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St. Mark's Episcopal Church

Architects
Cope and Stewardson John Notman
Year
1848
Style
Gothic Revival
City
Philadelphia, PA
Collection
victorian philadelphia
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Photo: Thewinners (Wiki Takes Philadelphia 2 participant), CC0
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St. Mark's Episcopal Church, built between 1847 and 1849 by John Notman on Locust Street in Rittenhouse Square, was founded as part of the Oxford Movement's revival within the Anglican Church and modeled on an original design by the English architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter. Its Gothic Revival fabric grew over decades: Notman's tower was finished in 1865 by George Hewitt, and in 1900 the firm Cope and Stewardson added a Lady Chapel funded by Rodman Wanamaker in memory of his late wife.

the building

The Lady Chapel's stone vault. Designed by Cope and Stewardson in 1900 in a late Decorated Gothic style, the Lady Chapel's ceiling is the first known example in the United States of a stone vault. Its construction and furnishings were paid for by department-store magnate Rodman Wanamaker in memory of his late wife.

A tower finished by another hand. John Notman designed the church's tower but did not live to see it finished; it was completed in 1865 by George Hewitt, more than 15 years after the main church building was built.

The Christ in Majesty portal. The main entrance, carved with polychromed figures depicting 'Christ in Majesty,' was designed in 1923 by Milton Bennett Medary of the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary.

the style

St. Mark's was built in the Gothic Revival style based on a design by the English architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter, reflecting the Oxford Movement's push to root American Anglican worship in medieval English precedent. The 1900 Lady Chapel, added later by Cope and Stewardson, moves into a more elaborate late Decorated Gothic vocabulary, culminating in the country's first known stone-vaulted ceiling.

More on Gothic Revival

the architect

John Notman designed St. Mark's between 1847 and 1849 based on an English precedent, then designed its tower, though he did not live to see the tower completed by George Hewitt in 1865. Cope and Stewardson, the Philadelphia firm behind the 1900 Lady Chapel, added a later, more elaborate layer to the building, and Milton Bennett Medary of Zantzinger, Borie and Medary designed the 1923 entrance portal.

significance

St. Mark's has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized for its architectural quality — including the Lady Chapel's pioneering stone vault, the first known example of the technique built in the United States.

nearby

All 127 buildings in Philadelphia