The architect of this spectacular building was Joseph H. McGuire, a Beaux-Arts-trained New York architect who specialized in buildings for Catholic organizations. He found patrons in Ida and Thomas Fortune Ryan of New York. Thomas Ryan was a Virginia-born industrialist and financier who, along with his wife, had a keen interest in buildings that served the Catholic church. The Richmond cathedral is constructed of limestone and has a dome, twin towers, and a monumental portico of six Corinthian columns supporting a pediment fronting Monroe Park. The building defies strict architectural classification, however, with its impressive synthesis of classical, Gothic, Renaissance, and baroque forms. The interior is a spectacular space with well-articulated ornamentation and finishes and a nave arcade that leads to a crossing capped by a magnificent dome.