St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)


St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is a historic parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, founded in 1823 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and located at 19 South Tenth Street, on the corner of Tenth Street and Ludlow Street. St. Stephen's was designed by William Strickland in the Gothic revival style. It is the oldest extant building in Philadelphia in this style and was designed by a master of the Greek Revival style, thus marking the beginning of the end of the use of the Neo-Classical style in Philadelphia. St. Stephen's first service was held on February 27, 1823. On June 4, 1979, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Strickland was inexperienced in designing Gothic Revival buildings, as were other American architects at the time. The National Register of Historic Places nomination form states "The structure is imperfect Gothic, but Gothic nevertheless." In particular, there is little emphasis on vertical elements, as is usual in Gothic architecture. Architect Frank Furness added a transept and vestry room in 1879. Artwork includes a Venetian glass mosaic, three early Tiffany windows, three monumental sculptures by Carl Johann Steinhauser, and until it was purchased by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2004, the sculpture The Angel of Purity by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
A plaque on the outside front wall reads: "THIS CHURCH IS BUILT ON THE SITE WHERE BENJ. FRANKLIN FLEW HIS FAMOUS KITE," though the provenance of the marker is unclear, and apparently unrelated to the oval Philadelphia Historical Commission marker above it.

Rectors

In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the rector is the priest elected to head a self-supporting parish.