Grace-St. Lukes: Difference between revisions
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Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church is an historic church in Memphis, TN. The church's history dates back to |
Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church is an historic church in Memphis, TN. The church's history dates back to the mid-19th century and the current structure -- located in Memphis' Central Gardens Historic Preservation District -- was constructed in 1912. |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 19:52, 28 September 2009
Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church is an historic church in Memphis, TN. The church's history dates back to the mid-19th century and the current structure -- located in Memphis' Central Gardens Historic Preservation District -- was constructed in 1912.
History
The history of Grace-St. Lukes dates back to the mid-1800s with the establishment of Grace Church in a rented room in Downtown Memphis and the establishment, shortly thereafter, of St. Luke's Church in present-day Midtown in 1894.
By the late 1930s, Grace Church had a strong congregation, but found itself without a building. St. Luke's Church, on the other hand, had erected a new church in the heart of residential Memphis in 1912 (its present home), but found itself in a period of declining membership. The two merged, and we celebrated our first Eucharist as the Parish of Grace-St. Luke's on thanksgiving Day, 1940.[1]
Tiffany Windows
Grace-St. Luke's cares for seven magnificent Tiffany stained glass windows that date back to 1889. That year, one of the benefactors of Grace Church, Mrs. W. A. Gage, met a representative of the Tiffany Glass Company at the Paris Exposition. She personally underwrote three windows, including a glorious window depicting Christ’s ascension to be hung above the altar. The vestry commissioned four more windows as it built its new building at the turn of the century, and these were installed under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. When Grace merged with St. Luke’s in 1940, it brought the windows, and they were installed throughout the building.[2]
Today, Grace-St. Luke’s Tiffany windows are thought to be the largest collection of Tiffany windows in a parish church in the South, and window scholars recognize the windows as prime examples of the Tiffany palette.[3]