Address:
St. Mary’s City, MD
Owner:
Historic St. Mary’s City Foundation
PO Box 39
St. Mary’s City, MD 02686
Construction cost: $2,000,000
The chapel at St. Mary’s City, Maryland was believed to have originally been constructed in 1667 by the Jesuits. It was the first major example of formal architecture in Maryland and the only Catholic chapel to be built in 17th century America. By 1704, the royal governor of Maryland ordered the door locked and the Jesuits were ordered to disassemble the chapel by 1725. Archaeologists have uncovered the only surviving portion of the building, the cruciform foundation.
In
1996, as part of an overall plan to reconstruct the chapel, the firm was
retained to provide the St. Mary’s City Foundation with a plausible design
based on the foundation plan and the remains of building fragments found
by archaeologists. All available contemporary and European records and
images were carefully researched before schematic designs were completed.
These designs are being utilized by the foundation for a large scale fund-raising
program. Once fund-raising has been concluded, the chapel will be reconstructed
using hand-made brick and roof tiles burned specifically for the project
using clay from the original brick yard found nearby. All construction
techniques, materials, and assemblies will accurately reproduce late 17th
century building technology.
While
it stood, the chapel represented a brief moment of religious tolerance
in North America, over one hundred years before the American Revolution.
Beneath its floor is the final resting place of Governor Leonard Calvert,
one of the founders of Maryland.