St. Johns Episcopal Church

St. Johns Episcopal Church
St. Johns Episcopal Church 516, photo by Wikimedia Commons, 2008

St. Johns Episcopal Church 516, Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #516

Built: 1924  Declared: 01/22/1991

Designed by Pierpont and Walter Davis and built in 1924. The Davis brothers designed the church in an Italian neo-Romanesque style modeled after the 11th-century church of San Pietro in Tuscany. The church’s walls are made of reinforced concrete two-and-a-half feet thick clear to the roof, and the structure is 69 feet from floor to ceiling. The wood-beamed ceiling is a reproduction of a church ceiling from the 11th century at San Miniato, near Florence. The altar is made of Italian marble, and the triptych was carved by Oberammergau workmen. The interior includes a stained glass window featuring Martin Luther King, Jr., installed in 1977. Other windows include a Romanesque rose window. Another striking feature of the church is found in the gold mosaics on the chapel walls. One mosaic depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ child modeled after a 13th-century mosaic at the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello, Italy. There is also a mosaic of Jesus as judge, holding a Bible and giving a blessing, a 12th-century convention.