Washington Cathedral (Cathedral Church of Saint Peter & Saint Paul & Close; National Cathedral)
- Architects
- George Frederick Bodley Philip H. Frohman
- Year
- 1910
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
Washington National Cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is an Episcopal cathedral built under an 1893 charter passed by Congress. Its foundation stone was laid on September 29, 1907, before President Theodore Roosevelt and a crowd of more than 20,000, and construction continued in phases for 83 years until the cathedral was finally completed on the same date in 1990, in the presence of President George H. W. Bush. Designed in a Neo-Gothic style closely modeled on fourteenth-century English Gothic churches, it is the second-largest church building in the United States and the third-tallest building in Washington, D.C.
the building
Eighty-three years to finish. The foundation stone was laid in 1907 and the last stone set in 1990 — both dates September 29th — meaning construction spanned 83 years, interrupted by repeated phases of fundraising and building.
Seat of two bishops. The cathedral serves as the seat of both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church nationally and the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and draws more than 270,000 visitors a year.
the style
The cathedral's Neo-Gothic design closely follows the English Gothic style of the late fourteenth century, an unusually direct historical model rather than a free American reinterpretation of Gothic forms.
More on Gothic Revivalsignificance
Washington National Cathedral is designated a National Treasure and a DC Historic Landmark, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites.
nearby
- Saint Sophia Cathedral, Washington, DC
- Babcock-Macomb House
- Slayton, William L., House (and Interior)
- Tregaron Estate
- Uptown Theater
- British ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C.