Philip H. Frohman - National Cathedral's Origins and Early Architects

National Cathedral's Origins and Early Architects

The Washington National Cathedral traces its inspiration to an intention by District of Columbia’s original city planner, Pierre L’Enfant that the city should include a church “for national purposes” to be “equally open to all.” Although the First Amendment would presumably preclude the construction of such a church by the government, the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia was chartered by Congress in January 1893, in part to fulfill L'Enfant's intended design.

Not until 1906, however, would the Cathedral Foundation select two architects, George Frederick Bodley, an Englishman, and Henry Vaughan of Boston. Planning then proceeded swiftly with preliminary designs by Bodley for a massive Gothic structure accepted on June 10, 1907. On September 29, the Foundation Stone (cornerstone) of the cathedral was laid in a great ceremony at which President Theodore Roosevelt and the Bishop of London spoke. Within a month, however, Bodley would be dead. Vaughan became the first officially appointed Cathedral Architect and held the position for a decade, until his death in June 1917.