temporary church that would serve first as a church and later as a parish hall. By May 1907, the temporary church was ready for dedication.

In 1923, plans for the fourth — and current — church became final and work began.

The Fourth St. Dominic’s Church

The third church had always been considered a temporary church. As early as 1917, a sketch of the proposed interior of New St. Dominic’s Church was shown. In 1923, plans for the new church became final and work began. Early in the year it was generally assumed that at least some of the foundations of the old church could be used in the new one. In February the engineers convinced the friars that this was not feasible, so it was decided to have the old stones crushed and used in the new reinforced concrete walls.

Plans were made to lay the cornerstone on August 5, 1923. The cornerstone was a large block of granite, the same that had rested in the foundation of the church that was destroyed.

During the next four years, the construction of the new church was the most interesting aspect of St. Dominic’s parish. The gradually rising English Gothic structure on the old site at Bush and Steiner Streets was considered a truly international church. Craftsmen, artists and technicians from the United States and Europe collaborated in fashioning the parts which together created an exquisite whole.

On February 19, 1928, Archbishop Edward J. Hanna dedicated the new St. Dominic’s.