St. James’ awarded National Fund for Sacred Places grant
When I decided to send my sons to St. James’ Episcopal School, I knew little about the church itself or the parish. The school, founded in 1968, had grown to become a neighborhood institution, to which many of the residents of Windsor Square, Hancock Park, Koreatown and adjacent neighborhoods have sent their children for elementary education. It was at a school event that I first entered the great sanctuary of St. James’ and marveled at its superb architecture and extraordinary stillness in the midst of the bustling city. A couple of years later, a chance email from the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) about a grant program for historic churches arrived just about the time I learned about a St. James’ parish capital campaign. Through the process of filling out the NTHP grant application with Associate Rector Rev. Jon Feuss and Rector Mother Kate Cress, the true significance of St. James’ to our community became clear.
ST. JAMES’-IN-THE-CITY Episcopal Church circa the 1960s.
On Oct. 21, the National Fund for Sacred Spaces awarded St. James’-in-the-City Episcopal Church a grant of $150,000 for the restoration of its roof. This project is included in the parish’s multiphase capital campaign for church restoration and improvement. Established in 2016, the National Fund for Sacred Places is a collaboration between the Partners for Sacred Places, a nonprofit whose mission is to maintain and make use of historic houses of worship, and NTHP, the nation’s premier historic preservation organization. St. James’ was chosen from hundreds of candidates across the country, not only due to its historic and cultural significance to Los Angeles, but also its exceptional service to the community.
Founded in 1911, when it was based at Ardmore Avenue and Pico Boulevard, the growing congregation purchased a lot at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and St. Andrews Place in 1920, commissioning Bay Area architect Benjamin Greer McDougall to design a restrained, dignified sanctuary in the Gothic Revival style. Completed in 1926, the church was constructed in reinforced concrete with a stucco overlay, with decorations and appliqués of cast concrete and a 100-foot tower. The interior boass a ceiling which soars to 60 feet held up with mighty redwood trusses and a floor of glazed ceramic tiles with decorative motifs.
The stained glass windows were designed by Los Angeles’ oldest family-owned glazier, Judson Studios, and the images depict not only religious and biblical subjects, but also more modern themes such as motion pictures, freeways, Latino and Korean immigrants and the Los Angeles skyline. The church also is home to a spectacular Murray M. Harris (“Father of Organ Building in the American West”) organ from 1911 relocated from the now demolished St. Paul’s Cathedral Downtown.
St. James’, though originally a church frequented by the city’s wealthy establishment, began to see significant changes in the 1950s. Desegregation set the stage for the church to strike out in favor of social justice, and the congregation invited Hancock Park resident Nat King Cole to sing at services, which scandalized many parishioners. His funeral, also held at St. James’ in 1965, was attended by Duke Ellington, Robert F. Kennedy and Gov. Pat Brown.
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, the parish continued to open up beyond its exclusive reputation, reaching out to welcome African Americans and newly arriving Korean and Latino immigrants. With new congregants and a changing neighborhood came new needs. In 1968 Father Sam D’Amico established the St. James’ Episcopal School, which welcomed children from the growing Korean community. It was in 1980, however, that St. James’ really made its mark with the setting up of the parish food pantry and, later, soup kitchen, to address the growing hunger among the poorer residents of the city. This effort grew rapidly and, in 1988, led to St. James’, in partnership with other churches, founding Hope-Net. That nonprofit has developed a network of food pantries, soup kitchens and family housing programs throughout the city (and is the beneficiary of the annual Taste of Larchmont).
Today St. James’ continues to be not only a thriving Episcopal parish with many social services and ministries but also a continuing center of the community and culture. It houses what is believed to be the oldest Boy Scout Troop in the United States (Troop 10) sponsored continuously by the same organization. It also is home to Los Angeles’ oldest Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, The Arlington Group. St. James’ also has claimed a space as a cultural center through its Great Music at St. James’ programs, featuring the Choir of St. James’, classical Sundays at Six, and the International Laureates Organ Series. While today the church building is closed as its restoration is commencing, we can all look forward to visiting a refreshed and revived St. James’!
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