Wender·Vista
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in Nolita, on Mott Street between Prince and Houston

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

— — the brick wall the bishop told the Irish to defend.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The first Catholic cathedral in New York, set on Mott Street since 1815. Designed by Joseph-François Mangin in a plain Gothic Revival, gutted by fire in 1866, rebuilt by Henry Engelbert by 1868. Bishop John Hughes once had the brick perimeter wall lined with armed Irish parishioners against a Nativist threat. Now a minor basilica, still parish to its neighbourhood.

from the studio
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
— bring it home

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral stands on Mott Street between Prince and Houston in the Nolita neighbourhood of Manhattan. The original building was designed by Joseph-François Mangin, who also designed New York City Hall, and was consecrated in 1815. It served as the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until 1879, when the new St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue opened. Pope Benedict XVI raised it to the status of a minor basilica in 2010. The parish school next door is one of the oldest continuously operating Catholic schools in the country.

— the stone

The brick perimeter wall around the cathedral grounds was built in the late 1830s. In 1844, with Nativist mobs inflamed by the Philadelphia Bible Riots threatening Catholic churches in New York, Archbishop John Hughes posted armed Irish parishioners along it to deter an attack on Old St. Patrick's. The attack did not come. The interior was gutted by fire on October 6, 1866, and rebuilt to designs by Henry Engelbert by 1868, with the spire reconstructed in modified form and the truss roof replaced.

— the visit

The crypts beneath the cathedral hold roughly thirty-five vaults, including the resting place of Pierre Toussaint, a Haitian-born former slave, freed hairdresser, and philanthropist whose cause for canonisation has been opened by the Vatican. Guided catacomb tours run on most Wednesdays and Saturdays through the parish's tour programme; tickets are sold on the cathedral website. The interior was used for the baptism sequence in The Godfather (1972) and has appeared in several other films set in old New York.

— where
United States · Manhattan, New York City, New York
— position
40.7237° N · 73.9942° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
0.2 km S
Little Italy
historic neighbourhood
0.4 km W
SoHo
cast-iron district
0.3 km E
Bowery
historic avenue
N
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
Little Italy
SoHo
Bowery
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about St. Patrick's Old Cathedral — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Construction began in 1809 to a design by Joseph-François Mangin, and the cathedral was consecrated in 1815. It is the second-oldest Catholic church building in New York City still in use.

The seat of the Archdiocese of New York moved to the new St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in 1879. The Mott Street cathedral became known as Old St. Patrick's and continues as a parish church and minor basilica.

In 1844, Nativist mobs inflamed by the Philadelphia Bible Riots threatened Catholic churches in New York. Archbishop John Hughes posted armed Irish parishioners along the perimeter wall of Old St. Patrick's to deter an attack. None came.

Yes. The baptism sequence at the end of The Godfather (1972) was filmed inside Old St. Patrick's. The cathedral has appeared in several other films and television productions set in nineteenth-century New York.

Yes. The basilica runs guided catacomb tours of the crypt vaults beneath the building, including the resting place of Pierre Toussaint. Tour tickets are sold through the parish website.

— about the piece in your home

Old St. Patrick's is the mother church of New York Irish Catholic life. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note carries well as a confirmation, ordination, or housewarming gift.

The stained-glass palette sits well in traditional Catholic interiors, in Brownstone Classical rooms, and as a single point of jewel-tone colour on a quieter Mid-century Modern wall.

A single Large works above most three-seat sofas. For a longer wall behind a sectional, a four-tile Mural reads at the right scale; a nine-tile Mural fills a feature wall behind a console or a side altar.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any wet or steamy room; both are scratch-resistant and handle splashes. The Glossy finish is best kept to dry walls.

A soft microfibre cloth with water is enough for routine cleaning. For a kitchen tile near the cooker, a damp cloth with a drop of mild dish soap lifts cooking residue without harming the surface.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is the studio's own work, made in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing, no third-party imagery, and no other shop carries the same paintings.

— if this one stayed with you

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