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.