AKA: St. Dominic's Catholic Church #4, San Francisco, CA

Structure Type: built works - religious structures - churches

Designers: Beezer Brothers, Architects (firm); Louis Beezer (architect); Michael J. Beezer (architect); Arnold Sutherland Constable (architect)

Dates: constructed 1923-1929

2390 Bush Street
San Francisco, WA 94115-3124

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Within the Beezer Brothers architectural firm, Chief Designer Arnold Sutherland Constable (1885-1981), an Englishman, has been credited with the design of Saint Dominic's Church #4. Constable also created the designs for the high altar and the baptismal font within this English Gothic Style house of worship. The Beezer Brothers enjoyed a long working partnership with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, building a number of churches and schools. Work on this design started in 1923, the year Louis Beezer (1869-1929) opened a San Francisco, CA, branch office of the Seattle, WA-based Beezer Brothers. This office remained open for six years until Louis's death. Arnold Constable moved permanently to San Francisco at this time, and reestablished his practice in the Bay Area thereafter.

Work, primarily on the interior, continued on this fourth Saint Dominic's until 1973. Unfortunately, decorative schemes on the beams of the church's ceiling fell in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and were destroyed. Restoration began in 1991.

The original lantern of this church was destroyed in the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 10/17/1989, and other portions, such as the tower, were seriously undermined. The tower was rebuilt, and the church's walls shored up through the use of nine flying buttresses. Funds for this $6.6 million seismic upgrade project were raised by 06/1991, and construction was completed by 07/1992.

PCAD id: 7001