Saint Charles Borromeo Church

713 South Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco

Saint Charles Borromeo was established as a parish on March 27, 1887 by Archbishop Patrick William Riordan.  The first pastor was Rev. Patrick J. Cummins.  The first mass was held in Cannon’s Hall above the police station.  The first church was designed by architect J. F. Devlin.  It was dedicated on May 22, 1888.

Saint Charles School was instituted in 1894.  The basement of the church building was modified by architect Alvin Cook for schoolrooms.  The church and school remained in the same building until the earthquake of 1906 damaged the building.  It was redesigned to remove the original square cupola from the roof and to expand the school to the entire building.  It remains a splendid example of 1888 architecture to this day.

The present church building was designed in the mission style by architect Leo Devlin.  The frame and stucco structure was dedicated on November 11, 1916 by Archbishop Edward J. Hanna.  The original glass in the windows of the church was plain. 

In 1945, approval was given for installation of stained glass windows.  Carl Huneke, Century Stained Glass Studio, San Francisco completed all the windows by 1950.  Although he created more than a thousand windows during thirty years in his own studio, fewer than a dozen of those windows are signed.  Our Lady of Guadalupe window in the shrine of St. Rita is one of those rare signed windows.