Saint Mark's Episcopal Church is an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

church located at 1625

Locust Street Locust Street is a major historic street in Center City Philadelphia. The street is the location of several prominent Philadelphia-based buildings, historic sights, and high-rise residential locations. It is an east–west street throughout Ce ...

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a public park in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that is the center of the eponymous Rittenhouse neighborhood. The square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas ...

Center City Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the ci ...

. It is part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

History

19th century

The church was founded in the mid-19th century as part of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

revival in the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

. The building was constructed by

John Notman John Notman (July 22, 1803 March 3, 1865) 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 h ...

in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style between 1847 and 1849, based on an original design by English architect

Richard Cromwell Carpenter Richard Cromwell Carpenter (21 October 1812 – 27 March 1855) was an English architect. He is chiefly remembered as an ecclesiastical and tractarian architect working in the Gothic style. Family Carpenter was born on 21 October 1812 in ...

. The tower was designed by Notman, and completed in 1865 by George Hewitt.

20th century

The main entrance, with polychromed figurers depicting "Christ in Majesty", are part of the portal designed by

Milton Bennett Medary Milton Bennett Medary Jr. (February 6, 1874 – August 7, 1929) was an American architect from Philadelphia, practicing with the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary from 1910 until his death. Biography Medary attended the University of Pennsylvan ...

of the Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary firm in 1923. The Lady Chapel was designed by

Cope and Stewardson Cope and Stewardson (1885–1912) was a Philadelphia architecture firm founded by Walter Cope and John Stewardson, and best known for its Collegiate Gothic building and campus designs. Cope and Stewardson established the firm in 1885, and were jo ...

in the late decorated Gothic style. It was built in 1900; the ceiling is the first known example in the US of a stone vault. Both construction of the chapel and its furnishings were donated by

Rodman Wanamaker Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was an American businessman and heir to the Wanamaker's department store fortune. In addition to operating stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, he was a patron of the ar ...

in memory of his late wife. Because of its architectural quality and significance, the building has been designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

(NHL). The church contains several ornaments by

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...

; the Lady Chapel was originally decorated entirely according to Kempe's designs. When it was later redecorated, the altar was moved to the head of the north aisle to become the St. John's Altar. The

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

d figures were moved throughout the church, while the original

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

remains in place. The church also has several Kempe frontals, representing a significant proportion of the surviving embroideries from that firm, some of which are still in occasional use. The Lady Chapel now contains a world-renowned silver altar with nearly 150 individually sculpted saints and scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. It is humorously said of this altar that it is "The only place where one can worship both God and

Mammon Mammon (Aramaic: מָמוֹנָא, māmōnā) in the New Testament is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain. The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of ...

at the same time." The tower is one of about 50 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

hung for

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

, with a ring of eight bells. The bells, which were cast by the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

in London in 1876 and 1878, were restored for change-ringing in 1999. The Aeolian-Skinner

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, op. 948 (built 1936-1937) at the front of the church was designed and voiced by

G. Donald Harrison George Donald Harrison (G. Donald Harrison) (April 21, 1889 – June 14, 1956) was responsible for the design of some of the finest and largest pipe organs in the United States. Born in Huddersfield, England, he first worked as a patent attorney ...

. It is an early example of Harrison's American Classic style. The church also contains a string organ given by

and installed by

Wanamaker Organ The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest fully functioning pipe organ in the world, based on the number of playing pipes, the number of ranks and its weight. The Wanamaker Organ is located within a ...

. The screen organ, which resides in a carved case situated between the Choir and Lady Chapel, dates from the 1902 Austin organ, which was voiced by British organ builder Carleton Michell.

21st century

In 2004, the Organ Historical Society rescinded its 1982 historical organ citation after the organ was expanded with digital voices and a new console built by Cornel Zimmer Organ Builders. During 2017 and 2018, the digital and all of the Zimmer pipe additions (except for the Trompette-en-chamade) in the rear gallery were removed and replaced with vintage Aeolian-Skinner pipework, chiefly from the 1956 organ of St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. The current assistant organist and choirmaster is Thomas Gaynor, and the music program is under interim leadership. Notable former organists and choirmasters at St. Mark's include Wesley A. Day, Donald Nally, Scott Dettra, Diane Meredith Belcher, Matthew Glandorf, and Robert McCormick. In the summer of 2008, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania voted to allow Saint Mark's to adopt the Church of St. James the Less as a mission of St. Mark's. A middle school was opened on the property in September 2011."History"
St. James School. Accessed 26 March 2014. The church maintains a daily

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

schedule, and runs a food cupboard and soup kitchen. The Reverend Sean E. Mullen served as the 14th Rector of the parish from 2006 to April 2024.

Leadership

Vestry

The current

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

is composed of 12 members of the congregation.

Rectors

*Joseph Pierre Bell Wilmer (1849-1861) *Edward Abiel Washburn (1862-1865) *Walter Mitchell (1866-1868) *Eugene Augustus Hoffman (1869-1879) *Isaac Lea Nicholson (1879-1891) *Alfred Garnett Mortimer (1891-1912) *Elliot White (1913-1920) *Frank Lawrence Vernon (1920-1944) *William H. Dunphy (1944-1951) *Emmett Parker Paige (1951-1971) *Michael Becker (1971-1981) *Charles Owen Moore (1982-1995) *Richard Alton (1997-2005) *Sean Mullen (2006-2024)

References

External links

* *
The bellsLetter about St. Mark's bells controversy
from Anglicans Online
Aerial photographMap
*Mystery worshipper reports: ** http://ship-of-fools.com/Mystery/2000/229Mystery.html ** http://ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2007/1348.html ** http://ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2007/1361.html
Annual Reports and Year Books of St. Mark's Church (1870-1951)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mark's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia) 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the United States Churches completed in 1848 Churches in Philadelphia Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania

St. Mark Mark the Evangelist ( Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark ( Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' Aramaic'': ܝܘܚܢܢ, romanized: Yōḥannān'') or Saint Mark ...

Gothic Revival church buildings in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia Locust Street National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia