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Swedenborgian Church

Architects
Bernard Maybeck A. C. Schweinfurth A. Page Brown
Year
1895
Style
Arts and Crafts
City
San Francisco, CA
Swedenborgian Church
Photo: Sanfranman59, CC BY-SA 4.0
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The Swedenborgian Church, built in 1895 at 2107 Lyon Street in Pacific Heights for a Swedenborgian congregation, is considered one of California's earliest pure Arts and Crafts buildings. Its design drew on contributions from A. C. Schweinfurth, A. Page Brown, Bernard Maybeck, William Keith, and Bruce Porter, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2004.

the building

The sanctuary interior. The single-story sanctuary has thick walls finished with a variety of colored and textured bricks, and a gabled roof carried on heavy timbers left exposed on the inside, giving the small church a rustic, handcrafted character rather than a polished ecclesiastical one.

The arched portico. The sanctuary, facing Lyon Street, is reached through an arched portico flanked by matching arched openings, set within a rectangular complex of church, parsonage, and parish house arranged around landscaped gardens on a filled lot held by a stuccoed retaining wall.

the style

Built in 1895, the church is considered one of California's earliest pure examples of the Arts and Crafts style, favoring natural materials and visible handcraft -- exposed timber, varied brick -- over polished ecclesiastical convention.

More on Arts and Crafts

the architect

The church's design carries contributions from three architects -- A. C. Schweinfurth, A. Page Brown, and Bernard Maybeck -- along with painter William Keith and garden designer Bruce Porter, an unusually collaborative authorship for a building this size.

significance

The Swedenborgian Church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2004 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

nearby

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