Inside St. Stan's
by Joan Jacobson
Slideshow
Although developers are demolishing several more buildings to make way for condos, they have said they will save and restore the main sanctuary—with its stained-glass windows in striking floral designs. But they might gut the interior to make way for a school. And though few have recently seen the inside, photographer and Fells Point native Anna Santana entered the church on a quiet summer day in 2005 to capture its interior. While the building itself had been shuttered from parishioners since 2000, Santana says that "everything looked to have never been moved, as if a Mass could take place at any time."
Some preservationists believe the interior is just as historic as the façade, says Johns Hopkins, director of Baltimore Heritage.
But this 1889 church built for Polish immigrants has little more legal status against the wrecking crew than a modern 7-11. That is because neither the church buildings, nor its surrounding Fells Point neighborhood, are protected by Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. With CHAP status, the developers would have to prove "economic hardship" to raze the buildings, says Hopkins. "It's a high hurdle to meet."
The lack of protection is perhaps due to Fells Point's long-held skepticism of government. The church buildings are not even included in the Fells Point Urban Renewal area, which does not bar demolition, but restricts redevelopment.
The Polish elderly didn't want any government intrusion, recalls Amy Glorioso Rynes, who was the city's Fells Point planner for twenty years. She remembers some worried that an urban renewal plan might force them to remove the Formstone from their rowhouses. And that would have been unthinkable.
On the subsequent pages, we share some of Santana's photos documenting the interior space of St. Stanislaus.
—Joan Jacobson
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