Tallest Churches/Religious Buildings in the western hemisphere
 

I know that the US and Canada are generally dwarfed in this category by Europe which has many, many huge iconic religious edifices. For this thread, I'm interested in seeing pics of the tallest religious halls of worship (church/temple/mosque/etc.) in your US, Canadian, Mexican, Central, or South American city. I'm not a religious person in an organized religion sort of way, but find the architecture and histories behind them to be quite fascinating. I grew up in a very Catholic city which has a disproportionately high number of impressive religious buildings for a city of its size, so that may have something to do with my interest. And please, let's try not to list every church in your city... how about the tallest only?


East Liberty Presbyterian Church - Pittsburgh, PA
91m (300 ft)
Ralph Adams Cram
1935
-said to be the most expensive church per sq ft ever built in America
http://fatherpitt.files.wordpress.co...pg?w=430&h=573
http://fatherpitt.wordpress.com/category/churches/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3437/...7702326dd5.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91396833@N00/3917915236


Saint Peter Cathedral - Erie, PA
81m (266 ft) central tower, flanked by twin 46m (151 ft) towers
Patrick Charles Keely
1893
-among the tallest churches in the US when completed with St. Patrick Cathedral and Trinity Church in NYC and St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/...11ce125c_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moodylady/2755501818/sizes/z/in/photostream/

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/21211510.jpg
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21211510

Cathedral of st. john the divine. (largest cathedral on Earth)

http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/img...ine2008Ext.jpg
http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/img...ine2008Ext.jpg


Riverside church (tallest church in the U.S)

http://www.medhanialem.org/Pictures/...ide-church.jpg
http://www.medhanialem.org/Pictures/...ide-church.jpg

And still under construction since 1892! I used to park my car for free in a St. John's church spot after a fire closed the church in 2001 and the spot was never used (except by me!). Maybe I'll spend some time in purgatory for that!

Riverside is awesome. I love seeing it when crossing the GWB... kind of an introduction to the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

St. Peters (Rome) is considered the world's largest church building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_in_the_world


A great topic for a thread, by the way.

Good topic.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, DC - 329 feet
http://beyonddc.com/features/god/shr.../b100_4548.jpg

Washington National Cathedral
Washington, DC - 301 feet
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/...f204a471_b.jpg
source: flickr user michael43rogers

at 568' tall, the tallest church in chicago is the chicago temple building, but it's a weird hybrid church/office building. the first united methodist church of chicago built the building in the early 1920s to capitalize on the prime Loop real estate that the original church building sat on. there's a main sanctuary for the congregation on the ground floor, then 23 floors of commercial office space, topped by the sky chapel that sits directly below the building's dramatic steeple.


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1125/...6ef59c9f_o.jpg
source: markh04 @ Flickr

^ Cool. Not really a church in the traditional sense, but a cool church nonetheless. I've seen that building before when I've been in Chicago, but figured it was just a Gothic-looking office building, not realizing it was an actual church as well.

For Miami I'm guessing the not very tall Cathedral of St Mary in Little Haiti. No idea how tall it is, but it's one of the few that stands out.

http://www.cathedralofsaintmary.com/ip.asp

http://www.earthdocumentary.com/pics...mary_miami.jpg
src: http://www.exploring-america.com/mia...avel-guide.htm

St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral - Buffalo, NY
82m (270 ft)
Richard Upjohn
1870
-architect also designed Trinity Church in NYC

http://www.buffaloah.com/a/pearl/128/06ext/image/02.jpg
http://www.buffaloah.com/a/pearl/128/06ext/index.html

Philadelphia

Christ Church - once the tallest building in North America.


flickr

Tenth Presbyterian Church designed by John McArthur who later designed City Hall.

After steeple truncation


flickr

Before steeple truncation in 1912



tenth.org

Salt Lake's tallest church is also the most recognizable building in town:

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/salt...n_temple70.jpg
The Salt Lake Mormon Temple (222 FT)

It's not the tallest in DC, but the temple there is the tallest of any Mormon temple in the world and was built to be a modern interpretation of the design of the Salt Lake Temple:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2320513.jpg
Washington, DC Mormon Temple (288 FT)

Saint Matthew Lutheran Church - Charleston, SC
78m (255 ft)
John Henry Devereaux
1872; rebuilt 1966

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/...4c4f08a5_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11293259@N03/2515668034/sizes/z/in/photostream/

That looks similar to a church here that's on the chopping block.


myowntimemachine.files.wordpress.com

Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe - Dallas, TX
69m (225 ft)
Nicholas Clayton
1902
-the 225 ft bell tower was not added until 2005

http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/cathguad2.jpg
http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/cathguad.htm

That would be a shame. Hard to believe that Philly would allow it, since that looks to be a pretty old church and an undoubted historic anchor of the neighborhood.

There's a pretty heavy fight on to save it. The landowner wants to demolish the building and the Historical Commission gave the OK but neighborhood interests want to keep it.

Saint Michael the Archangel Church - Cleveland, OH
71m (233 ft)
Adolph Druiding
1892
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eland_1280.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_michael_cleveland_1280.jpg

http://images.travelpod.com/users/tx...e---dallas.jpg
http://images.travelpod.com/users/tx...e---dallas.jpg

They just added the bell tower to the Dallas County courthouse as well. They either didn't finish towers or took the towers down due to Dallas' horrible soil and settling conditions. The majority of the city sits on seam of fat gumbo clay.

:D

I hope it can be saved. I don't see how the historical commission gave the ok to raze it... considering it is the oldest surviving church (1840s) designed by the nation's most prolific church architect of the 19th century, Patrick Keely (who also designed St. Peter's in Erie, shown above). I don't see how an 1840s church "whose sanctuary nurtured the city's two most notable Roman Catholic saints, John Neumann and Katharine Drexel" can be torn down in favor of a parking lot. Disgusting.

The Crystal Cathedral is somewhat up there. 236 ft, I think:

http://www.capstonecreations.com/wp-...-cathedral.jpg