St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle

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St. Mark's Cathedral

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St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., is the seat of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.

Plans for the building, located on the west side of 10th Avenue E. between E. Highland Drive and E. Galer Street on Capitol Hill, were drawn up in 1926. Fundraising took place for two years until construction began in 1928. Ground was broken on September 30, 1928. The Great Depression took a toll on the parish, however. Construction was incomplete when the cathedral was dedicated on April 25, 1931, and the parish was in default on its mortgage throughout the 1930s. The cathedral was foreclosed upon in 1941 and shut for the next two years. The United States Army made use of the building in 1943 and 1944.

In 1944, Bishop S. Arthur Huston reopened discussions with the parish's bankers in St. Louis, Missouri; over the next three years, more funds were raised, and in 1947 the mortgage was paid off. The mortgage document was burned before the Parish on Palm Sunday.

St. Mark's Cathedral is located at the top of a very steep dropoff to Lakeview Boulevard E. below. The wooded hillside is known as the St. Mark's Greenbelt.

The Very Reverend Dean Robert V. Taylor of St. Mark's resigned abruptly in March 2008, stating that he and the vestry (akin to the church board), diverged in their visions for the future of St. Mark's and because there was a loss of trust between them.^[1]