Saint Joseph Parish, Gothic church in Mountain View, California

Saint Joseph Parish is a wooden church built in 1929 on Hope Street in Mountain View, laid out on cruciform Gothic lines with a narthex, nave, transept, sanctuary and sacristy. Its main floor holds stained glass windows in Roman arched frames along the nave, at the transept ends and above the high altar, which stands before a large portrait of St. Joseph used as a reredos. Father Doyle Hall occupies the lower floor.

The first Catholic church in Mountain View was a white wooden building erected in 1867 at El Camino Real and Alviso Road, funded by Rev. Joseph Bixio, S.J., on land donated by John Sullivan. The parish's present site on Castro, Church and Hope streets came from the Castro family, and in 1905 concrete foundations were poured for a wooden church. That church burned in 1928 in a fire set by a pyromaniac; the present church was built in 1929 with seating for 650.

The parish serves as a gathering place for the local Catholic community during worship and religious celebrations throughout the year. It functions as a social anchor where families come together for both spiritual and community events.

Visits are possible during regular worship services, and online options are available for those wishing to participate from home. Guests should be aware this is an active place of worship where respectful behavior and appropriate dress are expected.

The pipe organ was built by Murray M. Harris in 1906 for St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco and was saved from the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake. St. Joseph Parish acquired it and reinstalled it in the new church in 1928; it received a new console in 1981 and is played at weekday as well as weekend services.