Latrobe's Gothic St. Paul's Episcopal Church rises in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, right where you have stopped. This historic Episcopal congregation, part of the Anglican Communion, occupies a building consecrated in 1818 and designed by Benjamin Latrobe, the second architect of the United States Capitol. Latrobe chose a Gothic idiom here — one of the few Gothic works by him and among the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States.
The congregation marked its long life with a bicentennial celebration in 2009, and the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. During your visit remember the long tenure of William Holland Wilmer, rector here from 1812 to 1826, who played a central role in rebuilding the Episcopal Church in Virginia after disestablishment. Wilmer founded St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in 1815, wrote and published numerous sermons, and founded the Washington Theological Repertory in 1819, contributing regularly to church publications.
Picture rector William Holland Wilmer preaching here from 1812 to 1826, rebuilding Virginia's Episcopal Church while Latrobe's Gothic lines still rise above the streets of Old Town.