Philip H. Frohman - Retirement and Death

Retirement and Death

Although continuing to climb the scaffolding several times a week to inspect the ongoing work, in March, 1971, at the age of 83 Frohman retired. In an unusual move for an architect, he was awarded a retirement stipend by the cathedral.

Although one bishop in the early 1920s informed Frohman that he intended to build the Washington National Cathedral in five years, Frohman himself observed: “Not often does an architect knowingly prepare designs for a building which he is sure he will not see completed in his own lifetime.”

Frohman’s prediction proved more accurate than the bishop’s. Frohman died on October 30, 1972, following an accident on August 7 in which he was struck by an automobile near the cathedral’s grounds. The cathedral nave would not see completion until 1976. Only in September 1990, would the west end he redesigned be dedicated, completing construction of all principal features of the church’s interior and exterior structure, although minor embellishment is expected to continue for years.

A Roman Catholic, Frohman's ashes were interred in the columbarium in the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea on the crypt level of the National Cathedral by special dispensation of the Archdiocese of Washington. He is also memorialized by a bay on the north aisle of the cathedral nave dedicated to him. The inscription on the bay wall reads, in part: “From the deep well of faith sprang devotion to perfection; A graceful witness in this Cathedral Church; To his steadfast spirit and; The prayer his genius sought to record in all his work.”