The siting and the design of the incredible building reflect Ryan's clear and sophisticated vision of the Catholic Church's role in Harvard Square. The new church was the center of that vision and it should stand tall in the center of the parish, next to the university. He worked well with the Harvard Catholics and the university, and he knew the Catholic Church had an educational opportunity in Harvard Square. He determined to make its presence unmistakably visible and audible. In describing the site to the Cardinal, Ryan wrote, "the church will face Quincy Square, opposite Pres. Lowell's house....This site is the end of the so called 'Gold Coast.'" As Veritas is the motto of Harvard, so the front facade of St. Paul's boldly states the logical priority of "The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." The tower bell rings out with the inscription from Isaiah, Vox clamantis in deserto--a voice crying out in the wilderness of Harvard Square.
It was Edward T.P. Graham, a parishioner, graduate of Harvard, and winner of the first Travelling Fellowship to Rome and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, who articulated Fr. Ryan's vision in architectural terms. In a career spanning over fifty years he designed dozens of institutional buildings across New England, of which St. Elizabeth's Hospital was the largest. Locally his work ranged from a hall for St. Peter's parish in 1897 to a hundred units in Jefferson Park on Rindge Avenue in 1949. He had recently completed several buildings for St. Mary's in Central Square, when in 1913 he received his first commission from Fr. Ryan, an eight hundred dollar alteration of the Harvard Catholic Clubhouse. Soon afterwards he was asked to design the hundred thousand dollar Church of St. Paul, working with his usual contractor John B. Byrne. The sources for the church and tower were Verona's S. Zeno Maggiore and the Torre del Commune. Throughout experts from European universities were consulted, but parishioners were also involved, such as Martin Feeley for the execution of the decorative colors.
