Grace Church
an example of early 50s modern architecture
 

Our Building, Worship Space and Appointments

Grace Church at 3700 Canal Street was dedicated on September 12, 1954

Grace Parish was founded in 1886 by Episcopalians in downtown New Orleans after Christ Church, the 200 year-old mother church of Episcopalians in Louisiana and the oldest non-Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans, moved from Canal Street to an uptown location. Grace Parish had two earlier church buildings on South Rampart Street and at 1501 Canal Street, respectively. In 1915, Grace Church founded a parochial mission in Mid City, named St. Matthias Mission. In the 1920s the property at 3700-3720 Canal Street was purchased for St. Matthias and the mission congregation met in a large Victorian home at that location.
 
In the early 1950s, Grace Parish was outgrowing its 1501 Canal Street facility and began considering a move. During this period, the Texas Company (TEXACO), approached Grace Parish about razing the church building and leasing the property for an office building. In 1951, the old church was razed and Grace Parish and St. Matthias Mission were reunited. The congregation worshipped in the large Victorian home at 3720 Canal Street while a new large facility in the Modernist style was built on the corner of Canal and South Telemachus Streets.   The mission congregation is remembered by the designation of the chapel of Grace Church as St. Matthias Chapel (Joe W. Brown Memorial).

Our current buildings were dedicated fifty years ago  on 12-13 September 1954 by The Rt. Rev'd  Girault Jones, Bishop of Louisiana, and The Rt. Rev'd Iveson Noland, Bishop Suffragan of Louisiana.

See some great pictures of Grace Church on the New Orleans Churches website!
 

Some pictures of the exterior of our Church building

The Church with the Memorial Garden and St. Matthias Chapel entrance at left, Narthex entrance in center, office entrance at right.

 

Procession entering Memorial Garden and St. Matthias Chapel on Palm Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View from Garden to Canal Street with Canal Streetcar,
Wrought iron "Gate of Crosses" at right

 

Memorial Garden and Chapel Entrance

 

Some views and information about our Bell Tower
The 15 Bell Tower Chime is now being played on most Sundays and Wednesdays

View of the 74' Campanile-style bell tower which houses a Chime of 15 Bells.
The Helen McLeary Dufour Memorial Chime was installed in 1961.
Side of St. Matthias Chapel (Joe W. Brown Memorial) in foreground.

The bells were cast at the Loughborough Foundry of John Taylor & Co. of England, the world's oldest bellfoundry, founded in A.D. 1408.
(Similar to a Carillon, a Chime has fewer bells, 23 being the minimum for a Carillon.)
This is the only Taylor installation in Louisiana, and the largest bell tower instrument in New Orleans.
Other Taylor installations in the U.S. include the Carillons at the Washington National
Cathedral and at Sewanee, and the Chime at St. Thomas Church in New York City.
Link to a description of the Grace Church Chime on the GCNA website

Other views of the bell tower....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some views of the interior of our Church
The interior of the church is adorned with two Murals by noted New Orleans artist,  John McCrady.
The Stained Glass windows were designed and executed by the Payne Studios of Patterson, N.J.
Two pipe organs are in the church, a 1968 Moeller Organ, originally in the Chapel, and a 1920 Austin Organ, originally in the old church.
The Austin was unused for 30 years, and is now undergoing  restoration. Both organs are played at the 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sundays.

The famous 1954 John McCrady Eucharistic Mural and the high altar in the background.
(Archdeacon Ormonde Plater, Bishop Charles Jenkins, and Father Walter Baer)

The McCrady/Flattmann Ascension Mural in rear of Church.
This Mural was completed by Alan Flattmann in 1972 after a study by John McCrady.
(McCrady died in 1968. Mr Flattmann was one of Mr. McCrady's last students.)

Chancel with Eucharistic Mural
The 1920 Austin Organ is in the organ chambers on both sides of chancel.
The tone openings for the organ are to the left and right of mural.

The 1968 Moeller Organ (Joe Brown Memorial) which is at the rear of the Nave.
The choir sings from this area, and supports congregational singing.
A corner of the McCrady/Flattmann Ascension Murial can be seen.

 

More to come.

 

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Send us e-mail:  info@gracecanalstreet.org

Copyright © 2004, Grace Episcopal Church, New Orleans. All rights reserved.
Revised: 5 October 2004
Grace Episcopal Church-3700 Canal St-New Orleans, LA 70119 -(504)482-5242 - (504)488-4402 fax