St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia
- Architects
- William Strickland Frank Furness
- Year
- 1823
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
- Collections
- furness's gilded cityvictorian philadelphia
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, founded in 1823 at the corner of Tenth and Ludlow Streets in Old City, is the oldest extant building in Philadelphia built in the Gothic Revival style. It was designed by William Strickland, an architect-engineer far better known for his Greek Revival work, with later work credited to Frank Furness. The parish held its first service on February 27, 1823.
the style
St. Stephen's is the oldest extant Gothic Revival building in Philadelphia, notable in part because it was designed by a Greek Revival specialist working outside his usual language. Strickland's mentor, Benjamin Latrobe, had likewise dabbled in the same 'picturesque' vein, and the church stands as an early American experiment with Gothic form, well before the style became the default choice for churches.
More on Gothic Revivalthe architect
William Strickland was an architect-engineer trained under Benjamin Latrobe, one of the founders of American architecture, and is best remembered for Greek Revival landmarks. St. Stephen's shows him working outside that idiom, in the same picturesque styles his mentor had also produced on occasion. Frank Furness later contributed additional work to the building.
significance
St. Stephen's was designated a Philadelphia Historical Commission landmark on May 28, 1957, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 4, 1979. The congregation has since shrunk sharply, from 21 reported members in 2018 to zero in 2023, with average Sunday attendance falling from about 10 in the late 2010s to five in 2023.
nearby
- Old Federal Reserve Bank
- New York Mutual Life Insurance Company Building
- Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. Federal Building
- Robinson Department Store
- Randolph Theatre
- Walnut Street Theatre