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.
Read more about this topic: Philip H. Frohman
Famous quotes containing the words national, cathedral, origins, early and/or architects:
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“Theres a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes”
—Emily Dickinson (18301886)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (18951990)
“In an early spring
We see thappearing buds, which to prove fruit
Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair
That frosts will bite them.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“Napoleon wanted to turn Paris into Rome under the Caesars, only with louder music and more marble. And it was done. His architects gave him the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. His nephew Napoleon III wanted to turn Paris into Rome with Versailles piled on top, and it was done. His architects gave him the Paris Opera, an addition to the Louvre, and miles of new boulevards.”
—Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)