Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral : Recent history Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral

Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

United States historic place


Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour (now Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, May 2010
39°57′20″N 75°11′54″W / 39.95556°N 75.19833°W / 39.95556; -75.19833
Area	0.3 acres (0.12 ha)
Built	1855, 1898, 1902-1906
Architect	Burns, Charles M. Jr.
Architectural style	Romanesque, Italian Romanesque
Website	https://www.philadelphiacathedral.org/
NRHP reference No.	79002328^[1]
Added to NRHP	August 01, 1979

Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, located at 38th and Ludlow Streets in West Philadelphia, is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Formerly known as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour, it was built in 1855, renovated in 1898, and rebuilt in the year 1906, after an April 16, 1902 fire.

In 1992 it became the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.^[2]

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Recent history

A highly-controversial renovation of the interior was undertaken, 2000–2002, under then-cathedral dean Richard Giles, author of Re-Pitching the Tent: Re-Ordering the Church Building for Worship and Mission.^[3] The pews, altar, and other church furniture were removed and sold and the decorated stone walls were stuccoed over and whitewashed. Modernist chairs and lighting fixtures in a severely minimalist style were introduced. The baptismal font was joined by an immersion pool for adults. These radical changes divided the congregation and were severely criticized in the press as 'cultural vandalism'.^[4]

In 2012, facing an estimated $3.5 million bill to renovate its bell tower, then cathedral dean Judith Sullivan petitioned the Philadelphia Historical Commission for permission to demolish wholesale its brownstone Romanesque parish house and rectory, both NRHP-certified buildings. The demolition was approved and site completely filled with a 25-story apartment building which towers over the cathedral.^[5]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral - History Archived 2013-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
^ Re-Pitching the Tent from Amazon.com The cover photograph shows the cathedral's renovated interior.
^ Stephan Salisbury, "Work on historic church decried. One critic calls it 'cultural vandalism'," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 17, 2001.
^ Stephan Salisbury, "Episcopal Cathedral gets OK to raze historic buildings, erect apartment high-rise," The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 10, 2012.