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Date : 1864
| 18th St. and the Ben Franklink Pkwy
Item 20 on 19
Streets, avenues
Buildings (Church)
Area related
Philadelphia (USA)
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The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the location of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Administrative Offices, is located at 18th Street & the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on the east side of Logan Square.
With its majestic façade, vaulted dome, ornate main altar, eight side chapels and main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 worshipers, the Cathedral-Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally eminent structures in the city of Philadelphia. Erected in 1864, the cathedral, presented in a Roman-Corinthian style of architecture, is modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles (San Carlo al Corso) in Rome. Its Palladian façade and aqua oxidized-copper dome are in the Italian Renaissance manner, and the interior is spacious with an oversize apse of stained glass and red antique marble in magnificent proportions reminiscent of Roman churches. It was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi, who also painted the dome of the Capitol in Washington. A civory over the main altar and the three altars on each of the side aisles point up this Italian Renaissance flavor. Also in the bowels of the building, is the compact "Crypt of the Bishops".
Construction
On the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1846, Bishop Kenrick, then Bishop of Philadelphia, issued a pastoral letter announcing his determination to build a cathedral. It was the bishop's intention to avoid running into debt, so the cathedral was long in building. He chose for the site a plot of ground adjoining the seminary at Eighteenth and Race Streets. Construction on the cathedral began shortly thereafter but was not completed until 1864. This was less than 2 years after the Philadelphia Nativist Riots. These riots represented the height of Anti-Catholicism and Know-Nothingism in Philadelphia and, according to local lore, greatly influenced the design of the building. The Cathedral was built with only very high clerestory windows, according to parish histories, to inhibit vandalism.
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