Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal church that welcomes all faiths, is over 100 years old. Its carved stones and stained glass windows celebrate spiritual themes and commemorate a century of significant events in American history.
By Carole Ottesen
Photo: Washington National Cathedral
On September 29, 1907, a crowd of about 10,000 people, including President Theodore Roosevelt, gathered on a Washington hilltop. If those in the crowd looked to the south, they could have taken in a splendid view of the city and the Washington Monument. Instead, their attention was focused eastward, where Bishop Henry Yates Satterlee was laying the foundation stone for Washington’s cathedral.
For some in attendance, this moment must have brought satisfaction and relief. Not only had the notion of a national church been debated since George Washington’s time, but once Congress finally granted a charter to establish the cathedral in 1893, there had been disagreements regarding its site and design.
Bishop Satterlee’s choice of the 30-acre site on Mount St. Alban had been criticized for its distance from the center of the city, and critics deemed the hilltop setting too difficult to reach by horse and buggy. The cathedral’s design, too, had been a point of contention. Eventually, proponents of a Renaissance-style design with a large dome lost their battle.
The cathedral would be a soaring Gothic structure, employing age-old, stone-on-stone construction without a modern steel infrastructure. Buff limestone, strong, finely-textured, and suitable for carving, would be quarried in Indiana and hauled to Washington by road and rail.
In a tradition rooted in the Middle Ages, the building of this cathedral—like those of old—was to begin in the east and progress with the sun toward the west. As with the church’s medieval predecessors, building moved forward in stops and starts. Funded by private contributions, the pace of construction ebbed and flowed with national fortunes—both private and public.
The first 22 years witnessed bustling construction. By Easter Sunday of 1932, the Chancel and North transept opened for public worship, but during the depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929, building slowed. With the country’s entrance into World War II, donations dwindled and progress ground to a virtual halt.
After the war, construction resumed in earnest. For more than a quarter century, Reverend Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr., Dean of the cathedral, raised funds for the building. Sayre also supervised the iconography, the thousands of carvings and stained glass windows that embellish the cathedral.
While the windows and carvings in medieval cathedrals were intended to instruct a largely illiterate population, those in Washington National Cathedral depict Christian themes—as well as significant events in the history of the country.
Where the west Rose Window tells the story of creation, the Scientists and Technicians Window celebrates America’s exploration into space. Fitted into this window is a rock from the moon’s Sea of Tranquility, donated by the crew of Apollo 11 (crew member Michael Collins attended St. Albans School). Other stained glass windows honor Lewis and Clark’s voyage of discovery and episodes in the lives of Generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.
History mixes with Christianity in the stone carvings, as well. Among the 762 bosses (keystones at the intersection of stone ribs that support the arched ceiling) are Moses holding the Ten Commandments, Paul Revere on his famous ride, and the moon, showing man’s first footprints on its surface.
Outside, 112 elaborately carved gargoyles carry water from the gutters away from the walls. This fantastic array of grotesque carvings includes every sort of imaginary beast, as well as more modern, recognizable subjects. Among the latter, the Crooked Politician, with wads of cash in his pocket, holds an off-balance scale of justice. The Hippie carries a placard and a bag of marijuana.
The aspects of some gargoyles were stipulated by those who donated them. The Businessman, a yuppie holding a briefcase, honors a New York executive. The Angelic and Mischievous Grandsons were donated by their grandparents. The Badger is the mascot of the honoree’s home state of Wisconsin. The Army Mule honors the donor’s husband, an Army Colonel.
Other exterior sculptures range from a host of 288 angels playing musical instruments, to the Democratic and Republican party mascots, to Darth Vader, designed by Chris Rader, who won a Draw-a-Grotesque competition at age 13.
The last stone, the finial of the south tower, was set on September 29, 1990, 83 years after the laying of the foundation stone. Construction, glacially slow by modern standards, had been speedy for a Gothic-style building. “It is the only Gothic cathedral,” says Director of Public Affairs Greg Rixon, “built entirely in one century.”
Officially christened the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the cathedral will be 100 years old on September 7, 2007. An Episcopal church that welcomes all faiths, a 20th-century structure constructed in the medieval manner, and a church with iconography that blends Christianity with American culture in glass and stone, Washington National Cathedral is a true American Gothic.
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