House of Prayer Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

Last updated
House of Prayer
House of Prayer Episcopal Church
House of Prayer, Branchtown.jpg
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
House of Prayer
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
House of Prayer
40°00′49″N75°16′22″W / 40.013530360308316°N 75.27290930670404°W / 40.013530360308316; -75.27290930670404
Location1747 Church Ln.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19141
CountryUnited States
Denomination Episcopal
Website houseofprayerepiscopal.weebly.com
History
Founded1860 (1860)
Dedication House of Prayer
Consecrated July 14, 1863
Architecture
Architect(s) Emlen T. Littell
Years built1862-1863
Groundbreaking September 3, 1862 (cornerstone laid)

House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Branchtown/Ogontz neighborhood of Philadelphia is an historically African American church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania near La Salle University. It was founded as a mission of St. Luke's, Germantown in 1860. It has a small adjacent cemetery for members of the Barclay family. Its name is taken from Isaiah 56:7, Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, and Luke 19:46: "Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people."

Contents

The church building was designed by noted New York City architect Emlen T. Littell (1838-1891), whose brother was its first rector. The completed church was consecrated on July 14, 1863, by Bishop William Bacon Stevens. The rectory was built in 1908, and a large parish house was added in 1925. In 1941, a "catacombs chapel" was installed in the basement by rector the Rev. Dr. Howard M. Stuckert.

A 1964 diocesan report described the Branchtown neighborhood as "formerly Jewish, now predominantly Negro." In 1964, the parish had 287 members. In 2022, the parish reported 25 members and 14 average Sunday attendance, with $12,917 in plate and pledge financial support.

The church has had a number of internal organizations, including Scouting groups for boys and girls, Episcopal Church Women, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew for men, the Girls' Friendly Society, and the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.

See also

Related Research Articles

Charles Ellsworth Bennison Jr. is an American bishop. He was the 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church, Philadelphia</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

Christ Church is an Episcopal church in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1695 as a parish of the Church of England, it played an integral role in the founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In 1785, its rector, William White, became the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)</span> Church in Manhattan, New York

St. Michael's Church is a historic Episcopal church at 225 West 99th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan's Upper West Side in New York City. The parish was founded on the present site in January 1807, at that time in the rural Bloomingdale District. The present limestone Romanesque building, the third on the site, was built in 1890–91 to designs by Robert W. Gibson and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Mary's Church, Hamilton Village</span> Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

St. Mary’s Church, Hamilton Village, is an Episcopal Church located on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It calls itself the Episcopal Church at Penn to emphasize its campus ministry. The parish is part of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. In 2020, it reported 225 members, 51 average attendance, and plate and pledge financial support of $95,097.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Clement's Church (Philadelphia)</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

Saint Clement's Church is an historic Anglo-Catholic parish in Logan Square, Center City, Philadelphia. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church, designed by architect John Notman, was built in 1856. It originally incorporated a spire more than 200 feet (61 m) tall; this was found to be too heavy for the foundation and was removed in 1869. In 1929, the church building, which includes the parish house and rectory, and weighs 5,000 short tons (4,500 t), was lifted onto steel rollers and moved 40 feet (12 m) west to allow for the widening of 20th Street. On November 20, 1970, Saint Clement's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Wistar Morris (bishop)</span>

Benjamin Wistar Morris was the second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, which at the time incorporated the present-day episcopal dioceses of Olympia, Spokane, and Eastern Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Beacon, New York)</span> Historic church in New York, United States

St. Luke's Episcopal Church is located in Beacon, New York, United States. The church complex of four buildings and a cemetery takes up a 12-acre (4.9 ha) parcel between Wolcott, Rector, Phillips and Union Streets. It was founded in 1832 as a religious school that soon became St. Anna's Church of Fishkill Landing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Asheville, North Carolina)</span> Church in Asheville, North Carolina

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is a historic Carpenter Gothic–style Episcopal church building located at 219 Chunns Cove Road, in the Chunn's Cove neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina. Built in 1894, at a cost of $728, St. Luke’s was designed by E. J. Armstrong, a member of the congregation. Its first service was held September 17, 1894.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William O'Hara</span> Irish-born American prelate

William O'Hara was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania, serving from 1868 until his death in 1899. He founded St. Thomas College in 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Church, Princeton</span> Church in New Jersey, United States

Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal congregation located at 33 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey. It is the largest Episcopal church in New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St. Luke and The Epiphany (Philadelphia)</span> Church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Church of Saint Luke and The Epiphany is an Episcopal congregation located at 330 South 13th Street between Spruce and Pine Streets in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church was formed in 1898 as a result of the merger of St. Luke's Church (1839) and The Church of The Epiphany (1834), which consolidated at St. Luke's location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St. James the Greater (Bristol)</span>

The Church of St. James the Greater is an Episcopal church located in the heart of the Bristol Historic District in Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of The Epiphany (Philadelphia)</span> Church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Church of the Epiphany was an Episcopal congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1834, it merged with St. Luke's Church in 1898 to form The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany. Its 1834 Greek Revival building, designed by architect Thomas Ustick Walter and located at 1501-15 Chestnut Street, was demolished in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Church of the Nativity</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity is an Episcopal cathedral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is the seat of the Diocese of Bethlehem. In 1988 it was listed as a contributing property in the Fountain Hill Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Kensington, was an Episcopal congregation in Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1868, it merged with Emmanuel Church, Kensington, in 1994 to form the Church of Emmanuel and the Good Shepherd. Its 1887 building, designed by architect T. Frank Miller and located at 2121-2127 East Cumberland Street, was demolished in 2016. The Church of the Good Shepherd, Kensington, was an among the few surviving reminders of the mid to late 19th century English immigrant experience and community in Kensington and Philadelphia. Movement has been made to celebrate the colonial experience and preserve the 19th century "new immigrant" experience in the greater Kensington area. Scholars often refer to this immigrant group as hidden and forgotten. These immigrants, to outsiders, blended in and disappeared. However, as the property demonstrates, mid to late 19th century English immigrants, far from being hidden, built unique neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and worship sites.

Loren Nichols Gavitt was a notable American Anglo-Catholic liturgist in the Episcopal Church during the twentieth century. His devotional manual St. Augustine's Prayer Book has been in print continuously since 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St. Alban, Roxborough</span> Church in Roxborough, Pennsylvania, United States

The Church of St. Alban, Roxborough is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1859 as a chapel of ease of St. David's Episcopal Church in Manayunk, initially with a dedication to St. Peter. The cornerstone for the church building was laid on September 15, 1860, and the church was consecrated by Bishop William Bacon Stevens on January 14, 1862, as his first official episcopal act, having himself been consecrated to the episcopate six days earlier. Its architect was Alfred Byles, who also designed the Fifth Baptist Church at the corner of Eighteenth and Spring Garden in Philadelphia.

St. David's Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Wissahickon Deanery of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. In 1960, the parish reported 621 members; it reported 23 members in 2022. English-born mill-workers were heavily represented in its early population, while mill owners were successive wardens, vestrymen, and treasurers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Alban's Church, Olney</span> Church in Olney, Pennsylvania, United States

St. Alban's Church, Olney was a church of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in the Olney section of North Philadelphia. Through the ministry and influence of its most significant rector, Archibald Campbell Knowles (1865-1961), St. Alban's was considered a major Anglo-Catholic parish of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. The building is inscribed as landmark No. 56 of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. The cornerstone for the congregation's second building was laid on January 24, 1915, and it was consecrated on June 20, 1915 by Bishop Reginald Heber Weller of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac. Its architect was George T. Pearson in the Philadelphia firm of Sloan & Hutton; his other work includes St. Luke's, Germantown, Market Square Presbyterian Church in Germantown, buildings at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, college buildings throughout the United States, and several railroad stations and hotels in Virginia.

Arthur E. Woolley was an Episcopal priest noted for urban activism, racially integrated parishes, and conservative declarations, especially against the ordination of women.

References