herr2ck: Little Flowers

March 2026.

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church is one of the more exotic church designs in Columbus. With a tall dome supported by an octagonal drum and arched bifora windows along the nave and transepts, it departs from the conventional Gothic Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque churches that were built contemporaneously.

St. Francis of Assisi is located at 386 Buttles Avenue in the Victorian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by houses to the north, Buttles Avenue to the south, its rectory to the east, and Harrison Avenue and the urban renewal Thurber Village project to the west.

History

I’m sourcing much of this information from the parish’s own website, since there isn’t much else out there. The congregation was established by Diocese of Columbus bishop Watterson in May 1892, and its founding pastor was Fr. Alphonse M. Leyden from Toronto, Ohio (Jefferson County). The newly established St. Francis of Assisi parish held its first services in an abandoned Methodist chapel at the corner of Collins Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue (since obliterated by Thurber Village) on July 12, 1892.

A 1905 photo of the church. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The present church building had its cornerstone laid on September 1, 1895. It is a Romanesque Revival design by local architects Yost & Packard and was originally known as St. Francis R. C. (Roman Catholic) Church according to early Sanborn maps. Bishop Watterson consecrated the newly completed church on August 23, 1896. Early changes to the church and its surroundings included a school built in 1907 (where the parking lot is today), a new organ installed between 1900 and 1913, and a more modern rectory completed in 1926.

A postcard of St. Francis with its nearby school and rectory. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The mid-20th century was a time of great change for St. Francis and its surroundings. A major renovation of the church itself took place in 1955. However, the adjacent neighborhood was considered “blighted” by the city government and was torn down beginning in 1957 as part of the Thurber Village urban renewal project. This resulted in the demolition of ⅓ of the houses within the parish’s boundaries and the loss of 250 families by 1959. The school was then remodeled in 1961, and construction began on the Thurber Village apartments in 1966.

The church and rectory in 1976. (NRHP listing)

St. Francis closed its school in 1970, and it was briefly leased to the Franklin County Mental Health Department before burning down on December 8, 1973. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Near Northside Historic District in 1980. More renovations to the church took place in 1986.

In recent years, the congregation has worked to modernize and restore its historic church building. The organ was repaired in 2001. Extensive restoration work on the building began in 2017, involving repairs to the stained-glass windows, restoring pews, refinishing wood floors, and plaster work. The parish remains active today.

Photos

Needless to say, the church hasn’t changed much since its original design, but several alterations for the better have been made since the 1970s:

The foundation appeared to be painted some shade of white at that time, but it has since been stripped. The paint on the dome’s drum was probably too difficult to remove, so it has been repainted to a shade of peach. It still sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s better than jet-black.

The cornerstone is at the southwest corner and visible above, too:

Buttles Avenue facade:

The main entrance doors are replacements, but they are much more in line with what would have been on the church historically:

The cornerstone of the school remains on-site:

I like the stepping facade as viewed from here, and a statue of St. Francis of Assisi with his characteristic birds is nearby:

It was tough to capture the entire west facade due to its width:

The main body of the nave has four bifora windows with brick details in the vaulting:

These were also restored and look excellent compared to their pre-2017 state.

The transepts are shallow, but they are taller than the nave:

They uniquely have “nested” bifora windows composed of two smaller ones that are part of a larger design. I’m unsure if it is a feature invented by Yost & Packard, but I’ve seen it on other churches of theirs such as Gates-4th United Methodist in Merion Village, and some sources cite them as associate architects on First A.M.E. in Olde Towne East.