Basilica of St. Lawrence

History & Significance

Basilica · Est. Designed and built starting 1905; opened/dedicated 1909

The Basilica of St. Lawrence the Deacon & Martyr in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, was designed and built beginning in 1905 by the Spanish-born architect and builder Rafael Guastavino, working with architect R.S. Smith and the local Catholic community; it opened in 1909, the year after Guastavino's death, with his son completing construction. Renowned for its self-supporting tile dome (reputed to be the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America), it was elevated to minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1993. A parish church of the Diocese of Charlotte, it holds the crypt of Rafael Guastavino.

Spanish Renaissance Revival, with a Guastavino tile self-supporting elliptical dome

• •Parish church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte; the only basilica in western North Carolina
• •Designed and built (from 1905, opened 1909) by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino with architect R.S. Smith
• •Elevated to minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1993
• •Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; declared a site of National Significance by the National Park Service in 2010
• •Features a self-supporting tile-and-mortar dome reputed to be the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America; Guastavino is interred in its crypt