Washington National Cathedral

===Construction===
In 1792, [[Pierre L'Enfant]]'s "[[L'Enfant Plan|Plan of the Federal City]]" specified a site for a "great church for national purposes". However he defined it as non-sectarian and nondenominational. [[Alexander Hamilton]] modified L'Enfant's plan and eliminated the "church" and several other proposed monuments and that plan was never reproduced. The working plan for the new city was subsequently produced by Andrew Ellicott and it varied in many respects from L'Enfant's. although the essence remained. The [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] now occupies that site. 

In 1891, a meeting was held to begin plans for an Episcopal cathedral in Washington. On January 6, 1893, the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia was granted a charter from Congress to establish the cathedral. The [[52nd United States Congress]] declared in the act to incorporate the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia that the "said corporation is hereby empowered to establish and maintain within the District of Columbia a cathedral and institutions of learning for the promotion of religion and education and charity."<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Statutes At Large of the United States of America, From December, 1891, To March, 1893, And Recent Treaties, Conventions, and Executive Proclamations |author=United States Secretary of State |publisher=[[United States Congress]] |year=1893 |page=414 |chapter=An Act to incorporate the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia |access-date=November 16, 2014 |chapter-url=http://legisworks.org/sal/27/stats/STATUTE-27-Pg414.pdf|author-link=United States Secretary of State }}</ref> The commanding site on Mount Saint Alban was chosen. [[Henry Yates Satterlee]], first Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Washington, chose [[George Frederick Bodley]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain's]] leading [[Church of England|Anglican]] church architect, as the head architect. [[Henry Vaughan (architect)|Henry Vaughan]] was selected supervising architect.

Construction started on September 29, 1907, with a ceremonial address by President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and the laying of the cornerstone. In 1912, Bethlehem Chapel opened for services in the unfinished cathedral, which have continued daily ever since. When construction of the cathedral resumed after a brief hiatus for [[World War I]], both Bodley and Vaughan had died. Gen. [[John J. Pershing]] led fundraising efforts for the church after World War I. American architect [[Philip Hubert Frohman]] took over the design of the cathedral and was thenceforth designated the principal architect. Funding for Washington National Cathedral has come entirely from private sources. Maintenance and upkeep continue to rely entirely upon private support.
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National Cathedral under construction, Washington, D.C. LCCN2016890226.jpg
National Cathedral under construction, Washington, D.C. LCCN2016890227.jpg
National Cathedral under construction, Washington, D.C. LCCN2016890228.jpg
View of National Cathedral under construction, Washington, D.C. LCCN2016890225.jpg
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