Built between 1846 and 1848, St. James the Less is the first pure example of a Medieval Gothic Parish Church in the United States. The building’s remarkable fidelity to Gothic design was accidental. When the congregation applied to it's Episcopal parent group in Cambridge, England, for a set of approved plans for its church, it was inadvertently sent measured drawings of St. Michael’s Church in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, built c. 1230. Those plans were followed in every detail under the supervision of architect John E. Carver.
At the time, the church had a rural setting on the edge of a hill, north of Mount Vernon Cemetery and east of Laurel Hill Cemetery. Today the church and it's graveyard looks like it was lifted from an English village and set onto a rather unlikely site by a highway (Hunting Park Ave) and nearby industrial area.
In 1908, the Wanamaker Memorial Bell Tower and Mausoleum were added to the site. The surrounding churchyard is the final resting place of John Wanamaker and his son, Rodman, as well as many Civil War officers.
The Church of St. James the Less was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1974 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The National Park Service’s official 1985 Statement of Significance reads: “This is the first example of the pure English Parish church style in America, and one of the best examples of a 19th-century American Gothic church for its coherence and authenticity of design. Its influence on the major architects of the Gothic Revival in the United States was profound.”
The design inspired by St. James the Less influenced a generation of subsequent churches. Although the design became modified over time, its essential elements continue to influence small church design even today.
1855
Interior Churchyard Wanamaker Memorial Bell Tower