St. John’s Cathedral invites all in the diocese to an Advent lessons and carols service set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1, to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the landmark church sanctuary at 514 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles.
Bishop John Harvey Taylor will join the Very Rev. Anne Sawyer, interim dean and priest-in-charge, in officiating at the service with the choir of St. John’s led by Christopher Gravis, canon for music ministry and cathedral arts.
“St. John’s opens our doors wide to welcome congregations, diocesan program groups, and visitors to gather in this sacred space,” Sawyer said. “We seek to deepen our relationships with people throughout the diocese.”
The Dec. 1 service “will launch a multi-year celebration of the many faces of St. John’s in the last 100 years,” said Rick Nordin, who joins fellow vestry member Arcadio Morales and the Rev. Margaret Hudley McCauley in co-chairing the centennial committee. “This includes building new housing on church property plus restoration and repairs to the historic cathedral.”
Designed in the Romanesque Revival style by architect brothers Pierpont and Walter Davis, St. John’s was opened as a parish church on Dec. 21, 1924, by then-rector George Davidson and consecrated Feb. 3, 1925, by Bishop Joseph Johnson. The church was named the diocese’s pro-cathedral in 2007 by Bishop J. Jon Bruno. The U.S. National Register of Historic Places listed St. John’s in 2000.
The cathedral centennial is celebrating “the many faces of St. John’s, from its opening in 1924 to today, reflecting the people who have created, sustained, and worshiped in this landmark, inspired by the beauty of its structure,” Nordin said. “The services are now as diverse as the city that surrounds it. Whether for regular Sunday worship or a diocesan gathering, all are welcome here.”
Founded in 1890, the parish was first served by a redwood church built on the cathedral’s present site. “It was a neighborhood church for the affluent who lived nearby on West Adams and Chester Place. This area was the city’s second wealthy neighborhood after Bunker Hill,” Nordin notes. “After decades of explosive growth in Los Angeles, St. John’s parish grew to more than 2,300 parishioners. It became the largest Episcopal congregation west of Chicago before World War II. From the 1920s to the 1960s, the church was a spiritual home to many of Los Angeles’s prominent families, including the Van Nuyses, Slausons, Dohenys, Silents, Severances, and Seavers.”
Italian stonemasons crafted the cathedral. The designers patterned its exterior after the 11th-century San Pietro Church in Tuscania. The interior of St. John’s echoes that of Florence’s San Miniato Basilica. “The founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a West Adams resident, William Andrews Clark Jr., gave the carved tufa stone façade and rose window in memory of his wife and only son,” Nordin said.
Clark’s gift “inspired many, both parishioners and non-parishioners,” Nordin added. “They wanted to finish the stalled project. It had run out of cash and the vestry refused to borrow money for any more construction work. Known as the church’s “rector and builder,” Davidson led the design and funding efforts, Nordin said. “He even went door to door in West Adams, asking for support to build it.”
The cathedral’s chancel has a striking triptych with a central carving of the risen Christ. “The William May Garland Family would later decorate the chancel ceiling and walls with marble facing,” Nordin said. “In 1932, Garland brought the Olympics to L.A. In 1968, the family helped turn the unfinished concrete walls of the cathedral’s original Liberty Chapel, west of the chancel, into the stunning gold-tiled Lady Chapel. The renowned Judson Studios created extensive mosaics, and experts consider the interior one of the best of its type in the United States.”
Nordin said the 1940s saw the start of today’s diverse cathedral congregation, which grew as a hub for ministries of “African Americans, Belizean immigrants and their descendants, USC students, and both straight and LGBTQ+ parishioners living downtown. People of all races from the city and suburbs travel to St. John’s for Sunday worship in one of Southern California’s most beautiful churches.”
The cathedral congregation also puts its faith into action with a regular food pantry and the hosting of the Canterbury USC chaplaincy and regular interfaith gatherings. Through the years, outreach ministries expanded to include the founding of St. John’s Community Health clinics and Carter House, the latter providing mentally disabled residents with apartments in South Los Angeles.
More about St. John’s Cathedral is online at www.stjohnsla.org.