Lost house of worship, Corktown, 1883 to 1996
St. Boniface Catholic Church
Demolished in 1996
- Opened
- 1883
- Style
- Romanesque Revival
- Torn down
- 1996
Designed by William Scott & Co.
St. Boniface Catholic Church stood in Corktown from 1883 until 1996. Here is what it was, who made it and where to find the spot today.
Then and now
What stands there now
A vacant lot
Detroit's St. Boniface Catholic Church, designed by William Scott & Co., stood on this spot for 113 years. It came down 30 years ago. Today the spot is a vacant lot.
- 1883 Opens St. Boniface Catholic Church
- 1989 Closes St. Boniface Catholic Church
- 1996 Comes down St. Boniface Catholic Church
- 2026 Today Vacant lot
How we know what stands there
- County parcel records VACANT COMMERCIAL
Checked October 25, 2026. We never guess: a site no source speaks for shows no answer.
More photos of St. Boniface Catholic Church
What is there now
A vacant lot
- Today Source: County parcel records
- St. Boniface Catholic Church came down Source: Historic Detroit
We checked Wikidata, Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Rebuild Detroit's landmark records and the county parcel records on October 25, 2026.
The story
In 1883, in Detroit's Gilded Age, when stove works, shipyards and railroads made the city's first fortunes, St. Boniface Catholic Church went up in Corktown.
The design came from William Scott & Co., in the Romanesque Revival style.
It joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
It is gone now, demolished in 1996, and the map pin below marks where it stood.
St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church was a Roman Catholic church located at 2356 Vermont Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was also known as St.
Timeline
- 1883 Built Designed by William Scott & Co.
- 1989 Listed on the National Register June 9, 1989
- 1989 Closed
- 1996 Demolished
- 2026 Today 30 years since it came down
Where it is
2356 Vermont St.
On this map
- 1 St. Boniface Catholic Church This place
- 2 The Factory at Corktown 500 ft
- 3 Tre-Way Apartments 0.1 mi
- 4 Roosevelt Hotel 0.1 mi
- 5 CPA Building 0.2 mi
- 6 Corktown Historic District 0.2 mi
- 7 Carhartt factory 0.2 mi
- 8 Newlab at Michigan Central Building 0.3 mi
- 9 Michigan Central Station 0.3 mi
Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors
Who made it
William A. Butler House, by William Scott & Co.. Photo: w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Architect
William Scott & Co.Architecture firm. Designed St. Boniface Catholic Church (1883) and 5 more in Metro Detroit
Also by William Scott & Co.
- Thomas Ladue House 1883
- Wells W. Leggett House 1883
- William A. Butler House 1883
- Engine House No. 11 1884
- Globe Tobacco Building 1889
More from Detroit in the 1880s
-
Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
House of worship, built 1883, Romanesque Revival, by Malcomson & Higginbotham
Photo: Andrew Jameson at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
St. Bonaventure Monastery
Building, built 1883, Gothic Revival
Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
Michigan Avenue Historic Commercial District
Building, built 1884, Italianate, by Joseph E. Mills
Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
St. Albertus Catholic Church
House of worship, built 1885, Gothic Revival, by Henry Engelbert
Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
St. Mary's Catholic Church
House of worship, built 1885, by Peter Dederichs
Photo: I, Mikerussell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
Ste. Anne Roman Catholic Church Complex
House of worship, built 1886, Classical Revival
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Around the block
It is in Corktown. See the neighborhood's homes, pros and story.
- The Factory at Corktown Building, built 1907, Industrial, by Richard E. Raseman 500 ft
- Tre-Way Apartments Building, built 1927, by Talmadge C. Hughes, demolished 1989 0.1 mi
- Roosevelt Hotel Hotel, built 1923, by Pollmar & Ropes 0.1 mi
- CPA Building Building, built 1924, Neoclassical, by Alvin E. Harley 0.2 mi
-
Corktown Historic District
Historic district, Colonial Revival
Photo: Brian Mulloy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
0.2 mi
- Carhartt factory Building, by Alphonso Van Deusen, demolished 1940 0.2 mi
- Newlab at Michigan Central Building Building, built 1936, by Albert Kahn 0.3 mi
-
Michigan Central Station
Building, built 1913, Beaux Arts, by Reed & Stem
Photo: WMrapids, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
0.3 mi
Photo credits
Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.
- FARMER(1884) Detroit, p595 ST. BONIFACE CATHOLIC CHURCH Photo: This file is from the Mechanical Curator collection, a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flic, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- St Boniface Church Detroit, 1910 Photo: Published in 1910 in honor of the seventh Annual Meeting of the Catholic Educational Association which met in Detroit, Michigan, July 5, 191, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- The landmark St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church, on Lakeshore Drive in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, 2008 Photo: Umdet, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Lot where St Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Detroit Michigan once stood Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Città del Vaticano, Cupola della Basilica di S. Pietro, 2006 Photo: MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- St Boniface School Detroit, 1910 Photo: Published in 1910 in honor of the seventh Annual Meeting of the Catholic Educational Association which met in Detroit, Michigan, July 5, 191, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.