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Transfiguration of Our Lord
 

Status: Closed, Former Catholic

Founded: 1905
Construction: 1928
Closed: 2000

56th & Cedar Avenues
Philadelphia, PA 19143
 
Where Is It?


Cobbs Creek! More specifically, 56th & Cedar Avenues.

The Skinny


The Project was unable to visit a church this past Sunday—shhh, don’t tell the big guy upstairs—so to keep you, my dear readers, from feeling gypped, I present the latest installment in our *Abandoned* Philadelphia Church Project. This time it’s one of West Philly’s formerly great parishes, Transfiguration of Our Lord.

Transfiguration was one of the parishes that was consolidated into the new St. Cyprian a few blocks down on Cobbs Creek Parkway. The other parish was St. Carthage, whose building Cyprian now occupies. Transfiguration closed in 2000, and is now in the eighth year of its own Long Goodbye.

It’s a shame, too, because Transfiguration is a wonderful piece of church architecture.

Tweener Churches: Man, we’ve been dusting off all the old theorems lately. Tweener churches, if you recall, are big and grand, but they’re late-model, so they eschew most of the fancy stuff. We haven’t seen many of these, mostly because most late-model churches tend to be awful. But when done right, the results are magical. Witness St. Martin of Tours and Olney’s St. Helena.

That description fits Transfiguration to a T, although I must admit that this church isn’t a tweener in the traditional sense. The elaborate sculptures on the building’s face and tympanums, rounded shrines along the sides and intricate scriptwork over the doors reveal that this church isn’t just clean lines and angles. But its profile and design are so strikingly similar to the aforementioned Martin and Helena that it’s nearly impossible not to put them in the same class. Sure, it’s not quite as enormous as those two, and its exterior is a little more ornate, but they could all be siblings. Transfiguration even has lower church doors in the front of the building, like Martin of Tours, which is something you really don’t see very often.

LOOK FOR IT: The really cool semicircular staircase in the front of the building. The only one of its kind in the Archdiocese.

WATCH OUT FOR IT: Somebody left a sneaker on one of those steps. It might still be there, so be careful not to trip on it. I wouldn’t want to take a tumble.

This is a real shame.

UPDATE: According to Project reader Bill, Transfiguration's stained glass windows are now in St. Raymond of Penafort parish in Springfield, Va. There's currently no way to view the windows online, but keep it in mind if you happen to find yourself in Springfield.

What Happened?


If you take the sibling analogy to its logical conclusion, Transfiguration is the coke-addled black sheep who’s sleeping in the gutter, while Martin and Helena are off playing doctor and lawyer, clucking their tongues at their lost brother.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Like all lost churches, Transfiguration is a victim of a changing and declining populace. The large families that used to fill the surrounding rowhomes moved away, and the new families were smaller and poorer. Transfiguration limped along until the 2000 merger with Carthage put an end to its misery.

Of course, the Project can’t help but scream that the Archdiocese chose to preserve Carthage’s building while sentencing Transfiguration to The Long Goodbye. Nothing against Carthage, but their building is really underwhelming. Transfiguration, on the other hand, was much more worthy. Granted, I never saw the inside, but on exterior alone, Transfiguration was head and shoulders above.

I can see why the Archdiocese did it this way. Transfiguration is a much larger building, and therefore much harder to care for and maintain. They most likely rolled the dice that the new parish would be better off by getting a smaller, easier building. But the Project is a staunch advocate of church preservation, no matter how difficult. This is a building that needed to be saved, whether the Archdiocese liked it or not, and by giving it the heave-ho they royally screwed the….err, they really dropped the ball on this one. Very disappointing.

The entire property—rectory, convent, school and church—is currently in the throes of decay. There are various whispers about the property’s fate however; some claim that a charter school bought the property, and others claim that the church is going to be demolished. Those two claims aren’t necessarily contradictory, and the construction equipment down by the school makes it clear that something’s happening.

Interestingly, the sell sheet for this property is still posted on the Colliers Web site. You can access it here.

Anyone interested? Only a million dollars!
Travel Tidbits


The place is not tough to find, provided you don’t mind dealing with West Philly traffic. The neighborhood, like St. Cyprian, is a little sketchy. You probably don’t need to worry, although like all abandoned church excursions, I recommend bringing some company if possible. And, of course, not acting like a complete idiot.

If you go, be careful when traversing the property. Careless neighbors have sadly turned this into their personal dump, leaving garbage everywhere. There’s a lot of broken glass and debris, so keep a sharp eye on where you’re stepping.
Interesting Note


We’ve seen large churches before, but Transfiguration is one of only a few that has its own city block. More impressively, the entire block is an elevated plane, which lends the church an even more grandiose air. We really haven’t seen the likes of it yet.
The Final Word


Boo Hoo……

 

© 2008 Philadelphia Church Project