Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia

Last updated
Church of the Holy Trinity
Church of the Holy Trinity - Philadelphia (53586792673).jpg
(2024)
Street map of Philadelphia and surrounding area.png
Red pog.svg
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location19th and Walnut Sts. facing Rittenhouse Sq., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°57′0.25″N75°10′25.4″W / 39.9500694°N 75.173722°W / 39.9500694; -75.173722
Built1857
Architect John Notman
George Hewitt
Architectural styleRomanesque
NRHP reference No. 73001660 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 6, 1973

Church of the Holy Trinity is an Episcopal church on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. The first service in the church building, designed by Scottish architect John Notman, was held on March 27, 1859. The corner tower was added in 1867 and was designed by George W. Hewitt of the firm of Fraser, Furness & Hewitt. It is designed in the simpler "low church" style, rather than the fancier "high church" or Anglo-Catholic style of Notman's nearby St. Marks Episcopal Church. [2]

Contents

The church's rector from 1862 to 1869 was Phillips Brooks, who was also the author of the lyrics to the familiar Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem". Renowned (and sometimes reviled) for his ebullient homilies and his staunch opposition to slavery, Brooks delivered a eulogy to Abraham Lincoln in the church on April 23, 1865, following the U.S. President's assassination on April 14. This sermon was reprinted and widely read. After the end of the American Civil War, Brooks took a sabbatical from the church to travel to Europe, Israel and Palestine. His visit to Bethlehem inspired him to write a poem for his Sunday School students, and for the church's 1868 Christmas season he had church organist Louis Redner set the poem to music. The result was “O Little Town of Bethlehem."

In 1869, Brooks became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, where he oversaw the design, decoration and construction of Trinity's new Back Bay facility from 1872 to 1877 following the original church's destruction in Boston's Great Fire of 1872.

The church's rector from 1899 to his death in 1932 was rev. Floyd W. Tomkins.

Philadelphia's Church of the Holy Trinity is also known for its numerous stained-glass windows, including five by Louis Comfort Tiffany and one by Luc-Olivier Merson.

Skylight over the communion table Holy Trinity Window.jpg
Skylight over the communion table

The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Leadership

Vestry

The current vestry is composed of 12 members of the congregation.

Rectors

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Church (Boston)</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 4,000 households, was founded in 1733. Three services are offered each Sunday, and weekday services are offered once a week from September through June. Within the spectrum of worship styles in the Anglican tradition, Trinity Church has historically been considered a Broad Church parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillips Brooks</span> American clergyman and author

Phillips Brooks was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. He wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington Doane</span> American bishop (1799–1859)

George Washington Doane was an American churchman, educator, and the second bishop in the Episcopal Church for the Diocese of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O Little Town of Bethlehem</span> 19th-century Christmas carol by Phillips Brooks

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in the United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner; and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland to "Forest Green", a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 English Hymnal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Philadelphia)</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Square in Philadelphia. It was built between 1846 and 1864, and was designed by Napoleon LeBrun, from original plans by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore, with the dome and Palladian facade, designed by John Notman, added after 1850. The interior was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Notman</span> American architect (1810-1865)

John Notman was a Scottish-born American architect and landscape architect based in Philadelphia. He designed buildings, cemeteries, churches and country estates in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and helped popularize Italianate architecture in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church is an Episcopal church located at 1625 Locust Street in Rittenhouse Square in Center City Philadelphia. It is part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Sloan (architect)</span> American architect

Samuel Sloan was a Philadelphia-based architect and best-selling author of architecture books in the mid-19th century. He specialized in Italianate villas and country houses, churches, and institutional buildings. His most famous building—the octagonal mansion "Longwood" in Natchez, Mississippi—is unfinished; construction was abandoned during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Clement's Church (Philadelphia)</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

Saint Clement's Church is an historic Anglo-Catholic parish in Logan Square, Center City, Philadelphia. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church, designed by architect John Notman, was built in 1856. It originally incorporated a spire more than 200 feet (61 m) tall; this was found to be too heavy for the foundation and was removed in 1869. In 1929, the church building, which includes the parish house and rectory, and weighs 5,000 short tons (4,500 t), was lifted onto steel rollers and moved 40 feet (12 m) west to allow for the widening of 20th Street. On November 20, 1970, Saint Clement's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Edward Tuckerman Potter was an American architect best known for designing the 1871 Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. With his half-brother William Appleton Potter, he also designed Nott Memorial Hall (1858–79) at his alma mater, Union College, Schenectady, New York. Both the Mark Twain House and Nott Memorial Hall are National Historic Landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John's Episcopal Church (Highgate Falls, Vermont)</span> Historic church in Vermont, United States

St. John's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located on the village green in the village of Highgate Falls in Highgate, Vermont, in the United States. Built 1829–30, it is prominent local example of a Federal style church with Gothic Revival features. On September 3, 1976, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Episcopal Church (Mobile, Alabama)</span> Historic church in Alabama, United States

Trinity Episcopal Church is a historic church in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was the first large Gothic Revival church built in Alabama. The building was designed by architects Frank Wills and Henry Dudley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John's Episcopal Church (Montgomery, Alabama)</span> Historic church in Alabama, United States

St. John's Episcopal Church is a historic Gothic Revival church in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. It was designed by the New York City architectural firm of Frank Wills and Henry Dudley. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on 24 February 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Church, Boston (Summer Street)</span> Church building in Massachusetts, US

Trinity Church (1735-1872) was an Episcopal church in Boston, Massachusetts, located on Summer Street. It housed Boston's third Anglican congregation. The Great Fire of 1872 destroyed the church building, and by 1877 the congregation moved into a new building in Back Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (Swanton, Vermont)</span> Historic church in Vermont, United States

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church also known as Holy Trinity Memorial Church is an historic Episcopal church building located at 38 Grand Avenue in the village of Swanton, Franklin County, Vermont. Built in 1876 and expanded in 1909-10, the church facilities include a fine example of the Carpenter Gothic in the older section, and the Late Victorian Gothic Revival in the newer section. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Parish of the Holy Trinity in 2001. The church is an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont; its current rector is the Rev. Reid D. Farrell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Davenport, Iowa)</span> Church in Iowa, United States

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, formerly known as Grace Cathedral, is the historic cathedral in the Diocese of Iowa. The cathedral is located on the bluff overlooking Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1873, Trinity is one of the oldest cathedrals in the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1983 the cathedral was included as a contributing property in the College Square Historic District, which is also listed on the National Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Episcopal Church (Iowa City, Iowa)</span> United States historic place

Trinity Episcopal Church is a parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. The church is located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 2021, the building was included as a contributing property in the Iowa City Downtown Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church (Nashville)</span> Historic church in Tennessee, United States

Holy Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal church at 615 6th Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee, currently a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee. The congregation was formed in 1849 as a mission of the nearby Christ Church Episcopal, attained parish status in 1851, and grew to around fifty members per service by the beginning of the American Civil War. During the war, the church was occupied by Federal troops and was badly damaged. After repairs, services continued and a new mission was opened on Wharf Avenue, which catered to the African American population of Nashville and soon overtook Holy Trinity in membership. After Holy Trinity lost parish status in 1895, the two missions merged and continued to serve the African American community of Nashville. Its congregation was largely made up of faculty and students from nearby Fisk University and other educational institutions. The mission reattained parish status in 1962, and the current rector is Bill Dennler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Church of the Nativity</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity is an Episcopal cathedral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is the seat of the Diocese of Bethlehem. In 1988 it was listed as a contributing property in the Fountain Hill Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd W. Tomkins</span> American Episcopal priest (1850–1932)

Floyd Williams Tomkins Jr. was an American Episcopal Priest, and Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia in Rittenhouse Square for 33 years from 1899 to his sudden death in 1932. He supported the independence of Korea from Japan.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Kirkbride, Mrs. Earle R. (1972). "Church of the Holy Trinity" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places. Pennsylvania Historical and MuseumCommission. Retrieved January 8, 2014.