Overview

For 160 years, The Church of the Epiphany has been a strong witness of the Christian faith in the heart of the nation’s capital.  Few churches have seen such radical changes in their environs as this one.  When two lots were donated by Miss Louisa Harrison in October 1842 as a site for the new church, the neighborhood was described as quiet, tree shaded, and residential.  Today, situated in the midst of towering commercial office buildings in downtown Washington, Epiphany continues to adapt to the ever changing needs of the place where it was planted.

An organization meeting on the Feast of the Epiphany in 1842 gave the parish its name.  The cornerstone of the building was laid August 14, 1843.  Described in vestry minutes as the “chief church builder of Washington,” John C. Harkness built a one-story brick building.  In May 1844, the Diocese of Maryland gave formal approval to the establishment of Epiphany Parish.  One month later, the first services were held in the new church.

Growth of the parish was rapid and soon more room was needed in the church.  In 1857, local architect A.B. Young built a new tower, transepts on the east and west of the nave, a shallow chancel and added gas lighting.  This was the appearance of the church when it was converted into a hospital for Union troops briefly during the Civil War.  Extensive renovation of the church was done in 1874 by eminent church architect Henry Dudley of New York City.  Changes included the addition of a new and lofty church roof.

By the turn of the century, Epiphany had grown to be one of the largest and most influential parishes in the nation.  An enlargement of the chancel in 1892 accommodated the first mixed vested choir in the city.  Here the Diocese of Washington was created in 1895 and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church was held in 1898.  The last major renovation to the church came in 1968 with the installation of a new organ in the chancel and the sanctuary area extended into the nave.  The church is on the National Register of Historic Places and is described by the American Institute of Architects Guide to Architecture of Washington, D.C. as “one of the city’s crispest, coolest exercises in Gothic Revial.”