The Church of Saint Luke and The Epiphany is an Episcopal congregation located at 330 South 13th Street between Spruce and Pine Streets in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church was formed in 1898 as a result of the merger of St. Luke's Church (1839) and The Church of The Epiphany (1834), which consolidated at St. Luke's location.
The church building was constructed in 1839–1840 for St. Luke's and was designed by Thomas Somerville Stewart in the Greek Revival style. Additions and renovations were made in 1875 and 1906. The building was listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1961.
No membership statistics were reported in 2024 national parochial reports. In 2024, the parish reported average Sunday attendance of 76 with plate and pledge income of $236,672; in 2015, it reported average Sunday attendance of 140 and annual income of $262,943. As an urban parish, the congregation reflects the racial, cultural, and gender diversity found in the city. This diversity contributes to the church's reputation for being open and welcoming, a trait it exhibited during the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s, when it was one of the first churches in the city to open its doors to allow funerals for those who had died from AIDS.
History St. Luke's Church (1839–1898)
A committee of 18 menJames Dundas, William Welsh, John Welsh, Jr., James S. Newbold, Thomas Dunlap, George Witman, William H. Newbold, Joseph Bispham, William L. Newbold, Edward W. Warner, Gideon Scull, Samuel Breck, John R. Milner, Nathan Smith, John Grigg, S. Robert, Mordecai D. Lewis, David M. Broadhead from seven Philadelphia Episcopal parishes organized St. Luke's Church in 1839. Their goal being the establishment of an Episcopal congregation on the southwestern edge of development within the original boundaries of Philadelphia (it would take almost another 10 years before an Episcopal church was organized across Broad Street and below Chestnut Street – St. Mark's Church at 16th and Locust Streets). These men advanced the money to build the church and were repaid through the sale of pews. Several sites were considered including the corner Broad and Locust Streets and the corner of 13th and Spruce Streets. These locations were rejected due to cost. The committee chose the present site of the church and selected Philadelphia architect Thomas Somerville Stewart to design the structure. Stewart's design is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture surviving in the city.
The committee submitted the church's charter to the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania's Standing Committee for approval. Upon the first reading the charter was denied because, in the opinion of the Standing Committee, too much money was allocated to the "education of Youth and the Support of the Poor of the Congregation." The committee explained this clause to mean that the charter permitted "the application of revenue" to only those "in immediate association" with the congregation. The Standing Committee agreed with the rationale and St. Luke's Church was admitted to the Church and the Diocese at the 55th Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania on May 22, 1839.
A ceremony was held on June 24, 1839, for the laying of the northeasternmost cornerstone of the building. Bishop Henry Ustick Onderdonk led a procession which began at his home and ended at the site of the church. The procession included many Philadelphia clergy and vestrymen. Bishop Onderdonk addressed the crowd and at the end of his address a lead box containing the Bible, Book of Common Prayer, a "Diocese of Pennsylvania Convention Journal", several copies of Philadelphia and Episcopal newspapers, and a copy of St. Luke's charter was placed within the cornerstone. The ceremony was concluded with sealing the cornerstone.
At the time of the laying of the cornerstone, a rector had yet to be named. The vestry selected the Rev. Edmund Neville of Taunton, Massachusetts. Humbled by the call, Neville declined the offer because he felt organizing and growing a new congregation was too much for him to bear. The vestry then selected the Rev. William W. Spear, rector of St. Michael's Church, Charleston, South Carolina. He accepted the call on July 15, 1840.
Bishop Onderdonk consecrated St. Luke's Church on October 16, 1840, and the first regular services were held on October 18 (St. Luke's Day). By all accounts, the first year was a success. Its location on 13th Street placed the parish near rapidly growing areas. As Spear noted at the 57th Diocesan Convention: "The wisdom of the location [is] best attested by the fact that throughout the winter its services have been attended by numerous and generally crowded congregations and its temporal interest has already reached a degree of prosperity scarcely anticipated."
St. Luke's infant years were a period of healthy congregational growth, but compounded with serious financial constraints. By late 1841, it became clear that the congregation had not raised enough money through the sale of pews to pay for the building's construction costs. Further, the church's operating costs far exceeded its income. Initial cuts were to the music program. This action had the unintended result of further reducing the number of pew holders. Further cost-cutting measures were considered, including eliminating the paid choir, reducing salaries of the rector, and contracting the number of weekly services. These options were not attractive to Spear or the vestry. The vestry added surtaxes upon the pews and took occasional special collections to reduce the church's operating deficits. In the end, the burden of reducing the church's operating costs fell upon Spear himself. Twice during his rectorship his salary was reduced. Spear's salary had been slashed from $2,500 per annum in 1841 to $1,500 in 1845. In September 1845, Spear resigned to assume the position of associate editor of the Episcopal Recorder, which was published in Philadelphia. Mr. Spear continued to fill the pulpit until his successor was named.
The Rev. Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe, rector of St. James’ Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, accepted the Church's call in June 1846. Early in his rectorship, plans were developed to satisfy the church's debt. William Welsh, a noted Philadelphia merchant, Episcopal philanthropist, and vestryman, issued a challenge to the congregation. He would contribute 60% of the funds needed to pay the debts if the vestry could raise the rest. The church rose to his challenge and the church's debts were satisfied in September 1851.
Mr. Welsh's generosity and the Rev. Dr. Howe's leadership allowed St. Luke's to become one of the most prominent parishes in the city. Early in the 1850s, the congregation grew to near seated capacity. Howe wrote to the vestry to ask that the church be renovated to seat more people as he had requests to purchase pews that could not be accommodated. These plans would not be realized until much later. Howe was committed to missionary work both at home and abroad. For example, St. Luke's assumed the administration of Church of the Ascension at 11th and Lombard Streets between 1861 and 1867. Ascension was administered as the "St. Luke’s Mission Chapel." Howe also expanded the Church's benevolent activities, including establishing the St. Luke's Church Home for Aged Women in 1871, thanks to the generosity of Asa Whitney.
Soon after Howe's arrival, he became active in local and national Episcopal circles. He was considered one of the city's most important and influential Episcopal clergymen. For example, he was elected missionary Bishop of Nevada in 1865, a position he declined. As Howe rose to national prominence, so to did the profile of St. Luke's. St. Luke's Church hosted its first diocesan convention in 1854; further, the Church hosted the general convention in 1865. As the first convention after the Civil War, it was unclear if the war wounds could be healed. As Morgan Dix, rector of the old St. Paul's Chapel of the Parish of Trinity Church on Wall Street in lower Manhattan of New York City remarked:
Near the end of Dr. Howe's rectorship, the Church of the Ascension proposed to buy St. Luke's Church. Howe asked the vestry to consider this offer seriously. Many of St. Luke's parishioners had already moved west of Broad Street. Further, Howe was concerned about the possibility of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas purchasing Ascension's building. For these reasons, Howe wondered if the time had come for St. Luke's to move west, too. Sites were considered at 22nd and Spruce Streets, 22nd and Walnut Streets, 18th Street and Rittenhouse Square, and several others. However, the vestry eventually decided to stay on 13th Street.
Howe's rectorship ended in 1871 after twenty-five years. He was elected the first bishop of Central Pennsylvania in 1871. He was installed as bishop at St. Luke's Church on December 8, 1871. Howe's contributions to the parish are remembered in the form of a memorial tablet in the church's sanctuary. Wallis E. Howe, a Providence, RI, architect and the Rev. Dr. Howe's youngest son, designed the tablet. Howe's eldest son, Dr. Herbert M. Howe, a physician and capitalist, donated the tablet to the parish. The tablet was dedicated on March 28, 1909.
The Rev. Charles George Currie, rector of Grace Church, Providence, Rhode Island, was unanimously elected rector, and Dr. Howe's successor, on July 1, 1872. The Rev. Dr. Currie's rectorship began on a promising note. George Leib Harrison, vestryman and industrialist, donated the funds to expand the church. He commissioned Furness & Hewitt to construct a parish house with a chapel for additional capacity. The Harrison addition (now known as the Furness Chapel) opened for services on November 7, 1875, and was formally consecrated by Bishop William Bacon Stevens on December 14, 1875. The remainder of Currie's rectorship was plagued with a declining membership and financial problems. The church lacked an endowment and relied upon its wealthier members to fund special projects, repairs, and its music program. As these members moved to other sections of Philadelphia, St. Luke's could not rely on its traditional sources of support. Under these circumstances, Currie resigned on March 10, 1887, and accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, Baltimore, MD. Currie and his family maintained their ties to St. Luke's after they left Philadelphia. In 1913, his family donated the Christ with Nicodemus stained glass window in his honor. Currie even preached the sermon at its dedication. Further, several of Currie's grandchildren were married at St. Luke's.