Philip H. Frohman - Work On Washington National Cathedral

Work On Washington National Cathedral

Over the course of his long career Frohman would be credited with the design of some fifty churches in the United States. The great majority of Frohman’s life and work, however, would be dedicated to the construction of the Washington National Cathedral, on which he labored for more than fifty years.

During a visit to Washington in 1914, Frohman visited the Bethlehem Chapel, which had been completed in 1912. He described it as, “a more beautiful crypt than any I had ever seen abroad; the most satisfying example of church architecture in America.” So taken was he by the cathedral that in signing the visitor register he included a small prayer in code. The prayer was that he might someday become the cathedral architect. Following military service in World War I Frohman moved from Pasadena to Boston to continue his architectural practice.

In 1919 Frohman began making preliminary sketches for revisions of Bodley’s designs at the invitation of the Bishop of Washington, The Right Reverend Alfred Harding. During the next two years he formed a partnership with E. Donald Robb and Harry B. Little and in November 1921, the firm of Frohman, Robb and Little was officially designated Cathedral Architects. Robb died in 1942 and Little followed in 1944, after which Frohman served as the sole architect of the cathedral.

Although adhering to Bodley and Vaughan’s original plan in its essence, Frohman made substantial refinements to the initial blueprint. His impact on the overall structure has been described by one author on the cathedral: “Bodley and Vaughan’s preliminary plans envisioned a predominantly English Gothic structure; under Frohman’s guidance the style became more eclectic, a happy blending of Medieval Gothic from both England and the Continent . . . . Frohman’s cathedral combines architectural elements from both sides of the North Sea.”

In particular, Frohman revised and augmented the original design for the crypt, adding ambulatories and an additional chapel. Over the years he was intimately involved in virtually every aspect of the cathedral’s furnishing and embellishment. The most notable and visible of his revisions is his redesign of the west facade, the principal entrance to the cathedral., It “is said to be the culmination of Frohman’s genius—his most plastic work and his most original design.”

Frohman's successor described him as: " architectural giant—a man who never compromised on less than perfection." It was said that he did not hesitate to change drawings to modify structural details by as little as a sixteenth of an inch. When the cathedral's construction progressed to the crossing and a crucial debate arose over whether to complete the nave or build the central tower next, Frohman's recommendation to proceed with the tower proved decisive.