page_title: Church of St. James the Less
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Church of St. James the Less / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: St Michael's Church in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
context_page_description: The Church of St. James the Less is a historic Episcopal church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that was architecturally influential. As St. James-the-Less Episcopal Church, it was designated a National Historic Landmark for its Gothic Revival architecture, which influenced a generation of subsequent churches.
context_section_description: The building was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The National Park Service called it "the first example of the pure English Parish church style in America, and one of the best examples of a 19th-century American Gothic church for its coherence and authenticity of design. Its influence on the major architects of the Gothic Revival in the United States was profound."
  The Gothic architecture was nearly accidental. The congregation applied to the Cambridge Camden Society, which in 1841 and 1844 had published a widely circulated pamphlet on modern church design, for a set of approved plans. Originally an organization formed by Cambridge University students interested in gothic architecture, the group advocated combining the piety of gothic architecture with church reform associated with the Oxford Movement. It was inadvertently sent measured drawings prepared by English architect George Gordon Place for St. Michael's Church in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, built c. 1230, which were then followed in every detail under the supervision of architect John E. Carver. Later American churches  on the National Register of Historic Places influenced by St. James' design include All Saint's Memorial Church (Navesink, New Jersey) (designed by Richard Upjohn first President of the American Institute of Architects) and St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Neligh, Nebraska).
  Set on the edge of a hill, north of Mount Vernon Cemetery and east of Laurel Hill Cemetery, the setting for the church is no longer rural. West Hunting Park Avenue, a major artery, is just beyond the churchyard's south wall, and industrial buildings lie to the west. Now, however, the shady and quiet churchyard is considered an urban oasis.
  The Wanamaker Memorial Bell Tower and mausoleum (1908), designed by John T. Windrim, houses a set of J.C. Deagan, Inc. tower chimes and a chime of bells by the McShane foundry. A parish hall, which later housed the parish school, was built on the opposite side of West Clearfield Street.
caption: St. Michael's Church, now disused, Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, England, the model for St. James-the-Less
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "<KENOX S630  / Samsung S630>", "Image Make": "Samsung Techwin", "Image Model": "<KENOX S630  / Samsung S630>", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:11:01 22:31:20", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2007", "Image ExifOffset": "324", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1010", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5423", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:10:13 16:23:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:10:13 16:23:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "92293/46464", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "613/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "600", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "884", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "62192", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}