The parish was established in 1887[1][6] from Annunciation and St. Elizabeth parishes south and north of it.[7] Services were held in a local movie theater until a church could be built.[7]
The church was constructed between 1889 and 1890 in an Eclectic style, to the designs by Thomas H. Poole.[1] The design is particularly marked by the building's wide crow-stepped gable and ogee-headed openings, very similar to Poole's more compact Our Lady of Good Counsel (1892), and a predecessor to Poole's grander-scaled St. Thomas the Apostle in Harlem, now closed. The facade is "golden-hued brick", and the building features a "deep porch sheltered by a bracketed entryway."[5]
School
A parish school run by the Sisters of Mercy, opened in 1910. In 1937 the Rev. John J. Brady had a four-story brick schoolhouse built at 508-510 West 153rd Street to designs by Jules Lewis known as the Annex, it opened in 1938. In 1946, all classes were consolidated in the Annex and the original school became Bishop Dubois High School. The parish school finally closed in 2006.[7]
Rectory
The rectory next door at 506 West 153rd Street was built c.1926.[3]
Parish
The parishioners of St. Catherine of Genoa were Irish immigrants when the church was established. Today there is a mix of African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Haitians. Services are held in English, Spanish, French and Haitian/Creole.[7]
