Status: Endangered
Address: 588 East Trigg Avenue, Memphis
Built: ca. 1907, ca. 1925-26, ca. 1944-48
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival
Original Function/Purpose: Church
History: St. Thomas Catholic Church was built in the mid-1920s to a design by the Memphis firm of Richard J. Regan and John T. Weller, which was responsible for other projects in the Diocese of Memphis. The interior follows the traditional basilica plan of a Romanesque church; a few modifications were made to conform to changes in the liturgy resulting from Vatican Council II in 1970. The associated convent opened in 1907 at the same time as an earlier church and school, no longer extant. The shrine of Our Lady of Grace is a complex of landscape features dating from ca. 1944. In the late 1980s the property passed from the Diocese to the Fellowship Baptist Church and in the early 90s to the Fellowship Church of God in Christ; it now belongs to Headquarters Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ and is no longer in use. The 28 notable stained glass windows in the church (described by a local expert as “a master’s work, without question”) were removed in 2014 and placed in storage for safety’s sake. Many are now for sale.
City Council District: 6
Super District: 8
County Commission District: 8