StLukesMetroArticle

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BUILDING BLOCKS B Y THOM NICKELS

Saint Luke's fullof English charmChurch is one of the great s p a c e s in the Northeast

P E O P L E R A R E L Y equatePhiladelphia's Great North-

east with shining examplesof great city architecture,

but travel to a town known

as Bustleton, specifically to

1946 Welsh Road,and you'llthink you slipped back intime to a little country Eng-lish village outside London.

No doubt you'll want to pull

over to the side of the road

and take in this remarkable

complex of buildings.

The main building, the

Memorial Church of SaintLuke the Beloved Physician,

is a blue stone buildingtrimmed with brown stone

and brick.

According to "King's

Handbook of Episcopal

Churches," Saint Luke's is

regarded as one of the most

beautiful small structures

in the country.Thechurch's

interior will give you asense of architect Richard

Upjohn's purity of style.Next to the church you'll

notice a smaller structure

"Some of Upjohn's churches are among the

very few American buildings that could have been

taken seriously by the English critics of the 1840$."WRiTER MARCUS WHiFFEN

IN "AMERICANARCHiTECTURE SINCE 178o"

(now the ParishOff ice) with

an equally stunning slatedroof. That same Gothic style

can be seen in anotherUpjohn work, Manhattan's

Trinity Church, famed not

only for its architecture but

fo r its close proximity to thetwin towers on 9/11.

A look at Richard UpjohnUpjohn was born in Eng-

land in 1802 but migrated

to the United States, where

he settled inMassachusetts.

He assisted in the designo f the Boston Court House

and in the entrances to theBoston Common.

His big break came in

1839, when he was called toNew York to aide in therestoration of Trinity

Church. When that restora-

tion project was shelved,

Upjohn designed the new

structure (1839-1846) in the

English Gothic Perpendicu-

lar style.

Although Trinity is con-

sidered Upjohn's best knowwork, it is not his most

beautiful. That honor is

reserved for the so-called

Early English style St.

Mary's Church (1846-1848)

in Burlington, New Jersey.

The history of BustletonIn Upjohn's day, the Nor th -east was a vast stretch of

farms and woodland.

Bustleton, according to

Saint Luke's vestrymanFrank Moore, was named

after CyrusT. Bustle,a local

TH E NAVE of Saint Luke's in Bustleton

baker who took bread toGeorge Washington's starv-

ing troops in Valley Forge.

(Bus t l e family relations

include Paul Robeson and

Sadie T. Alexander,an attor-

ney.)

Five years after thechurch's cornerstone waslaid in 1860, one parish-

ioner wrote that there was a"lusty ringing of the church

bells."

Moore cites historical

accounts of igth century

Bustleton in which resi-dents complained about

Indians walking around

with nothing on above theirwaist in the warm weather

months as well as residentscriticizing neighbors forbuilding homes on top of

Saint Luke's founder

• Saint L u k e ' s wa s foundedwhen newlywed Mrs.Pauline Henry sought away to honor her husband,Bernard Henry, M.D. afterhe was lost at sea duringtheir honeymoon. Mrs.Henry approached thebishop and asked wherehe needed a church. "Shefounded two churches,Saint L u k e ' s and theAfrican church of SaintThomas in WestPhiladelphia. To this day,the priest at both churchesr e c e i v e s a stipend from

h e r estate," s a y s SaintLuke's vestrym an FrankMoore.

the graves of slaves.

Preserved beautyIn the early zoth century

Saint Luke's chancel wasrenovated and new hand

carved woodwork was

installed."Some of Upjohn's

churches are among thevery few American build-

ings that could have been

taken seriously by the Eng-

lish critics of the 18405

when the new standardsofarchaeological accuracyand liturgical correctness

were being promulgated...,"

wrote Marcus Whiffen in

"American Architecture

Since 1780."Saint Luke's is a gem not

to be overlooked.

O H M