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8/9/2019 StLukesMetroArticle
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aiiu c. ^o f 5 . 6 - 1 percent piu» iiice costs. M E T R O
.iw....... > n me
w. , , .— -.^.^.^ .,01grown from 1,785 square
feet in 1985 to 2,340 square feet last year. AP
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