Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph [St. Joseph-St. Teresa of Avila Parish]

St. Joseph's Parish predates the Diocese of Brooklyn itself. In 1850, Archbishop John Hughes of New York — six years before Brooklyn became its own diocese — established the parish to minister to the wave of Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine of 1846–1852. It was the 8th parish founded in Brooklyn and the 13th on Long Island. The very first parish church was a modest wooden building begun in 1851 and dedicated in 1853; the land for it cost $500. As Brooklyn's Catholic population grew, a second, larger church was begun in 1861. That building was itself replaced — beginning construction in 1912 and taking two years to build — by the present Spanish Colonial style church, which was dedicated on May 3, 1914. The architect was F(rancis) J. Berlenbach Jr. of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a specialist in Catholic church design who had earlier worked for James Renwick Jr., architect of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The exterior was built of glazed brick and terracotta, and the stained glass windows were designed and executed by the Alexander F. Locke Decorative Co., a Brooklyn firm. The Altar at Baldacchino, the pulpit, and four side altars were designed by Cav. Domenico Borgia. St. Joseph's was notably the first church in Brooklyn with a clock on its bell tower. For much of the twentieth century the parish served a largely Hispanic congregation, and the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe festival became a signature celebration. By the early 2000s, however, the building was in serious disrepair: Mass was being celebrated in the rectory because the fonts in the unheated church would freeze over in winter, and water infiltration was causing plaster to crumble. With the area slated for massive redevelopment — Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project was to bring the Barclays Center and an estimated 16,000 new apartments — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio petitioned Rome to designate St. Joseph's as a co-cathedral, arguing that the Cathedral Basilica of St. James was too small for major diocesan liturgies and that a second cathedral in central Brooklyn was pastorally and strategically necessary. On February 14, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI — in one of his last official acts before his resignation on February 11 — granted the request. An $18.5 million capital campaign and restoration followed. Work was led by Acheson Doyle Partners (architecture) and EverGreene Architectural Arts (which performed a historic finishes investigation, plaster survey, new liturgical artistry program, sanctuary reconfiguration, and comprehensive restoration). EverGreene's artists painted 22 unique depictions of the Madonna as patroness of countries well represented in the diocese, plus a new American Saints mural including New York landmarks and four New Yorkers with causes for sainthood. The restoration won the Lucy G. Moses Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy the following year. On May 13, 2014, just days after the building's 100th anniversary, Bishop DiMarzio solemnly dedicated the church and consecrated its new altar, formally elevating it to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. The parish today is run jointly with St. Teresa of Avila (777 Classon Avenue), creating a two-campus parish.