Bryn Athyn Borough

WHAT'S HERE
Cairnwood
Glencairn

To Advertise Here
phone 215-295-6555

Bryn Athyn Boro municipal offices are located at 2835 Buck Road, Bryn Athyn PA 19009; phone: 215-947-9889.

Incorporated from two square miles of Moreland Township land in 1916. It is notable for three institutions: Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn Church School, and New Church College.

Bryn Athyn Post Office (19009) delivery includes areas in Upper and Lower Moreland Townships.

Bryn Athyn residential population is less than 1,500. Residential resales occur seldom, averaging perhaps one or two per year.

Cairnwood

"Cairnwood," located nineteen miles north of Philadelphia in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, was designed in 1892 by Carrere & Hastings, architects of New York City, and constructed by 1895 as a Roman brick and limestone Beaux-Arts, French-style country estate for John Pitcairn, President of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and supporter of the Swedenborgian church and educational system. Cairnwood' s period of significance from 1895 to 1916 represents the years of final design, construction, and use as the sole residence of John Pitcairn and his family. MORE

Glencairn

Glencairn ... was built between 1929 and 1942. Its architect and builder, Raymond Pitcairn, planned it both as a family home and as an art center for his collection of medieval sculpture and glass.

Raymond Pitcairn, who died in 1966, was the eldest son of John Pitcairn, founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. In addition to being an industrial and financial leader, he was active throughout his life in civic and political affairs. Through his supervision and design of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral he was elected to the American Institute of Architects. MORE

Pennsylvania Guide, 1940

At 16.1 m. is the junction with Red Lion Road.

Right on this macadamized road, past an airport and numerous old stone farmhouses, to a junction with State 232, 3.5 m.; R. here 0.7 m. to BRYN-ATHYN (Welsh, hill of cohesiveness) (280 alt..736 pop.). a well-to-do residential community. Here, on an elevation, is the BRYN-ATHYN CATHEDRAL (Open Apr. 1-NOV. 1: 3-5 weekdays; 10-12, 3-5 Sat.; 2-6:30 Sun.), center of Swedenborgianism in the United States. Architecturally it is considered one of the finest ecclesiastical groups in the country. Followers of Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist and philosopher who turned to religion in the 1740's and created a new system of theology, call themselves the New Jerusalem churchmen. The church was organized in London in 1787; the first New Church Society in this country was formed in Baltimore in 1792.

A frame chapel was erected at Bryn Athyn in 1895. Thirteen years later John Pitcairn, railroad, oil, and plate-glass magnate, donated $30,000 to local Swedenborgias and shortly thereafter plans were outlined for a 50-year building program. The cathedral cornerstone was laid in 1914, and the edifice was dedicated in 1919 – the year in which the society received $2,000,000 under Pitcairn's will.

Raymond Pitcairn, a son, is (1940) resident architect. Granite is quarried near by; all timber, except teakwood for floors and doors, is cut in neighboring woods; and materials are finished by hand. The cathedral was designed by Cram and Ferguson in late Gothic style. The characteristic cruciform plan has been followed, and the handsome square pinnacled tower, rising 150 feet at the crossing, dominates the group of three connected buildings – church, council building, and choir hall. Variations in the color of the granite used give the buildings a warm tone. The main facade, on the west, consists of a porch with three arches between buttresses, and a carved and pinnacled parapet, above which is a large arched window. The chancel is in three sections-symbolic of the three degrees of the internal mind and of the three heavens defined in the Swedenborgian faith. The stained-glass windows of the church, depicting the story of the Scriptures, are warm in color, except in the sanctuary, where blue predominates. The choir hall and council building have both late Romanesque and early Gothic features.

Federal Writers Project, Works Progress Administration, 1940