St. Mark's Episcopal
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
,
Washington
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** A ...
, is the seat of the
bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
of the
Episcopal Diocese of Olympia
The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, also known as the Episcopal Church in Western Washington, is a diocese of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church in Washington (state), Washington state west of the Cascade Range. It is one of 17 ...
.
St. Mark
Mark the Evangelist ( Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark ( Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' Aramaic'': ܝܘܚܢܢ, romanized: Yōḥannān'') or Saint Mark ...
's was founded as a mission church of
Trinity Parish Church.
History
Plans for the building, located on the west side of 10th Avenue East between East Highland Drive and East Galer Street on
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...
, were drawn up in 1926. Fundraising took place for two years until construction began in 1928. Ground was broken on September 30, 1928. The
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
took a toll on the parish, however. Construction was incomplete when the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
was dedicated on April 25, 1931, and the parish was in default on its mortgage throughout the 1930s. The cathedral was
foreclosed
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mort ...
upon in 1941 and shut for the next two years. From 1943 to 1944, the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
used the cathedral as an anti-aircraft training facility; the evidence of this era can still be seen in murals in the crypt.
In 1944, Bishop
S. Arthur Huston reopened discussions with the parish's bankers in
St. Louis
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
,
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
; over the next three years, more funds were raised, and in 1947 the mortgage was paid. The mortgage document was burned before the Parish on Palm Sunday.
The cathedral's
dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
* Dean Sw ...
,
Robert V. Taylor, resigned abruptly in March 2008, stating that he and the vestry (church board) diverged in their visions for the future of St. Mark's and there was a loss of trust between them.
After several years of transitional ministry, Taylor was succeeded by Steven Lynn Thomason in the summer of 2012.
Thomason shares clerical ministry with the Rev. Canon Emily A. Griffin as Vicar, the Rev. Canon Richard C. Weyls as associate rector, the Rev. Earl Grout as deacon, and a handful of non-stipendiary priests.
Location
St. Mark's Cathedral is located at the top of a very steep drop-off to Lakeview Boulevard East below. The wooded hillside is known as the
St. Mark's Greenbelt.
Organ
The choir loft of St. Mark's is home to one of the largest
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...
s in Seattle. The organ was built in 1965 by
D. A. Flentrop (
Zaandam
Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
) and restored in 1993-1994 and 2001 by
Paul Fritts & Company Organ Builders,
Tacoma
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...
. Further additions followed in 1995 (new chorus reeds 16' and 8' in Manual II) and 1996 (Zymbelstern). In 2011, Paul Fritts installed new horizontal reed stops (the former horizontal trumpets from 1965 were stored). The instrument has 58 stops/79 ranks on four manuals/pedal, and contains 3,944 pipes. The current organists are Michael Kleinschmidt (Canon Musician), and John Stuntebeck (Associate Organist).
Flentrop Organ.jpg, The Flentrop
Flentrop is a Dutch company based in Zaandam that builds and restores Organ (music), organs.
History
The company originated in 1903 when Hendrik Wicher Flentrop (1866-1950) from Koog aan de Zaan, originally a house painter by trade, and organist ...
organ and its console
Console may refer to:
Computing and video games
* System console, a physical device to operate a computer
** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device
** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...
, seen from the choir loft
Seattle - St. Mark's Cathedral - choir loft 02.jpg, The Flentrop
Flentrop is a Dutch company based in Zaandam that builds and restores Organ (music), organs.
History
The company originated in 1903 when Hendrik Wicher Flentrop (1866-1950) from Koog aan de Zaan, originally a house painter by trade, and organist ...
organ in the choir loft, at the rear of the nave
See also
*
List of the Episcopal cathedrals of the United States
The following is a list of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church cathedrals in the United States and its territories. The dioceses are grouped into nine Ecclesiastical province, provinces, the first eight of which, for the most ...
*
List of cathedrals in the United States
This is a list of cathedrals in the United States, including both actual cathedrals (seats of bishops in Episcopal polity, episcopal Christian groups, such as Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy an ...
*
Compline Choir
References
External links
*
St. Marks Greenbelt Seattle Parks and Recreation. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
* Long, Priscilla (April 19, 2001)
Seattle's St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral opens in 1930 HistoryLink.org Essay 3223. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marks Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle
Churches in Seattle
Mark Seattle
Buildings and structures in Capitol Hill, Seattle
1889 establishments in Washington (state)
1931 establishments in Washington (state)