JMJ

January 2026.

Holy Family Church in Franklinton is one of the simple, stripped-down brick Gothic Revival churches that dot Columbus. On a stretch of Broad Street that is lined with historic landmarks (namely, the Harrison House and Engine House No. 6), it stands the test of time against the gradually deteriorating and renewing cycle of Franklinton.

Holy Family Church is located at 584 West Broad Street in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Gay Street and the church’s food pantry to the north, Broad Street to the south, the Harrison House and Gift Street to the east, and Skidmore Street to the west.

History

A lot of the following information is sourced from the church’s Wikipedia article, and it doesn’t cite its sources well. I don’t care to get stringent about accuracy for a building that I only have nine photos of, so I figured I’d just throw this disclaimer in. However, most of it is corroborated by Columbus Neighborhoods.

Columbus’s Catholic population was traditionally German and Irish, and its first two churches were east of downtown (Holy Cross, built in 1848, and St. Patrick’s, built in 1853). Though Franklinton is the oldest neighborhood of Columbus, owing to its establishment as a separate town before Columbus even existed, it had very few Catholics in its early history. Mass was held in the homes of Catholic families before 1833, and afterwards the Franklin County Courthouse was used for services. Two Catholic organizations were established in Franklinton in the decades following, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd’s convent in 1865 (local families were allowed to attend Masses there on Sundays) and St. Aloysius Seminary in 1871 (on the site of Holy Family’s school). The latter closed in 1876 and reopened as a Catholic boarding school for boys.

Holy Family’s founder, Father R. C. Christy, was the chaplain of both the boarding school and the convent, and he was appointed in 1877. While serving in this role, Christy was inspired to establish a new Catholic parish on the west side of Columbus. The congregation was founded that year and used a temporary chapel that was formerly a barn until a more suitable church was available. It was named after the Holy Family, consisting of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Random tangent/lore drop--I went to a Catholic all-boys high school (not of my own volition), and we were taught by monks for certain classes. My theology teacher as a freshman, Brother Andre, told us if we wrote “JMJ” on top of our tests, it would supposedly help us do better. I don’t think the Holy Family’s intervention helped me remember any of the boring Biblical lore from Exodus or Leviticus.

Holy Family’s first permanent church building was at the corner of Sandusky Street and Shepherd Street (both since leveled for OH-315), which was formerly used by the United Brethren. It was remodeled for the needs of Catholic services, and the church opened on June 8, 1877. The congregation had a membership of 40 families within a year, though Fr. Christy died in 1878.

The church’s exterior with original tower and pinnacles. (Wikimedia)

Due to issues with the title of the church building, Holy Family Church was forced to sell the property back to the United Brethren in 1879. It was agreed that Holy Family would continue to rent the church building until they built a new church. The current site was acquired in 1881, but due to a lack of income, construction proceeded slowly. The church’s cornerstone was laid in 1882, and the clergy decided to complete the foundation and cover it until the parish could afford to continue construction, as they did not want to take on debt. In November 1884, Michael Harding was selected as the architect, and his Gothic Revival design began construction in May 1885. 

The first completed portion of the church was the basement, which had a temporary worship place that held its first Mass in March 1886. The nave of the church was built between 1886 and 1889, and the newly completed Holy Family Church (minus pews and side altars) was dedicated on June 2, 1889. The organ and pews were installed in 1890. The rectory next door, a Queen Anne design, was completed in 1900.

Historic photo of the school. (Columbus Landmarks)

Holy Family’s school, now bizarrely facing an expressway, was built between 1911 and 1914. The basement school space had long been outgrown. Franklinton’s 1913 “Great Flood” damaged both the church and the incomplete school, delaying work in the process. Many members of the congregation lost their homes or even their lives. The school was expanded several times but stopped accepting incoming students in 1960 due to the opening of Bishop Ready High School, with the last students graduating in 1964. The building was used as a museum on Catholicism from 1998 to 2019, and it has sat empty since. It was listed on Columbus Landmarks’ 2020 edition of their Most Endangered Sites, and a 2006 report to determine its NRHP eligibility deemed it not eligible due to the removal of the original windows.

The construction of OH-315 cut off the school and caused a decline in church attendance, which the parish ultimately recovered from. Additionally, the church flooded again in 1957 and had a fire sometime that decade. The steeple was removed in the 1960s or 1970s due to wind damage and later replaced with a simpler design. Today, Holy Family Church remains a well-attended church in Franklinton and has served the area with a food pantry.

Photos

Broad Street facade:

It has a simple brick design that is very common in other early Catholic churches in Columbus. The tower and pinnacles are modern replacements, but they restore missing elements that are essential to the church’s design. It has three stained-glass windows here and some subtle brickwork on the tower and roofline, but the rest is very simple. Definitely par for the course for a fussy Catholic church worried about finances.

The tower:

The entrance portal:

The overhang is original, but I don’t think the doors are. I was about to observe the great condition of the stone, but I zoomed in and noticed that the overhang is actually metal coated in several layers of paint. Even the churches can’t escape landlord specials here!

Transom window above the doors:

The west facade has a stone water table with regular buttressing:

It seems like an opening on the far right was bricked up, and some of the windows have been replaced by glass block.

Oblique view of the rectory:

I think it had an addition in the back, but the taller portion in front is the original 1900 Queen Anne design. It’s strange to think that Broad Street here was once lined with homes until the 1950s. 

Its main south facade:

The tower and bay window are common inclusions on Queen Anne houses. It seems like the original metal cladding of the roof’s cornice and bay window are rusting, though.

Sources:

Architecture: Columbus by Robert Samuelson

Columbus Neighborhoods by Tom Betti

https://www.holyfamilycolumbus.org/parish-history

https://archive.org/details/cu31924012522870/page/2/mode/2up

https://columbuslandmarks.org/2020-most-endangered-sites/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Catholic_Art_and_History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Family_Church_(Columbus,_Ohio)