Pristine chapel

The richest church repository of art in the city is on Catharine Street, joined at the hip to the main buildings of the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial.

Known at one time as the Episcopal Church of the Evangelists, the building and its next-door neighbor, the former St. Martin’s College for Indigent Boys, became the original Fleisher in 1922.

The church was to be used, as it still is, as a performance space, a place of quiet meditation and a retreat. (Disclosure might be in order here: My oldest daughter was married in the space.) Today it is known as the Sanctuary and is described as "Romanesque Revival" or "Italianate Romanesque."

Both buildings – the college and the church – were designed by L.C. Baker and F.J. Dallett from the famed architectural firm of Furness & Evans. The firm’s principal, Frank Furness, was responsible for two of the city’s most distinguished structures: the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Fisher Fine Arts Library on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

The St. Martin’s school building was constructed in 1906 and Fleisher purchased it in 1916; the church was built between 1884 and 1886 and was sold in 1922.

In 1983 the entire compound at 719 Catharine St. was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for both historical and architectural merits.

The church exterior is said to have been modeled on such Italian houses of worship as the Cathedral at Pisa, St. Mark’s in Venice and the Orvieto Cathedral. It also has been suggested that the exterior was inspired by San Zeno in Verona. It is the interior, however, that makes this jewel a treasure.

There is a mural by Robert Henri, ironwork by Samuel Yellin, stained glass by John La Farge and Nicola D’Ascenzo, and an altarpiece by Violet Oakley. That also makes this church the most glamorous student lounge in the universe.

The mural by Henri is on the west wall, on the left of the front door. It is rather dimly lit but, on close inspection, the colors are still vivid. Henri was an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts who gathered around him a group of Philadelphia newspaper artists. After they had made their way to New York, he added a few artists and, in an exhibition of protest, immediately spawned an art "group" called The Eight or the Ashcan School. The term came from the preference for some members of the group to depict urban slum scenes.

Yellin (1885-1940) is easily the foremost American iron craftsman of the 20th century. His workshop was in Philadelphia and over the years he created magnificent medieval and Renaissance-style ironwork for buildings across the country. His work can be seen at Harvard and Yale universities, St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York, Washington Cathedral and, of course, the Sanctuary.

D’Ascenzo also was based in Philadelphia and with others such as Yellin, brought back an interest in decorative crafts as they applied to buildings. D’Ascenzo (1871-1954) was a stained-glass master who also was a muralist and painter. In addition to teaching at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, he did commissions around the country, including at Riverside Church in New York.

Philadelphians know D’Ascenzo’s "Nipper" window in one of the old RCA Victor buildings in Camden, now remodeled into a luxury apartment building. So strong was D’Ascenzo’s reputation that when he took a leave from teaching to travel and study in Europe, none other than Maxfield Parrish substituted in his mural class.

La Farge (1835-1910) was well known as a Renaissance man who was successful at writing, painting and stained-glass windows and was a muralist, lecturer and illustrator. He was widely known in cultural circles and did his best work for Catholic churches. La Farge’s windows also can be seen in numerous universities and other public buildings around the country. Toward the end of his career, he was involved in an intense rivalry with Louis Comfort Tiffany of lamp fame.

Oakley’s altarpiece was commissioned by Fleisher in memory of the art collector’s wife. Oakley (1874-1961) was one of the famous Red Rose Girls who studied with Howard Pyle and, along with two other young women, set up a studio in Philadelphia and then in the Red Rose cottage in Villanova. Oakley became famous in 1905 for the magnificent murals that adorn the state capitol building in Harrisburg. She was also a noted illustrator and pacifist. She worked tirelessly for world peace and painted the first delegates to the League of Nations and then the United Nations.

In South Philadelphia, you just never know whom your neighbors are going to be.