History

About Us....

THE PARISH

The building and planning of Chapel of St. John the Evangelist (familiarly known as "St John's Chapel") began during the late 1880s at the Del Monte Hotel, a posh watering hole of the Monterey Peninsula. Holidaymakers who wished to attend Sunday services at an Episcopal church agreed to build a "chapel of ease," because there was no Episcopal parish conveniently close. Besides Huntington and Crocker, other notable worshippers at St John's include President Theodore Roosevelt (May 11, 1903).C.P. Huntington and Charles H. Crocker were involved in the planning and support of the new church, and many guests from the hotel, joined by vestrymen of Grace Episcopal Church, San Francisco, contributed to the building fund.St John's Chapel was dedicated to the glory of God on June 14, 1891 and consecrated in 1894 by Bishop Nicols of the Diocese of California.In 1957, the state of California's widening of the roadway adjacent to the chapel necessitated its relocation across Highway 1 to Mark Thomas Drive. Since the move in 1957, St. John's Chapel has continued to thrive, preserving the integrity of traditional worship through the use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

THE CHAPEL PROPER

St John's Chapel is "one of the great Shingle Style buildings in California, and it is unquestionably one of the most enticing of Earnest Coxhead's churches" (David Gebhard, Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California, Gibbs Smith Publishers, 1986). St John’s is acclaimed by as as “a compilation of fragments, suggestions, and allustions stemming from a simple, rational floor plan (based, to be sure on British Gothic Revival ideas), as has rarely been encountered in church architecture—before or since. Here, in shorthand form, is a wide range of Christian architectural expression compacted into a small building that can barely handle it all. St John’s stretches architectural … .” (Robert Winter, Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California, University of California Press, 1997).St John’s Chapel is noted especially for its fairy tale, wraparound roof. “The surface pattern of the shingles changes and varies, sometimes curving up and over to emphasize a window or a door, or an occasion to draw attention to dormers and windowhoods. The scale of the church is that of the perfect dollhouse (even though it was cut in two and extended). This is best seen on the south side of the building where the roof is brought close to the ground, and the door and window protrude into the low roof. The childlike quality of the exterior is equally realized within, where space and details are reduced to an Alice in Wonderland world." (David Gebhart, Robert Winter and Eric Sandweiss. The Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California . Layton, Utah: Gibbs-Smith, 1985."St. John's Episcopal Church in Monterey (1891) carries its surface pattern of straight and wavy shingles down over the roof and the eaves onto the walls, and, like the bark of a tree, right down to the ground." John Beach, 1988, in The Bay Area Tradition 1890-1918. In Bay Area Houses: New Edition , ed. Sally Woodbridge. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, pp. 23-98.All we parishioners can say is that it's a lovely place in which to glorify God.