History
The original Tenth Presbyterian Church, founded in 1829, was located on the northeast corner of 12th & Walnut Streets. It established a daughter church in 1855-1856 called the West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church on the southwest corner of 17th & Spruce Streets. The two churches worked together, with the ministers exchanging pulpits each week. Because of membership decline in the original Tenth Church caused by population shifts, the two churches merged in 1893 at the 17th & Spruce Streets location, taking the name of the older church (Tenth Presbyterian Church).
West Spruce Street/Tenth Church was designed by architect John McArthur, Jr., who was a member of the congregation. Its 250-foot (76 m) tower-and-spire was the tallest structure in Philadelphia from 1856 to the erection of the North American Building in 1900. McArthur later designed Philadelphia City Hall. In 1893, architect Frank Miles Day was hired to perform major alterations to the church's exterior and interior decoration. The 150-foot wooden spire was removed in 1912 due to structural deterioration.
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