Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, Florida

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is a limestone Late Gothic Revival Catholic church at 121 East Duval Street in Downtown Jacksonville, home to the city's oldest Catholic congregation.

The 1992 National Register registration form describes it as a large, two-story, Late Gothic Revival building with a limestone exterior, elaborate traceried fenestration and two spired towers, and calls it the oldest Catholic congregation in Jacksonville and one of two Late Gothic Revival churches in the downtown area. The form also records its site number as 8DU207, standing on lot 1 of block 26H in the Jax Hart's Map subdivision as a landmark surrounded by tall masonry buildings.

The parish belongs to the Diocese of St. Augustine. The diocese's parish listing gives the address as 121 E. Duval Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202, the phone as (904) 359-0331 and the pastor as Very Rev. Jan Ligeza, S.T.L., and the parish's own church history names Fr. Jan Ligeza as its current leader.

The parish grew out of house Masses: from 1829 to 1854, the parish history says, Jacksonville Catholics gathered in their homes with priests who traveled on horseback from Georgia.

The National Register form says the congregation was initially organized in 1829 as a mission of the Catholic parish in Savannah, Georgia. The parish history names priests from St. Augustine and Savannah who served the mission, among them Edward Francis Mayne from 1829 to 1834, and says that in 1847 a small church was erected on the northeast corner of Duval and Newnan Streets, on a city lot acquired for one penny from Isaiah David Hart, developer of the city of Jacksonville.

On December 8, 1854, the parish history continues, the Jacksonville mission church was formally established as a parish, the same year Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception an article of faith, and Fr. William J. Hamilton came from the Diocese of Savannah to lead it. Jacksonville, still known as Cowford, then had slightly more than 2,000 people. In 1858 the parish bought land for St. Joseph's Cemetery for $10; the parish says it is now known as the Old City Cemetery.

The Civil War nearly ended the young Jacksonville parish. The National Register form states that the first building, constructed in 1847, was burned by Federal troops during the Civil War. The parish history dates this to the 1863 occupation of Jacksonville and says church officials later asked the U.S. government to pay for the damage and were refused. The parish then opened a school in 1868 under the Sisters of St. Joseph and a new church in 1874, which the National Register form also gives as the completion year of the second building.

The Great Fire of 1901 engulfed the second church, according to the National Register form, and the parish history says it destroyed every parish building on May 3, 1901.

The parish's account says the Jacksonville fire started around noon near the Cleaveland Fibre Factory at Beaver and Davis Streets, and that the entire red brick sanctuary of Immaculate Conception was consumed by the flames. The parish counts it a miracle that a large statue of the Virgin Mary near the top of the facade did not topple. The National Register form notes a stone statue of the Virgin Mary directly above the grand lancet window in the front gable of the present church.

Rebuilding followed quickly, and the parish and the federal record credit different priests. The parish history says Father Kenny, later bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, organized a relief effort to raise funds for a new church and presided at its dedication. The National Register form says the present church was built under the leadership of Father Michael Maher, pastor from 1902 until his death in 1925, with funds raised within the Catholic Church on a national basis.

The Halsema-Woodcock Company built the Jacksonville church between 1907 and 1910 to a 1905 design by architect Hubbard of Utica, New York, according to the National Register form.

The form gives his name as M.H. Hubbard and says he came to Jacksonville as many other architects did, in search of work after the Great Fire, and that a year earlier his plans for the Colonial Revival style Bethel Baptist Church at 1058 North Hogan Street had been completed. The National Park Service asset record lists the church as National Register Information System ID 92001695, part of the Downtown Jacksonville multiple property listing, with Hubbard and the Halsema-Woodcock Co. as architects, 1907 and 1910 as significant years and a publication date of December 30, 1992.

The Jacksonville church cost $160,000, was finished in 1910 and received additional touches until 1913, the form records. It describes a cruciform plan, rough-faced Kentucky limestone exterior, carved stone detailing and lancet windows and doors throughout, with two polygonal spires of different heights topped by gold plated crosses. Inside, a colonnade of traceried piers divides the nave from the side aisles, rosette skylights light the vaulted ceiling, the choir and pipe organ sit in a balcony at the south end, and an ornately carved marble communion rail sets off two altars in the apse.

The windows came from Germany. The parish's stained glass gallery says they were designed and manufactured by the Mayer Glass Company in Munich and lists scenes including The Manna in the Desert, The Wedding at Cana and The Resurrection and The Ascension, on both the courtyard side and the Ocean Street side. The parish history adds that the church, of white Kentucky limestone, was dedicated on December 8, 1910 and was at the time the tallest building in the city. The State Archives of Florida keeps a postcard of the church postmarked 1909, from before the dedication.

On June 21, 2013, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome declared the Jacksonville church a minor basilica, according to the parish history.

The Duval Street church carries two other kinds of protection. The National Register form states that in 1979 it was solemnly dedicated, meaning that it can never be purposefully demolished or used for any other purpose than a church, a distinction it says few Catholic churches hold. The same form, prepared by the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation in November 1992, found the building significant at the local level under Criterion C as one of the finest examples of Late Gothic Revival architecture in Florida.

In the federal record the Duval Street church belongs to a group. The form calls it one of seven churches constructed in downtown Jacksonville between 1903 and 1910 and one of four Late Gothic Revival buildings put up downtown in the wake of the Great Fire of 1901, within the historic context it names Jacksonville Renaissance, 1901 to 1920. It lists St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral at East Duval and North Market Streets among the downtown Gothic buildings, in the Tudor Gothic form.

The parish's history runs from house Masses in 1829 to the basilica title in 2013, across three church buildings in Jacksonville.

Visitors may tour the Jacksonville Basilica on their own, since the parish offers no guided tours, and the church is open daily between its 7:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. Masses.

The parish's visitor page says to call the Parish Office at (904) 359-0331 to get into the church when it is locked, such as on weekday afternoons, and describes the Duval Street building as a Late French Gothic Revival design consecrated in 1910. The office on East Duval Street keeps hours Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the parish history page lists.

Renovations are under way in October 2026. The parish home page says weekday Masses and Confessions continue in Leon Hall, downstairs from the courtyard, while weekend Masses are celebrated in both Leon Hall and the Providence Center next to the Rectory, and the pastor's update anticipates the work will be completed in November 2026. It lists weekday Masses Monday to Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and Monday to Friday at 12:10 p.m., a Saturday 12:10 p.m. Mass that fulfills the Sunday obligation, and Sunday Masses at 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. in Spanish. The diocese's listing gives the same Sunday times and adds Holy Day Masses at 7:15 a.m. and noon.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the parish's history, visitor, stained glass and home pages, the Diocese of St. Augustine listing, the National Park Service record and 1992 registration form, and the State Archives of Florida postcard record.