May 2007
Dear Friends:
St. Brigid has stood at the corner of Van Ness
and Broadway for 107 years
|
Last year our dear friend and Chair of the Committee, Joe Dignan, died of a heart attack. Joe was a founding member of the Committee to Save St. Brigid Church and worked tirelessly over the years for the cause of saving St. Brigid’s. Although we were all saddened by Joe’s death, we remain committed to finishing the work he started – the landmarking of St. Brigid Church.
I am happy to report that the exterior of St. Brigid Church, including the Harry Clarke stained glass windows, became San Francisco Landmark #252 on October 24, 2006. [Ordinance# 263-06]. At that time, however, the San Francisco Planning Code did not explicitly provide for landmark designation of building interiors, and so the magnificent interior of St. Brigid Church was not included in the original landmark.
This January, Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, introduced legislation that would allow for the landmarking of publicly accessible interiors of privately owned buildings. The legislation was co-sponsored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin. The ordinance was reviewed and approved by the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board, the Planning Commission, the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use Committee, and the Board of Supervisors. On April 20th, Mayor Newsom signed the legislation into law. [Ordinance# 82-07].
The passage of this law allows the Committee to pursue interior landmarking of St. Brigid Church.
The Committee continues to work hard on these issues. If you are able, we’d appreciate your financial support. The Committee to Save St. Brigid Church is recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt, nonprofit charitable organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Contributions are deductible for tax purposes to the full extent provided by law. Any donation you can give would help us with expenses incurred with landmarking the church. We are very grateful to all of you for all your support over the years.
Sincerely,
Beatriz St. John, Chair Pro Tem
Committee To Save St. Brigid Church
|
Save Our Landmarks |
|
St. Brigid Church is more than a religious institution. It is a cultural and architectural landmark in the Marina, Pacific Heights and Russian Hill neighborhoods. |
|
St. Brigid’s survived the 1906 earthquake, the great depression, two world wars – and an attempt by
San Francisco’s Catholic archdiocese to demolish it.
The building contains many treasures: stained glass windows from Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin, Ireland; a Ruffatti pipe organ custom made for the church in Italy, and statuary by turn-of-the-century California artist, John McQuarrie, and the famed Irish sculptor Seamus Murphy.
This artwork needs to be protected. The Committee to Save St. Brigid Church has been working to do this and was successful in landmarking the exterior of the building. We are now working on landmarking the interior.
|
|
St. Brigid’s has been an important center for San Francisco’s Irish community. Beloved SF Mayor George Moscone went to school there. Generations of our city’s Irish Catholics called St. Brigid Church their spiritual home.
How Irish is it?
When famed Irish sculptor Seamus Murphy carved the faces of the 12 apostles for the monumental statues on the front of the church, his models were the heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising.
St. Brigid’s was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in October 1995 and is listed in many catalogs of the city’s historic buildings.
This excellent example of Romanesque architecture has stood at the corner of Van Ness and Broadway for over 100 years.
In 2006, the exterior of St. Brigid Church including the Harry Clarke stained glass windows became San Francisco Landmark #252.
At that time the City's landmark ordinance did not explicitly allow for interior spaces to be landmarked and so the interior of St. Brigid Church was not made part of the landmark.
In January 2007, Supervisor Jake McGoldrick introduced legislation that would allow for the landmarking of publicly accessible interiors in privately owned buildings. This ordinance was recently passed and paves the way for us to begin the landmark process for the interior of the church.
You can help to landmark the interior of St. Brigid by registering your support. Please call or e-mail the supervisors to let them know.
|
[ more pictures ]
|
| Supervisor | Phone | Email address |
|---|
| Michela Alioto-Pier | 415-554-7752 | Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org |
| Tom Ammiano | 415-554-5144 | Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org |
| Carmen Chu | 415-554-7460 | Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org |
| Chris Daly | 415-554-7970 | Chris.Daly@sfgov.org |
| Bevan Dufty | 415-554-6968 | Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org |
| Sean Elsbernd | 415-554-6516 | Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org |
| Sophie Maxwell | 415-554-7670 | Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org |
| Jake McGoldrick | 415-554-7410 | Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org |
| Ross Mirkarimi | 415-554-7630 | Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org |
| Aaron Peskin | 415-554-7450 | Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org |
| Gerardo Sandoval | 415-554-6975 | Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org |
|
|
)
