St. Patrick's is the second oldest Catholic church building in Richmond and one of the oldest in Virginia. Irish immigrants in the eastern section of the city founded the congregation and built the simple structure, reminiscent of A. W. N. Pugin's work. The buttressed and corbeled brick facade is one of the most ornate examples of antebellum brickwork in Richmond. The original interior treatment consisted of wooden paneling and simple Gothic bosses. Renovations added a choir loft, an apse, a French tracker organ, and an Italian marble altar.