This
is not the first, but the second Sacred Heart church
on this site. The first one, like most of Galveston,
was taken by the Great Storm. This second one was
designed in the Moorish style by Brother Peter Jiménez.
It is modeled after the Grand Synagogue of Toledo,
Spain and Immaculate Conception church up the coast
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Its gleaming white surface stands in contrast to the
heavily-shaded streets and porches the surround it.
While most great building of Galveston are in shades
of red, this building only turns crimson at sunrise
when the low angle of the sun over the Gulf adds a
tinge of blood red to the otherwise sparkling exterior.
After his original Sacred Heart Church was wiped from
the Earth by the Great Storm, N.J. Clayton returned
to work on its successor by designing the great onion
dome. It is an unusual style for a church in the United
States, which usually looks to Russia
for inspiration in this area.
- You
can see what the original Sacred Heart Catholic
Church looked like by going to the state of Georgia.
Brother Cornelius Otten used N.J. Clayton's plans
for Sacred Heart in Galveston to build Sacred Heart
Catholic Church in Augusta, Georgia. At the same
time the new church was dedicated in Augusta, the
old church in Galveston was being leveled by the
sea.
