HISTORIC CHURCHES IN PHILADELPHIA
Among the eight hundred and five churches in Philadelphia, are:
The Philadelphia Baptist, whose Association celebrated its two hundredth and tenth anniversary in 1917. First Church, Seventeenth Street below Chestnut, open daily, is a consistent example of Byzantine architecture with American modifications; stone; architect, Edgar V. Seeler. Windows made by Heinecke & Bowen are copies of the Byzantine leaded glass; lights and shadows in drapery are all done with leaded strips of glass, not painted. Temple, Broad and Berks Streets, famous on account of its pastor, Rev. Russell H. Conwell, was dedicated, 1901; at that time it was the largest church edifice in the United States, excepting the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City; auditorium seats 3135 people: Romanesque, with two low towers on the front, surmounted by large copper domes, which give an Oriental touch; architect, Thomas Lonsdale. Fine rose window in front, said to have been made by John LaFarge; other windows are by J. & R. Lamb and R. S. Groves: the Hope-Jones organ, built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, is one of the largest in this country; it has all the orchestral accompaniments. Tabernacle, Chestnut and Fortieth Streets, Gothic, stone, has a window by William Willet. There are about one hundred Baptist churches in Philadelphia.
Christian Science. First Church of Christ Scientist, Walnut Street near Fortieth; Spanish architecture.
Congregational. Central, Eighteenth and Green Streets, Gothic, stone, built in 1872; architect, D. Supplee; organized in 1864; first services were held in old Concert Hall, 1217 Chestnut Street, afterwards used as first Free Library Building; sermon “Recognition,” was preached by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher; other sermons of early days, by Richard S. Storrs, D.D. About nine or ten churches of this denomination are in Philadelphia.
Friends’ or Quaker Meeting-Houses.
“What dignity breathes from the lofty space
And amplitude of hospitality
In these old-fashioned Quaker shrines!
Most friendly seems the long, high, sturdy roof,
Most friendly the all-welcoming old walls
Seen through the sheltering trees.
O mighty oaks and noble sycamores,
With trunks moss-silvered and with lichened limb,
Breathe soft to me the storied memories
And treasured records of the long rich years
That blessed the meeting-houses.”
(From “Old Meeting-Houses,”
by John Russell Hayes.)
For more than one hundred years there has been no change in the general style of architecture; before that time, the earliest meeting-house in Philadelphia, at Second and Market Streets, was built with a central lantern or cupola; probably copied from a meeting-house of similar form in Burlington, New Jersey, built, 1682; where the yearly meeting for New Jersey and Pennsylvania was first held: later it met alternately at Philadelphia and Burlington, but since 1750 in Philadelphia, Fourth and Arch Streets. One of the most interesting old meeting-houses, built in 1696, is at Merion, near Narberth Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, in which William Penn preached; another, that he attended, is the old Haverford, built in the early eighteenth century, near Cobb’s Creek, opposite St. Dennis Roman Catholic Church. Radnor and Plymouth are also interesting old houses; all these last named are now owned by the Hicksite Branch of Quakers, who also own over seventy other meeting-houses throughout the state. Among those owned by the Orthodox Branch within Philadelphia are the Fourth and Arch Streets, not only the most important, but of great charm architecturally; it is very large and stands on ground originally given by William Penn to George Fox, and by the latter to Friends in America; and may be taken as typical of the later and best Quaker architecture; built in 1804, following the style of the pre-Revolutionary days of the houses just named, but adapted in material and size to the increased numbers worshiping within; it is of brick, set in ample grounds, with abundant shade; the ground about it, and much also covered now by the building and by Arch Street, is a very old burial ground, filled over several times. James Logan is buried under the pavement of Arch Street. Twelfth Street Meeting-House, brick, built in 1812, is second in importance, and one of the most beautiful bits in old Philadelphia. The oak timbers in its roof are said to have come from the “Great Meeting-House,” which succeeded that with the cupola at Second and Market Streets; oak timbers are also exposed with good effect in the upper room of the Arch Street house; the two houses are of the same general type and severely plain, but form, together with that at Sixth and Noble Streets, a most dignified trio of places for worship; remarkable for true proportion and dignity of outline, they are typical of the wealth and solidity of the Friends at their most flourishing period. The Meeting House, Sixth and Noble Streets, known as “North Meeting,” once accommodating a large congregation, has been reduced in members by removals; the Yearly Meeting has therefore taken over its use as an adjunct to the settlement work, carried on by Friends at “Noble House.”
Jewish. Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish New Year’s Day, is the oldest festival celebrated in the civilized world, 1917 will usher in the year 5678; it commences the great series of fall holidays: ten days later is “Yom Kippur,” the Day of Atonement, most sacred of the year, when the Jews fast from sunset to sunset and attend the synagogues, and a week later “Succoth,” corresponding to our Thanksgiving Day, which lasts a week. The principal synagogues are Adath-Jeshurun, Broad Street above Diamond, Egyptian; limestone and brick; architects, Churchman, Thomas & Molitar, has leaded glass windows by Nicolo D’Ascenzo. Keneseth Israel, Broad Street above Columbia Avenue, Italian Renaissance, brick with limestone trimmings; architect, Hickman. Mikveh Israel, Broad and York Streets, organized, 1747; moved from Seventh Street near Arch; French Renaissance, limestone; architects, Pitcher & Tachau. Rodeph Shalom, southeast corner of Broad and Mt. Vernon Streets, Moorish, sandstone; built, 1869; architects, Furness & Evans; has leaded glass windows by Nicolo D’Ascenzo.
Lutheran. The Theological Seminary of Philadelphia, 7301 Germantown Avenue, was founded in 1864; removed to present location, 1889; site, residence of Chief Justice Allen; afterwards a military school of some distinction, “Mount Airy College.” The administration building was erected by James Gowen for a residence in 1848, and adapted to the wants of the Seminary; on the grounds are twelve buildings, including Krauth Memorial Library, perpendicular Gothic, stone, built, 1908; contains portraits; the Refectory, once residence of the Miller family, built, 1792, colonial; and the Ashmead-Schaeffer Memorial Chapel, Gothic, stone. St. Michael’s, Germantown Avenue and Phil-Ellena Street, first church, built, 1730; British soldiers took refuge in the church and demolished the organ during the Battle of Germantown; corner-stone of present church laid, 1896. Old St. Johns, Race Street between Fifth and Sixth, first English Lutheran Church in America, colonial, brick; congregation organized in 1806, largely through efforts of General Peter Muhlenberg; contains a fine oil portrait by John Neagle, painted in 1853, of Dr. Philip F. Mayer, first pastor 1806-58; and woodcarvings in front of the gallery by William Rush. Zion (German), Franklin Street above Race, Romanesque, brownstone, built, 1870, moved from southeast corner of Fourth and Cherry, founded 1766; a memorial service was held here for Washington in 1799, by General Charles Lee. The Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses, Twenty-first Street and South College Avenue, modified Gothic with numerous towers, brick trimmed with sandstone, built, 1888; provides a training school for Deaconesses of the Lutheran Church; home for the aged and a children’s hospital; a Gothic chapel on the second floor, has altar cloths from Neuendettelsau, Bavaria; and stained glass by Meyer, Munich; portraits of the Lankenau and Drexel families are here, and an Italian marble bust of Mr. Lankenau by Moses Ezekiel of Rome.
Methodist. Saint George’s, 229 North Fourth Street, oldest Methodist church in the world, used continuously for worship; dedicated, 1769; Bishop Francis Asbury preached his first sermon in America here; three memorial tablets mark the front: to John Dickens, founder of the Methodist Book Concern, buried rear of the church, in 1798; to Ezekiel Cooper, his successor, buried in front, and one commemorating the first Methodist Conference in America, held in this church July 14, 1773. Calvary, Forty-eighth Street and Baltimore Avenue, Gothic, stone, has mural painting, “Sermon on the Mount,” by H. Hanley Parker, and two Tiffany windows. Other Methodist Episcopal churches with good architecture are, Arch Street, Broad and Arch Streets, Gothic, white marble, and Grace, Broad and Master Streets, Renaissance.
Presbyterian. First Church, Seventh and Locust Streets, facing Washington Square; oldest Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, founded, 1699; present building erected, 1820, classic, brick, rough cast; with Ionic porch; architect, Theophilus P. Chandler: contains Paxton memorial window by Frederick Wilson, interesting old tablets, and a copy of Calvin’s “Institutes.” Second Church, Twenty-first and Walnut Streets, French Gothic, with early English detail; erected, 1872; architect, Henry Sims; Richmond granite is used in the base, the walls are of Trenton stone, Cleveland sandstone for tracery of windows and moulding of doors, with red sandstone, blue sandstone, and green serpentine for special parts, in contrasts of color and decorative effects: interior is faced with buff-colored brick imported from Raubon, Wales: the richly ornamented pulpit is of Caen stone. Windows, a double one, by John LaFarge; seven representing old Testament subjects, by Tiffany; and five apse windows from England. Scotts, Broad Street below Morris, founded, 1766: third oldest organization in the Philadelphia Presbytery; is still under its original charter; original church was at Fourth and Bainbridge Streets, later on at Spruce Street above Third; Louis Philippe lived in the parsonage during his residence in Philadelphia in 1796; John Purdon, father of Purdon’s Digest, was its first elder; President John Adams attended the church. Old Pine Street Church, Fourth and Pine Streets, classic, brick, rough-cast, with Corinthian porch; erected, 1857, one of the walls being that of the original church built in 1768; the first pastor, George Duffield, was chaplain of all the Pennsylvania militia, and also served as chaplain of the First Continental Congress after Jacob Duché; he was with Washington during the retreat through New Jersey; was in the battles of Princeton and Trenton, and the British offered a price of 50 pounds sterling for his head; he is buried under the central aisle of the lecture room, and his portrait is in Independence Hall: John Adams, when President, was a communicant here; when the British occupied the city, they used this church as a hospital; pews and other woodwork were burned as fuel, and later the church was used by the dragoons to stable their horses. Holland Memorial, Broad and Federal Streets, Romanesque; buff Massillon stone, with red sandstone trimmings, from the Ballaclunyle quarries of Scotland; architect, David S. Grendell; windows by Tiffany, in the south arcade, are from originals by Frederick Wilson; other windows are by Alfred Godwin and Maitland & Armstrong; there are four large rose windows, in one, the patriarch Joshua stands in the center, clad in full armor; color scheme is based upon the rose window of Saint Chapelle, Paris; makers, William and Annie Lee Willet: under each window is a group of five arcade windows, some of them copies from originals of Sir Edwin Burne-Jones, for windows in Brighton and Salisbury Cathedrals. Tabernacle, Thirty-seventh and Chestnut Streets, is one of the finest Gothic church edifices in Philadelphia, in decorative English style, with tower 130 feet high, erected, 1886; granite, with Indiana limestone for tracery of windows and doors; no wood being used in its construction, it thus resembles the cathedrals of the old world; chapel is connected with the manse by a cloistered porch. West Arch Street, Eighteenth and Arch Streets, Roman classic, with dome 170 feet above the ground, stone, plastered; has fine Corinthian porch. Market Square, Germantown, founded, 1738: President Washington worshiped here, while living opposite in the old Morris house, during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793; during the battle of Germantown, a battalion of Virginians, prisoners of the English, were lodged in this church; the old bell, cast, 1725, which was in the shingle roof steeple of the old church, is still intact, and preserved as a relic; also the “Trumpet angels in their gold array,” part of the original organ from Holland: present building, French Gothic, stone, was erected in 1886.
The Witherspoon Building, Walnut Street below Broad, has sculpture by A. Stirling Calder and Samuel Murray.
Protestant Episcopal. St. Alban’s, Olney, consecrated, 1915; decorated French Gothic; buttresses run up to above the cornice line, ending in gables with crockets and finials; there is a belfry tower and porch; interior lines are very beautiful; the high arches and lofty piers give an impression of great dignity and simplicity, well adapted for rendering the services, with all the accompaniment of advanced churchmanship; architect, George T. Pearson. Christ Church, Second Street north of Market; first Protestant Episcopal Church in the province; hours of service, September to July, Sundays 10.00 A.M., 11.00 A.M., 3.30 P.M., open daily 9.00 A.M. to 3.00 P.M.; founded in 1695, under a provision in the original charter of King Charles II to William Penn. John Penn, last male member of this line, is buried near the steps of the pulpit. Present building, Georgian, erected 1747; Dr. John Kearsley, Building Director; the old roof, its wooden balustrade with carved spindles, and the steeple are ever of interest to architects and antiquarians.
Here the colonial governors had their state pew, marked by coat of arms, bearing the monogram of William and Mary; the parish was subsidized by King William III, William of Orange; Communion silver presented in 1709 by Queen Anne; baptismal font dates from 1695, and was used for the baptism of Bishop White in infancy. The chime of bells pealed forth the Declaration of Independence, in response to the Liberty Bell, July 8, 1776; they were made in England, and came over in the same ship with the Liberty Bell, were taken to Allentown with the Liberty Bell, and subsequently rehung; are referred to by Longfellow in “Evangeline.” George and Martha Washington regularly occupied pew 58 from 1790-97; it was also the official pew of John Adams while President, and was used by Lafayette in 1824; Franklin had pew 70, still used by his descendants; Robert Morris’ pew was 52; Francis Hopkinson’s, 65. General Charles Lee, of the Continental Army, is interred beside the southwest door, and near by is General Hugh Mercer; Rt. Rev. William White, D.D., first Bishop of Pennsylvania and long Presiding Bishop of the United States, is interred before the chancel rail, and his Episcopal chair is beside the altar. The church was organized; its constitution framed; and the amended Prayer Book adopted in this church, in 1785; Bishop White and Provost William Smith, D.D., were the Committee for revising and altering the liturgy of the English Prayer Book, for use in America. Rev. Jacob Duché was rector for many years. Windows illustrate the history of the Christian Church; made by Heaton, Butler and Bains. St. Clement’s, Twentieth and Cherry Streets, Norman Gothic, brownstone, built, 1857; architect, John Notman; new roof of nave, apse, and high altar; choir and lady chapel; architect, Horace Wells Sellers; the sanctuary is beautifully designed, with effect heightened by a magnificent reredos; artist, Frederick Wilson of Briarcliff, New York, leaded glass of apse, and lady chapel, by Alfred Godwin,
BISHOP WILLIAM WHITE
Painted by Gilbert Stuart Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia. St. Elizabeth’s, corner of Sixteenth and Mifflin Streets, early Italian, with high Campanile; medieval exterior and interior give an exact idea of old Italian churches; brick; architects, Bailey and Bassett; the choir is raised eight steps from the nave, giving view of the crypt, and dignified elevation of the high altar; over the altar is a copy of Correggio’s “Marriage of St. Catharine”; fine jeweled door of the Pyx on the altar; Lady chapel has an altar of richly carved and gilded wood, finished with a high reredos, copy of an original in Santo Spirito, Florence; paintings set in are copies of works by Fra Filipo Lippi. Church of the Evangelist, now part of Graphic Sketch Club, Catharine Street above Seventh, brick, is a gem of medievalism; Italian Basilican style; red brick, relieved by stone trimmings; pillars of portico rest on backs of lions; architects, Furness & Evans; frescoes by Nicolo d’Ascenzo and by Robert Henri; original compositions and adaptations of great paintings in Italy; font, late English Gothic, with a richly carved stone; above it is the Strasbourg window, containing a figure of the prophet, Jonas; this piece of glass, before the Franco-Prussian War, was in the Cathedral of Strasbourg, and was taken from one of the windows after the Germans had directed their fire on the church and smashed the glass: paving of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is of Mercer tiles; Rood screen of polished marble, is modeled after that at St. Marco, Venice; Altar rail modeled after that in a chapel at Monreale, Sicily; the reredos, of the high altar, is a copy of a famous altar-piece by Carlo Crivelli; original now in the National Gallery, London. Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’), on land given by Swan Swanson, corner of Front and Swanson Streets, near Christian Street; formerly Wecacoa (Indian name for pleasant place); was dedicated in 1700. Georgian architecture, with steep pitched roof; brick work of walls, Flemish bond, headers coated with vitreous, blue black glaze, doubtless the arch bricks in the kiln; great square windows. Erected by the Swedish Lutherans; after the Revolution, care of the Swedish churches was committed to the American Church, and became part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. This congregation first worshiped in a block house, used also as a fortress from 1677; the font used then is still in the present church. Holy Trinity, Nineteenth and Walnut Streets; Norman Romanesque; architect, John Notman; has fine memorial windows. St. James, Twenty-second and Walnut Streets, founded, 1807; present building, English decorated Gothic with sculptured band around the tower, from which rises the graceful memorial spire; Ohio green sandstone and granite, built, 1870; architect, G. W. Hewitt: pulpit; altar; reredos of fine perpendicular work in Caen stone, rich in ornamentation and sculpture, which also extends around the chancel, with two marble pilasters having delicately carved capitals; all designed by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson; mosaics of the twelve apostles, in the walls of the nave, suggest those of the Popes in the Church of St. Paul, outside the walls, in Rome; leaded glass by Nicolo d’Ascenzo; font has a bas-relief in white marble, angel scattering flowers, made in Florence, Italy. St. James the Less, near main entrance to Laurel Hill Cemetery; thirteenth century Gothic; brownstone; once said to be the choicest specimen of church architecture in the United States. St. John Chrysostom, corner Twenty-eighth Street and Susquehanna Avenue, almost an exact copy of St. Stephen’s Church, London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren; Renaissance, granite; architects, Bailey & Bassett; adapted to a square lot, the interior shows form of Greek cross, with inner octagon; rosettes and decorations of the dome are graceful and beautiful; columns, placed on rather high pedestals, are Vermont marble, with very beautiful veining, surmounted by Corinthian capitals: the church is almost entirely white, with no stained glass, and gives an impression of complete harmony. St. Mark’s, Locust Street above Sixteenth, built, 1849; fine specimen of fourteenth century, decorated Gothic, brownstone; plans furnished by the Ecclesiological Society of Cambridge, England; modified by John Notman; altar and reredos are richly carved stone; also the pulpit and choir screen; notable features are the rood beam, with cross and figures; carved sanctuary door; choir and clergy stalls; the altar at head of north aisle is alabaster. Lady chapel, erected, 1900, contains a silver altar of elaborate magnificence, probably finest in the world, of the same style as the one at Florence, Italy, by Pallajnoli, but richer, containing twelve scenes from the life of the Virgin, and studded with precious stones, some four hundred emeralds, sapphires, and opals, a monumental work, which will remain a very splendid presentation of twentieth century English ecclesiastical art; altar rail is silver and bronze; stained glass windows in the church are notable; the sacred vessels and vestments surpass any in the Anglican Communion, in their extraordinary richness; silver processional cross is supposed to be that of the Palermo Cathedral, in 1520; among old vestments are the coronation robes of Louis XV from Rheims Cathedral, of light blue velvet, heavily embroidered with twenty-two karat gold bullion. The first curate was the Rev. Morgan Dix, ordained priest in this church, who became the famous rector of Trinity Church, New York. St. Mary’s, 3916 Locust Street, on ground given by William Hamilton, of Woodlands; first Protestant Episcopal Church in West Philadelphia, organized, 1820; frame church erected, 1824; Bishop White laid the corner-stone; present building, Gothic, consecrated, 1890. Memorial Gothic altar, retable, and reredos are from famous studios in Rome, Italy, said to be the finest example of ecclesiastical mosaic work in this country: windows are from London, Paris, Munich, and Philadelphia. Rev. Thomas C. Yarnall celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as rector of St. Mary’s in 1894. St. Paul’s, east side of Third Street, below Walnut; classic; erected, 1761; third Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia and largest in the province; now headquarters of the City Mission. The General Convention met here in 1814, when Bishop Moore of Virginia was consecrated; Bishop Hobart preached the sermon. St. Paul’s Club, 411 Spruce Street, makes a specialty of giving aid to the down and out drunkard, sobering him up, fitting him for a job, and getting him one; in the five years of its existence to 1917, it has registered 45,000 transient visitors and temporary guests on its books. St. Peter’s, corner of Third and Pine Streets, second church erected in Philadelphia, fine example of Georgian architecture, in beauty of line; brick; built, 1761; tower and spire, 218 feet high, were added, 1842; stone finials of gateposts were cut in England; present wall erected in 1784, after the old wooden fence had been taken for fuel by the British. Interior still retains the high-backed box pews, President Washington’s among them, pew 41; the pulpit, surmounting the clerk’s desk, soars upward at the far end, opposite the altar; Provost William Smith preached the consecration sermon; very beautiful stained glass by Myeres, London; remarkable for richness of color and design; many interesting relics in the church’s history are in the sacristy. Church of the Saviour, Thirty-eighth Street above Chestnut, architect, C. M. Burns, has a splendidly impressive chancel; decoration by Edwin Howland Blashfield and furnishings are memorial to Anthony J. Drexel. Memorial window by William and Annie Lee Willet, “Christ and Nicodemus,” has strong decorative quality and richness of color. South Memorial, Church of the Advocate, Eighteenth and Diamond Streets, French Gothic, suggested by Amiens Cathedral; built, 1897; stone; architect, Charles M. Burns; interior profusely adorned with carving, and sixty-five stained glass windows by Clayton and Bell, London. St. Stephen’s, Tenth Street above Chestnut; founded, 1823; early Gothic, with two octagonal towers; stone; designed by William Strickland; contains notable sculpture; the Burd Memorial, “Angel of the Resurrection,” finest Italian marble, by Carl Steinhauser, native of Bremen, who studied in Rome under Thorwaldsen; and recumbent effigy of Colonel Burd; also font by Steinhauser, represents three cherubs supporting on their wings a large marble bowl, with sculpture in relief; the church, decorated by Frank Furness, with color, rich and unusual, sets off admirably the beauty of the memorial marbles; the stately reredos, with its brilliant Venetian mosaic picture, “The Last Supper,” was made in 1889, by Salviati, Venice, from cartoons by Henry Holiday, London, and under his own supervision; large double window in transept also by Holiday; a Tiffany window is, “Christ Among the Lilies,” the only flower He mentions in the Evangels, and accepted as symbol of the resurrection; the window, showing the angel sitting on the edge of the tomb with partly unfolded wings, is copy of a picture by Axel Ender, over the altar of a church in Molde, Northern Norway; near the reredos is “The Angel of Purity,” sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens, which suggests his “Amor, Caritas,” owned by the French Government, now in the Luxembourg; here is also a bas-relief by Charles Grafley of Dr. David D. Wood, organist of St. Stephen’s for forty-six years; the great organ was built by C. T. Haskell, Philadelphia, in consultation with Dr. Wood; pipes were voiced in the church, resulting in a sweetness and just proportion of tone; its echo organ, located about two hundred feet away, is in the loft over the chancel. Parish house is on site of the old graveyard, tombstones are in pavement of cloister; architect, George C. Mason, Jr. Trinity, Oxford, Oxford Road and Second Street Pike; colonial; founded, 1698. Present brick church erected 1711-12; the transepts and tower later; was the first house of worship in Pennsylvania, owned and occupied by the Quakers, and presented by them to the Church of England, for Episcopal use and worship. Chalice and paten sent by Queen Anne, engraved “Anne Regina,” 1713; she died in 1714, it is probably the last one she sent to America, and has been used in every Holy Communion for over two centuries. Tiffany altar window, “The Baptism of Christ.” The altar, of walnut and oak, is beautifully carved. This is the mother of many flourishing missions, St. Luke’s, Germantown; Our Saviour, Jenkintown; St. Mark’s, Frankford; Emmanuel, Holmesburg; Holy Trinity, Rockledge; and Trinity Chapel, Crescentville; today it stands, vigorous and full of life, in its old age, greatly enlarged and carefully restored; the utmost care has been taken to disturb none of the old walls, and to keep the historic features intact; the glass, in the body of the church, is an opaque yellow, harmonizing with the colonial buff of the walls and barrel ceiling. The churchyard is of great interest, one stone, dated, 1686, is said to mark the grave of an Indian.
The Reformed Church in the United States, which brought its beautiful and significant emblem, “The lily among thorns,” from the fatherland, is derived from the Reformed Churches of Switzerland and Germany; these churches are largely to be found in the counties east of the Susquehanna River. William Penn’s mother, Margaret Jasper, was reared in this faith; noted members who came here were Michael Schlatter, in 1746, from St. Gall, Switzerland; sent to establish an ecclesiastical organization; he was practically the first superintendent of public instruction in Pennsylvania; died, 1790, and was buried in the Reformed graveyard in Philadelphia, now Franklin Square; Colonel Henry Bouquet, from Switzerland, proved the saviour of the early settlers in Pontiac’s war and obtained the restoration of all captives to their homes; three hundred and seventy were brought back; and Baron von Steuben, who had served on the staff of Frederick the Great at the siege of Prague, drilled our men into efficiency to cope with the British regulars; later he commanded at the Siege of Yorktown, which he pressed so vigorously that Cornwallis was obliged to surrender. Zion Reformed Church at Allentown sheltered our Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells during the Revolution; among their thirty churches in Philadelphia and vicinity, of Gothic architecture, stone, are the First Church, Fiftieth and Locust Streets; oldest of this denomination in Philadelphia; moved from Tenth and Wallace Streets; Palatinate, Fifty-sixth Street and Girard Avenue; St. John’s, Fortieth and Spring Garden Streets; and Trinity, northeast corner of Broad and Venango Streets. There are also five churches of the Dutch Reformed.
Roman Catholic. The churches of this denomination are all notable for good architecture, interior sumptuous, ecclesiastical decoration. Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, finely situated on Logan Square and the Parkway; Classic Renaissance, brownstone; built 1846-64; architect, Napoleon LeBrun; “The Crucifixion,” back of the high altar, genuine fresco painting, is by Constantine Brumidi, who, about the same time, executed important decorations, in the same medium, in the dome of the Capitol at Washington; on entering the church, in chapels on both sides of the door, are mural decorations by Henry J. Thouron, said, by high authority, to be the best mural paintings in the United States; the first was placed in 1911 as a fitting background for a statue of the Virgin and Child by Louis Madrazzi, which Mr. Thouron brought from Paris as a gift to the Cathedral; in the north transept is a painting, “The Dead Christ,” attributed to Titian; a work of art of exceptional merit is a large ivory crucifix, the master work of Carlo Pazenti, an Augustinian lay brother, about 1840; acquired for the church, with much difficulty, by the venerable John N. Neumann, fourth Bishop of Philadelphia; when, during the Civil War, the Sanitary Fair was being held in Logan Square, Archbishop Wood, then Bishop Wood, exhibited this beautiful work daily, for the benefit of the great cause; it was returned each evening to its place in the Cathedral. St. John the Evangelist, Thirteenth Street above Chestnut, for a short time the cathedral; early English, Gothic; interior, perpendicular Gothic; cornerstone laid by Bishop Kenrick, third Bishop of Philadelphia; church opened April 8, 1832: a flagellation of Christ, much darkened, by Garacci, was presented to the church by Joseph Bonaparte soon after its completion: Mozart’s “Requiem Mass” was rendered, for the first time in America, at St. John’s Church, and the music there today, is said to be the best church music in Philadelphia. St. Patrick’s, Twentieth Street below Locust, originated in a frame church in 1839, on east side of Nineteenth Street near Spruce; the seventy-fifth anniversary was celebrated in 1916, was attended by many notable dignitaries of the church. Windows by d’Ascenzo. St. Francis de Sales, Forty-seventh Street and Springfield Avenue, Romanesque, with Byzantine details; built, 1907-10; architect, Henry D. Dagit, Philadelphia; the leaded glass is particularly beautiful; windows are of the antique school and extremely rich in color, including four rose windows, designed and made by Nicolo d’Ascenzo, Philadelphia. Four old historic churches rather near together, St. Joseph’s, on Willing’s Alley, south of Walnut, below Fourth Street; built on site of first Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, established by a member of the “Society of Jesus” from Maryland, in 1731; St. Mary’s, Fourth Street, above Spruce; St. Augustine’s, Fourth Street, above Race; and Holy Trinity, northwest corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, had their origin in the eighteenth century, the first two long before the Revolution. St. Augustine’s is on site of a building erected in 1801, by the hermits of the Order of St. Augustine; it had William Rush’s wooden sculpture “The Crucifixion,” but this was burned in 1847. Holy Trinity, German, is of somewhat earlier date; the wayfarer who now looks in on any of them may readily picture them as they were over one hundred years ago. In St. Mary’s Church is a very fine pieta by Boucher, a modern French sculptor.
Swedenborgian, or The New Church, grew out of the teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, scholar, traveler, scientist, and religious writer, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1688. A school of the New Church was started in Philadelphia in 1854. First “New Jerusalem” Church, Twenty-second and Chestnut Streets, Gothic, brownstone, was built in 1884; architect, Theophilus P. Chandler. Connected with it is a free library and reading room.
Unitarian. First Church, Chestnut Street near Twenty-second, built, 1885; was organized, 1796, in a room of the University of Pennsylvania; in 1797 Dr. Joseph Priestly delivered an address to this Society, and enrolled himself among the members. William Henry Furness was ordained pastor in 1825, in the church at the corner of Tenth and Locust Streets; present church contains some interesting memorials, Dr. Furness, bust by M. Launt Thompson, New York; circular window to Dr. Priestly by John LaFarge; other windows are English; and some are by Tiffany, New York. Girard Avenue Unitarian, Girard Avenue above Fifteenth Street, organized by the Rev. Charles G. Ames, in the late seventies; Gothic, granite. Germantown Unitarian, corner of Chelten Avenue and Greene Street, built, 1866; Gothic; architect, Frank Furness; has good stained glass windows, made by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. Rev. Samuel Longfellow, brother of the poet, was pastor for some years; also the Rev. Charles G. Ames.