National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco
)
8 February 2009
A plaque on the front of the building reads:
Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco
Has Been Designated A
National Historic Landmark
This site posses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America
The Swedenborgian Church represents a unique collaboration of leading architects and artisans, who together created one of the earliest expressions of the Arts & Crafts Movement on the west coast.
2004
National Park Service
United States Department of the Interior
Swedenborgian Church
2107 Lyon Street
Built 1895
In 1867, the Reverend Joseph Worcester came to San Francisco from Boston, where his father, the Reverend Thomas Worcester, had founded the New Jerusalem Church, based on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Worcester's first congregation worshipped in Druids Hall on Sutter Street, but in 1894 he participated in the planning of the present Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem, 2107 Lyon Street. The church is based on Bruce Porter's sketches of an Italian village church in the Po Valley near Verona.... The actual architectural drawings (from Porter's sketches) were done by a young man named Bernard Maybeck in the firm of A. Page Brown.
The church was completed in 1895, and reflects the Swedenborgians' central theme, presenting natural objects and incorporating them into the structure and grounds. A heavy tile roof, for example, is supported by massive bark-covered madrone logs. The sturdy maple chairs used for worship were made by hand, without the use of nails, and their seats were woven of tule rushes from the Sacramento River Delta. The walled gardens are symbolic; each detail was selected for its international or universal significance....
From Here Today: San Francisco's Architectural Heritage, Chronicle Books, Fifth Printing, November 1969