Saint Sophia Cathedral, Washington, DC
- Style
- Byzantine
- City
- Washington, DC
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Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral began in 1904 as a small congregation serving the Greek Orthodox community of the District, worshipping in temporary quarters for years before dedicating its first church near 8th and L Streets NW in 1924 — a site now occupied by the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Construction on the present building at 2815 36th Street NW began in 1951, and the congregation moved in in 1955. In 1962 the church was elevated to a cathedral under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of America, based in New York.
the building
The dome. The central dome rises 80 feet, the clearest signal from the street of what lies inside — a round-arched, domed Byzantine massing borrowed from Constantinople rather than the Gothic vocabulary of nearby Washington National Cathedral.
An unfinished interior. Though the congregation has worshipped here since 1955, the interior decoration remained incomplete for decades afterward — work on it began only in 1965 and has continued since, making the building an ongoing project for most of its life.
the style
The building is worked in the Neo-Byzantine style, and its name honors not a saint called Sophia but the Holy Wisdom of God — the same dedication carried by Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The domed massing sets it apart from the Gothic and Classical vocabularies that dominate most of Washington's church architecture.
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