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Another Gothic Cathedral

Peggy Simonsen

I visit San Francisco often as my son lives there, but I have never before gone to see Grace Cathedral. If you have read the Architecture section of this blog, or my book, Wandering the World, you know that I am fascinated by Gothic architecture. I have visited most of the Gothic Cathedrals in France, England, Germany, Italy and even Croatia, so it was time to see the “modern” Gothic in San Francisco.

 

 Recently I was there for my son’s wedding, and while everyone was busy with preparations, I had a free morning to climb! Nob Hill to this 20th century beauty. Built after the SF fire over several decades, this Episcopal Cathedral was designed like the spectacular cathedral in Amiens, France. Not nearly as massive, it does have the double towers and shape of Amiens, minus the flying buttresses, and is made of concrete instead of limestone!

 

As I arrived, a graduation was just finishing, but I was able to explore the sanctuary and nave that has small video screens with explanations of the stained-glass windows and carved interior elements. A unique twist is that the clerestory windows display 20th century icons who made significant contributions to the welfare of the world, such as Einstein, Jane Adams, Robert Frost, and Thurgood Marshall, plus more traditional stained-glass depictions made in France. It has replicas of the carved doors of the cathedral in Florence, Italy that were removed for safe keeping during WWII, and a copy of the medieval labyrinth from Notre Dame Cathédrale in Chartres, France, plus a huge carillon made up of 40 brass bells!

 

One of the reasons I am so in awe of European Gothic cathedrals is that the amazing architecture was built 900 to 1000 years ago! So while Grace Cathedral is beautiful and carries on the Gothic tradition, it is a 20th century building, but probably inspires the same reverence for worshippers as the original cathedrals did all those centuries ago.





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