On the corner of Woodward Avenue and Hancock Street stands one of Detroit’s most impressive houses of worship, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. Architect Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942) of the firm Cram, Goodhue, & Ferguson designed the impressive structure in the English Gothic style in 1908. The church building was dedicated in 1911, although the parish itself was established in 1824, making it the oldest Episcopal parish in the Northwest Territories (its founding pre-dates Michigan’s statehood by 13 years).
The cathedral was designed in a traditional basilica form with the main entrance /narthex on Woodward Avenue. The main façade features a large rose window with stone tracery, stepping buttresses topped by small turrets, and smooth limestone masonry. The structure is detailed in a very spare and restrained way as compared to buildings conceived in a high-gothic style. Interestingly, steel was not utilized to carry the massive masonry and heavy lead roofs. Rather, the buttresses provide support to the tall walls, just as they would have if the building were constructed during medieval times.
The portico is flanked by heavy double buttresses that emphasize the recessed double doors which align with the center aisle of the nave beyond. The tympanum arches, while pointed, are lower and rounder than those of the more French high-gothic style. The nave is a striking space of high volume, featuring stained glass clerestory windows set just above the side-aisle roofs and subtly pointed vaulting with vividly decorated coffers. The side aisles are less prominent and serve primarily as a circulation space. The transept is quite wide and includes massive columns at the crossing that were designed to carry a square tower that was never completed. The transepts are somewhat truncated, although the cruciform shape of the plan is evident.
Beyond the crossing are the more ornately appointed choir and the sanctuary. Beautiful lancet-shaped stained-glass windows dominate the wall above the altar. Locally made, handcrafted Pewabic Pottery flooring tiles are featured throughout the building, making this gothic building both unique and ‘quintessentially Detroit’.