Holy Trinity Cathedral, North Street

The Holy Trinity Cathedral was Kingston’s first Roman Catholic Church, the original structure having been built in 1810 by a Spanish merchant on the northwest corner of Sutton and Duke Streets. Its modest size obscured the size of its congregation of some two thousand members. The original church was destroyed by the 1907 earthquake, and the present structure on North Street is its replacement. It is Kingston’s largest church, and the ‘mother church’ of the Catholic community in Jamaica. Unlike Kingston Parish and Coke Methodist churches, the Roman Catholics did not rebuild in the same location. Instead, five weeks after the earthquake, a new location was found for the 12,000-square-foot building ­ adjoining Winchester Park, the Jesuit headquarters. It opened amid great fanfare in 1911. Crowds of thousands appeared, including the island's elite. Fund-raising was coordinated by Bishop F.C. Collins, who raised money locally and abroad. The Cathedral's large rose windows, massive reinforced concrete walls reaching up to 26m to its striking copper dome make it one of Kingston's most impressive buildings.

Designed by Raymond F. Admiral, the Cathedral was built in the Byzantine architectural style—making it at once distinctive. The Holy Trinity Cathedral was declared a national monument by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust on January 7, 2000.