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The first Saint Patrick's Church (built 1854) was moved c. 1872 from the site where banker William Ralston (1826-1875) was building his gigantic Palace Hotel #1 on Market Street. Another larger Saint Patrick's Parish church was needed to serve the city's large, Irish-immigrant population. According to a history posted on the Saint Patrick's Church web site: "With the surge of population after the Civil War, a bigger church was needed. Father Peter Grey, pastor at the time, bought the site of the Grand Opera House on Third and Mission, and built the original brick Gothic church." (See Nora Boyd, "The Changing Faces of St. Patrick's,"Accessed 11/13/2014.) The Grand Opera House remained in its location until the Great Earthquake and Fire of 04/18/1906, when it was demolished. The same quake also destroyed Saint Patrick's Church #2, and diocese officials directed that a third Gothic Revival church be built on the same foundations. Gordon P. Cummings has been cited by Cerny and Armstrong as the original architect.

In 1898, Saint Patrick's Church was on Mission Street between 3rd and 4th Streets. Reverend P.J. Grey served as rector in 1898; the rectory was located at 744 Mission Street. He had four assistant rectors, all of whom were Irish serving a predominantly Irish parish: Revs. John Brennan, P.J. Quinn, P.J. Keane, and M. Horan. (See the Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory, [San Francisco: Crocker-Langley, 1898], p. 53.)

Demolished; this building sustained significant damage in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

PCAD id: 12044