About this property
Church of the Holy Trinity is an Episcopal church on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. The first service in the church building, designed by Scottish architect John Notman, was held on March 27, 1859. The corner tower was added in 1867 and was designed by George W. Hewitt of the firm of Fraser, Furness & Hewitt. It is designed in the simpler "low church" style, rather than the fancier "high church" or Anglo-Catholic style of Notman's nearby St. Mark's Episcopal Church. The church reported 424 members in 2020 and 471 members in 2023; no membership statistics were reported in 2024 parochial reports. Plate and pledge income reported for the congregation in 2024 was $246,001. Average Sunday attendance (ASA) in was 163 persons in 2015 and 75 persons in 2024. The church's rector from 1862 to 1869 was Phillips Brooks, who was also the author of the lyrics to the familiar Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem". Renowned (and sometimes reviled) for his ebullient homilies and his staunch opposition to slavery, Brooks delivered a eulogy to Abraham Lincoln in the church on April 23, 1865, following the U.S. President's assassination on April 14. This sermon was reprinted and widely read. After the end of the American Civil War, Brooks took a sabbatical from the church to travel to Europe, Israel and Palestine. His visit to Bethlehem inspired him to write a poem for his Sunday School students, and for the church's 1868 Christmas season he had church organist Louis Redner set the poem to music. The result was “O Little Town of Bethlehem." In 1869, Brooks became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, where he oversaw the design, decoration and construction of Trinity's new Back Bay, Boston facility from 1872 to 1877 following the original church's destruction in Boston's Great Fire of 1872. The church's rector from 1899 until his death in 1932 was the Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins. Philadelphia's Church of the Holy Trinity is also known for its numerous stained-glass windows, including five by Louis Comfort Tiffany and one by Luc-Olivier Merson. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Church of the Holy Trinity
This page lists Church of the Holy Trinity. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Church of the Holy Trinity listed on the National Register?
Church of the Holy Trinity was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 6, 1973.
What type of historic resource is Church of the Holy Trinity?
Church of the Holy Trinity is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Church of the Holy Trinity?
The period of significance for Church of the Holy Trinity is recorded as the early_republic era, specifically around 1859.
Can I research the history near Church of the Holy Trinity?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Church of the Holy Trinity will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Philadelphia County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Philadelphia County.
Explore PhiladelphiaCounty ›More historic places in Pennsylvania
Browse all historic places in Pennsylvania.
View Pennsylvaniahistoric sites ›Pennsylvania history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
Pennsylvaniahistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Church of the Holy Trinity will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.