In late 1906 cathedrals were "in the air" on both sides of the Atlantic, and on both sides of the United States, including ruined San Francisco. Several factors, not all laudable, led up to, and fed into, the cathedral building revival; the Gothic Revival, the Oxford Movement, Anglo-American imperialism and world-wide Anglicanism, state and civic pride, the patience and vision of bishops, and the generosity of far-seeing donors.

The Gothic Revival had begun in England in the late 1700s as the cultural climate shifted from head to heart; from intellectual Classicism to intuitive Romanticism.

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Medieval liturgical art, piety and faith, were rediscovered and idealized. The Gothic cathedral was soon recognized as the epitome of medieval Christian faith and creativity. Gothic even penetrated back to its ancient heartland, northern France. Victor Hugo's sweeping 1831 romance The Hunchback of Notre Dame spurred interest in the restoration of the neglected Parisian cathedral, carried out by neo-Gothic architect Viollet-le-Duc. Unfinished Gothic Cologne Cathedral in Germany was also caught up in the atmosphere, and was the world's tallest building when completed in 1880.

Liverpool Cathedral

The Oxford Movement of the 1830s-40s, more specifically Anglican than the Gothic Revival, was a revival in and of the Church of England, reaching from preaching and liturgy to sacred art and architecture. The sleeping church awoke to rediscover its rich Protestant heritage and even richer Roman Catholic roots. New or rebuilt parish churches began to spring up around Britain with a rapidity that rivaled the French 12th century church boom. Architect Augustus Pugin and art historian John Ruskin attributed a moral aspect to the Gothic style, and for many clerics and architects, Gothic became the only possible style in which a church could properly be built. British architects applied much skill and imagination to the Victorianized Gothic church. The American response was delayed and less deep, yet Upjohn (Trinity Church, NY), Renwick (Grace Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, NY) and other American Gothic revivalists proved eminently capable.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

By the late 19th century a new, British, empire had risen, and the Anglican Church followed in its wake. Neo-Gothic cathedrals rose in Cape Town, Calcutta, Toronto, Hong Kong, even in Tasmania. Larger cathedrals were underway at home in Liverpool and Truro. America too had imperial pretensions, and Episcopalians were caught up in the cathedral-building atmosphere. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, was begun in 1896 by Heins and LaFarge in Romanesque form. As the world's largest cathedral, it would later be transformed into Gothic by the American Gothic master Ralph Adams Cram. English master George Bodley submitted the first design for Washington Cathedral in 1906, and submitted preliminary designs for Grace Cathedral the following year.

Washington Cathedral

It was in this confident and energetic atmosphere that Bishop Nichols' Grace Cathedral vision came into sharper focus. Nichols, with an ear for words, also noted propitiously that the biblical 'Nob' was a hilltop city of priests near Jerusalem (1Samuel 21-22). San Francisco could have a soaring Gothic cathedral, visible on its Acropolis-like site from much of the city, its golden spire-top cross visible to ships on the bay and at sea. What was now needed was the will and commitment of the community to bring vision to reality.

 
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