It was once called The Maples, back before it became the Sacred Heart Church rectory. The North Attleboro church was built in 1904 and the parish purchased the three-story Victorian home from a doctor three years later. It was a lovely building sitting among tall trees — chestnuts and maples, naturally — over 55 years ago when I was a kid attending the nearby Sacred Heart School.
The parish’s three priests lived there then, and maybe a housekeeper. I only went inside a few times, just inside the door, but I remember a grand staircase with an impressive railing. But then, last week, the rectory was demolished.
The building had been vacant for 13 years, a reflection on the changes in the Catholic Church. Instead of three priests for each parish, one priest, the Rev. David Costa, serves all three North Attleboro’s parishes as the number of clergy decreases.
The parish needs a larger playground for the approximately 225 students at St. Mary’s-Sacred Heart School, and the plan is to have that in place before classes begin next month, Costa said in an interview with North TV. The safety of the aging structure was the first consideration.
“(The demolition was) for a number of reasons, safety first, safety for our kids and the neighborhood,” Costa said. Planning for it began about a year ago and included a tour by the town’s historical commission to see what, if anything, was salvageable. The Church Street building itself had fallen into disrepair, and much of the int.