Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal Church
Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal Church
Gothic-style Episcopal church in downtown Colorado Springs
Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal Church
✟ Christian (Episcopal) | Colorado Springs, CO
Grace Episcopal Church was formally organized in 1873, erecting a church building at the corner of Pikes Peak Avenue and Weber Street on land donated by the founder of the City of Colorado Springs, General William Jackson Palmer. Twenty years later, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church was organized, with its building at the corner of Tejon Street and Monument Avenue.
In 1923, the two parishes merged to become Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. It remains today a place of worship, service, and community in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs.
The cornerstone for the combined church’s new building on Tejon Street was laid in 1925. The Gothic Revival-style structure was designed by the Boston firm Frohman, Robb and Little, which also designed the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and Trinity College Chapel in Hartford, Connecticut. The church is laid out in a traditional cruciform plan. Its three-story bell tower was modeled after the Great Tower at Magdalen College, Oxford University. In 1955, a new, south wing was added, designed in a Tudor Revival style.
The church’s interior features 48 stained glass windows designed by nine different artists between 1899 and 2005.
The church’s Welte Co. organ boasts more than 4,000 pipes. Funds for the organ were donated in 1928 by Alice Bemis Taylor in honor of her late husband, Frederick Taylor, with the condition that the organ be used to benefit of all citizens of Colorado Springs, including a number of free concerts each year. This tradition continues today with the church’s Taylor Concerts series. Thanks to Ms. Taylor’s gift, Grace and St. Stephens became a center of musical life in Colorado Springs, fostering the establishment of the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Colorado Opera Festival, the Colorado Springs Choral Society, the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble, and the church’s own Jazz in the Garden.
Sources: Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church | “Get to Know Our Sacred Space” | NHRP Reg. Form (2011)
Tour date: May 16, 2024
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