Until
1868 Hoorn had consisted of two parishes, and therefore had two
catholic churches. That
year the
two merged. When in 1877 one of the churches was destroyed by fire and
only the
much neglected secondary church remained it was time to build a new
one. Local
architect A.C. Bleys designed a
three-aisled cruciform
basilica
in neo-Renaissance style with a crossing-tower with dome and a front
with two
polygonal towers. Because the
church was to be build on limited space on a major street between
houses it was not given
a conventional tower but a crossing-tower instead.
In both style and general shape this church precedes
the St. Nicolaas
in Amsterdam, which was built by Bleys under similar
circumstances a few years later.
