Church of the Immaculate Conception, Romanesque Revival church in Rapid City, United States
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, at 918 Fifth Street, is a locally quarried sandstone building on a rectangular plan with a cross-gabled centre. A square central tower with a pyramid spire of terneplate rises over the main facade, where three-panel doors sit beneath a round-arch stained glass window. Round-arch stained glass windows line the sides, capped by radiating voussoirs; the apse at the rear is a later vertical-board addition.
Construction took place between 1909 and 1911 using locally quarried sandstone materials. The building then served as the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rapid City from 1930 until 1962.
Since 1992 the chapel has housed a community that celebrates Mass in Latin, after the parish moved to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 1962. The building was renamed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1930, when the Diocese of Lead moved to Rapid City; it is now the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.
The church stands at 918 Fifth Street, at its junction with Cathedral Street, and is now the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. It is a working chapel where Mass is celebrated in Latin, so visitors should dress and behave accordingly. The main entrance lies under the square tower on the Fifth Street facade.
This was the last cut stone building completed in Rapid City using locally quarried materials. After its construction, building practices in the city shifted away from this traditional stone method.
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