St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church, also known as the Episcopal House of Prayer, is an active Episcopal

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

and historic church building in Tampa,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States. It is located at 2708 Central Avenue in the city's Tampa Heights neighborhood. On February 21, 1991, the building was added to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

."Florida - Hillsborough County".''National Register of Historic Places''.
Retrieved March 3, 2010. The structure is also included as an official contributing property within the Tampa Heights Historic District, which was declared a Historic District nationally by the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

on August 4, 1995, and locally by the city of Tampa on September 7, 2000. Additionally, the building is one of only two churches to have been designated a Local Landmark Structure by the city of Tampa.

Parish history

St. James House of Prayer is an active parish under the Tampa Deanery of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, which is within Province 4 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, part of the worldwide

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. The

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

officially formed in 1997 through the merger of two long established congregations, St. James Episcopal Church and The House of Prayer Episcopal Church. The merger of the two was made after the former St. James Church property was chosen as the site for the new Blake High School. Meanwhile, The House of Prayer had lost their rector and parish status after a decline in membership. Joining the two congregations was mutually beneficial, matching the parishioners in need of a priest with the priest in need of a pulpit. The union resulted in full parish status being conferred upon the new St. James House of Prayer in 2001."Parish Profile 2009".''St. James House of Prayer''.
Retrieved March 3, 2010. The original St. James Episcopal was organized in 1892 as an Anglican Episcopal Church for the city's black population. At that time,

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

was the norm, and many black Bahamian and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n immigrants were arriving in Tampa to work in the cigar industry. St. James Episcopal Church would go on to serve Tampa's African-American community for more than a century. Nearly as old was Tampa's third white Episcopal church, the House of Prayer, founded in 1907. The church served the population of Tampa Heights, and by 1926 was named a parish by the local diocese. The House of Prayer went on to become one of Tampa's first racially integrated churches in the 1960s, but within the next decade much of its membership moved away as the Tampa Heights neighborhood had entered a period of serious decline. Efforts to reverse the downward trend in the neighborhood began in the 1990s, resulting in the establishment of the Tampa Heights Historic District at both the local and national levels.

Church building

The historic church building was erected in 1922 and dedicated in February, 1923. The Reverend William C. Richardson, MD, a retired physician-turned-priest, personally spearheaded the construction of the church, even purchasing and donating the land. He selected architect Louis A. Fort to design the Gothic Revival church, including a tower,

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

s, and

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s.Word-Burnside, Margaret. September 2006
"Ask Margaret".
''Tampa Bay Magazine'', page 90-91. Retrieved March 3, 2010. The church building is unique in its construction, with concrete walls on the interior, and exterior walls composed entirely of flint rock, stacked with mortar. The rocks were collected from the bottom of the Hillsborough River where it empties into the bay, however, the rocks did not occur there naturally. The rocks came from all around the world aboard the sailing ships of centuries past, and wound up in Tampa as the ships discarded ballast from their hulls. Because of the striking stonework exterior, the building is occasionally referred to as "The Rock Church." The building's official listing with the

is under the name "Episcopal House of Prayer", since the historic status was determined prior to the merger of churches which created today's St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church.

References

External links

Hillsborough County listings
a
National Register of Historic Places

Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
*
Hillsborough County listings
*
Episcopal House of Prayer

Tampa Heights Historic District map

St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James House of Prayer Episcopal Church Churches in Tampa, Florida Episcopal church buildings in Florida African-American history of Florida Bahamian-American culture in Florida Caribbean-American culture in Tampa, Florida Cuban-American culture in Tampa, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Tampa, Florida Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Churches completed in 1922 20th-century Episcopal church buildings Christian organizations established in 1997 Gothic Revival church buildings in Florida 1922 establishments in Florida Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Florida

Parish history

Church building

See also

References

External links