St. James
the Greater Church

6401 Wade Avenue (at Tamm)
St. Louis, Missouri 63139  
www.stjamesthegreater.org

The parish of St. James the Greater was founded in 1861, surprisingly early given its western position in the city. It was accessible because of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which opened in 1853. The industrial neighborhood that grew up along the tracks was called Cheltenham and was outside the city limits until 1876. The areas near Forest Park remained undeveloped until after the 1904 World’s Fair, when people began to call this “Dogtown,” a name whose origin is unknown. Until recently city officials went out of their way to avoid using the name, but it is now officially embraced.

Although the neighborhood has always been ethnically diverse, St. James has been strongly Irish since its founding as a mission of St. Malachy’s by Rev. John O’Sullivan. Today, the parish is widely known for its St. Patrick’s Day parade. St. James himself has no particular Irish associations. He was the son of Zebedee and the brother of St. John and is called “the Greater” to distinguish him from another of Christ’s original apostles, James the son of Alpheus. The supposed grave of James the Greater is at Compostella, a major pilgrimage site in northwestern Spain, whence his body was washed by sea, and thus he is often shown with a pilgrim’s staff and a fluted cockleshell; see the statue in the right transept here.

The present church was built in 1927-28 under the leadership of Father Patrick J. O’Connor. Architects Patrick M. O’Meara and James B. Hills had offices in St. Paul as well as St. Louis and a large midwestern practice in Catholic institutions. While their names may not be well known, their St. Louis work is familiar and includes Villa Duchesne in Frontenac, the Carmelite Monastery in Ladue, the old De Paul Hospital on North Kingshighway, St. George’s Church at Gravois and Heege, the White House Retreat in Oakville, and the gates and original mausoleum at Calvary Cemetery. Each of these, like St. James, has a strongly defined style and obvious sensitivity to materials and detailing.

Father O’Connor wanted a Gothic church, which he thought reflected Ireland’s pre-Reformation Christianity. The church has no door on its street façade but is entered from the higher elevation at the sides. The arches of the side aisles act as buttresses to the clerestory windows. Most of the interior features were provided by Thomas J. Gaytee, who had opened his Minneapolis studios in 1918. He died in 1936, but his firm continues. He often worked with O’Meara and Hills, and shared their desire to integrate the arts into their buildings. At St. James, these works emphasize natural materials, the stained and ravelled stones, the hammered and patinated metals, and the wormy chestnut that is used in the reredos, side altars and roof work. The reredos depicting Christ in Majesty, the side altarpieces, and the stations of the cross are textiles called tapestry, but painted rather than woven. Gaytee specialized in these, and although these are fixed, at other churches he provided up to six sets to be changed with the liturgical calendar. Each of the nave windows has nine scenes illustrating the life and ministry of Jesus in detail, including two windows devoted to the parables. The heraldic clerestory windows show emblems of the evangelists, the doctors of the church, and patron saints of European nations. The east window shows the seven sacraments. The Baptistry was given by the Gratiot family, who owned this whole part of the city during the Spanish era.

November 10, 2002 marked the Chamber Chorus’s first performance at this church, with a program that celebrated the musical heritage of the southern Irish city of Cork.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes
Exterior photo by Beth Tuttle
Interior photo by Roger Hill