Qualla: Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey) https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey) https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Introduction https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit SRMoses, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1879, Mrs. Francis Hemsley walked into the vestry meeting at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Atlantic City and laid out her case. Atlantic City had become a year-round resort - her husband's Hotel Brighton had recently announced it would operate through the winter, the first hotel in town to do so - and the religious life of the city should match the change. Summer-only churches were no longer sufficient. The Episcopalians needed a year-round parish. Mrs. Hemsley was the daughter of Bishop Underdonk of Pennsylvania and not someone the vestry could easily dismiss. The Church of the Ascension was organized that year as Atlantic City's first all-year Episcopal congregation. Reverend J. Rice Taylor held the first services in June 1880 in a small frame chapel at Michigan and Pacific Avenues. The parish was incorporated on January 3, 1881. The frame chapel was moved in 1886 to Pacific and Kentucky Avenues. The grand brick church that finally replaced it opened on May 13, 1894 - Whitsunday - and stood until July 2017.

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Image: SRMoses | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Lindley Johnson's Design https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit Lisa Andres, CC BY 2.0. Reverend J.H. Townsend became the third rector in December 1891 and immediately began planning a permanent church building. The vestry hired Philadelphia architect Lindley Johnson, who designed the new structure in Spanish Renaissance style - an unusual choice for an Episcopal ch...

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Image: Lisa Andres | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-lindley-johnsons-design.mp3 0:06 2 full Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The Stained Glass https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit Unknown postcard publisher, Public domain. Originally the church windows were made by Lavers and Westlake, a respected London-based stained glass firm. When a hotel fire next door damaged ten of the panels in the early twentieth century, Lavers and Westlake re-executed identical replacements from their original drawings. ...

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Image: Unknown postcard publisher | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-the-stained-glass.mp3 0:06 3 full Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The Mother Church https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit SRMoses, CC BY-SA 4.0. Under Father Townsend's leadership the Church of the Ascension grew into what its parishioners called the mother church of Atlantic City Episcopalianism. The parish founded daughter congregations: St. Augustine's Chapel, All Saints' Chapel, and the Church of the Good Shepherd in ...

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Image: SRMoses | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-the-mother-church.mp3 0:06 4 full Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Listed and Doomed https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit Jack Boucher, Public domain. The church was inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, two years after the parish completed the nomination as a centennial project. The designation did not save it. In mid-2014 an engineering firm determined that the church's condition - particularly the be...

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Image: Jack Boucher | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-listed-and-doomed.mp3 0:06 5 full Church of the Ascension (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The 2017 Demolition https://qualla.com/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey/ Photo credit SRMoses, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Church of the Ascension was demolished in July 2017. Photographers documented the building thoroughly in the months before the wrecking crews arrived. The Lavers and Westlake glass was salvaged where possible. The D'Ascenzo windows were carefully removed and held in storage. ...

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Image: SRMoses | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-wp/dqgp-church-of-the-ascension-atlantic-city-new-jersey-the-2017-demolition.mp3 0:06 6 full