Wayfarers Chapel

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from all of us at Wayfarers Chapel! We hope everyone has a day with their family and friends!

10/02/2024

Thank you St Francis Palos Verdes Congregation for welcoming us to be with you this year during our time crisis. You all have demonstrated what the heart of the Christian faith is all about as a beloved community filled with grace. On September 29th, we held our second combined service including Ben Gunter, Rev. Celeste, Rev. Jason, and Rev. David. The turnout and the energy filling St. Francis was palpable as the Holy Spirit filled the sanctuary. Around 155 people turned out to celebrate in worship together in this historic gathering, which makes this the largest regular Sunday Worship in the history of Wayfarers Chapel since the Chapel could only hold 100 people!

Photo #3: Prayer before Service with Rev. Jason, Rev. Celeste, Rev. David, and Seminarian Ben Gunter

09/26/2024

The Congregation of Wayfarers Chapel is collaborating with the Congregation of St. Francis Episcopal Church this Sunday, September 29th inside the St. Francis Chapel at 10:15am. Rector Rev. Jason Shelby and his Parishioners have demonstrated what it means to walk the Christian walk in being gracious hosts in the midst of the crisis of the landslide that devastated Wayfarers Chapel and so many houses of Rancho Palos Verdes this year.

There is an interesting historic connection between these two structures on the Peninsula where both opened their doors in 1951. Architect Walter Swindell Davis completed the St. Francis Episcopal Church in December of 1951, shortly after Lloyd Wright had completed Wayfarers Chapel which opened doors to the public on Mother's Day that same year. In 1940, Walter Davis worked with Lloyd Wright in designing Ramona Gardens, and Aliso Village, the first low-cost housing developments in Los Angeles. Come see us this Sunday for another historic moment as the Swedenborgian Congregation of Wayfarers Chapel joins together in worship with the Episcopal Congregation of St. Francis. There will be more history shared on Sunday in person. Come and join us!

Location: 2200 Via Rosa, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274

📸: Groundbreaking of St. Francis Episcopal Church in December, 1951
Francis Palos Verdes Archives

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/events/

07/29/2024

On Sunday, May 19th, Rev. Dr. David Brown and Rev. Robert McCluskey led a group of Wayfarers Chapel parishioners to participate in a "memorial service" for the chapel. Dr. Brown began the ceremony in recognition of the millions of lives that had been spiritually transformed over the 73 years of Wayfarers Chapel. The chapel will always be remembered as sacred grounds and an iconic mid-century modern masterpiece of architecture. Participants included someone from the Waring family, where Wendy Waring recalled attending the chapel cornerstone unveiling in 1949, two years before the chapel opened in 1951. Rev. Dr. Amanda Riley, lead pastor at the Garden Church in San Pedro, was in attendance as well. The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/wayfarers-chapel-restoration/

07/23/2024

July 16th, 1949 ~ Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cornerstone & Consecration of the Building Site to Wayfarers Chapel.

While we are saddened by the recent developments of the Chapel, we look forward to rebuilding and serving the community for another 75+ years.

The Chapel’s cornerstone has not been cut or shaped in any way except by nature. Just as the builders were about to give up finding a stone of natural triangular shape to fit in with the Chapel design, a worker from a nearby estate provided a rock he had found and saved years earlier. The actor Charles Laughton read from the 107th Psalm during the dedication service, ending with verse 30: “Then they were glad because they had quiet and God brought them to their desired haven.” The biblical imagery of the first and last, the Greek letters alpha and omega (A Ω), are carved into the cornerstone.

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/about/significant-dates/

07/18/2024

The first phase of the Wayfarers Chapel disassembly is now complete and the team has successfully salvaged the most vulnerable elements of the landmark chapel: redwood, steel, glass, and roof tiles. Wayfarers Chapel and the surrounding grounds are now closed due to the momentum of local land movement, non-historic buildings on site have been removed, and the last remaining historic elements to be salvaged are the Palos Verdes stone walls of the chapel, other historic site elements such as the stone fountain, and the bell tower.

As the Portuguese Bend landslide accelerates at an unprecedented rate it is important to safely remove the bell tower as soon as possible. At roughly 80 feet high, and with the dangerous site conditions, it is not possible to carefully salvage the materials of the bell tower in the same way as the other chapel materials. Scaffolding and large cranes cannot safely be used on site. Easily removable objects on the bell tower such as the cross, roof tiles, bells, interior spiral stair, and Palos Verdes stone that is reachable from grade will be salvaged and stored for reuse, and the tower itself will be removed.

According to Katie Horak, Principal at Architectural Resources Group, “All possible options for salvaging the bell tower have been explored by the design team. Safety continues to be our number one priority, and given the circumstances of the land movement we continue to see on site, it is imperative that the bell tower is removed as soon as possible.”

Read More: https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/bell-tower-disassembly/

07/09/2024

A major first phase of the disassembly of Wayfarers Chapel has been completed. We all are grieving the sudden loss of our beloved Chapel as it once was. The significant elements including the cornerstone and baptismal font are being preserved. All component parts will be stored at a safe location until they can be reassembled.

Additional work to dismantle other structures on campus, including Hallelujah Tower, will continue in coming weeks. Even since our last post a few weeks ago, there has been more land movement around campus that continues to damage the property.

The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

Please visit our donation pages to help save Wayfarers Chapel:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wayfarers

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/donate/online-giving/

06/26/2024

The chapel disassembly is near completion with the redwood bents removed this week. Additional historic elements of the chapel will carefully be disassembled in the coming weeks. The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

📸: Resources Group

Please visit our donation pages to help save Wayfarers Chapel:

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/donate/online-giving/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wayfarers

06/19/2024

Work to disassemble Wayfarers Chapel continues. The team has been cataloguing and documenting each piece, preserving as much of the chapel’s original materials as practicable, and relocating all component parts to a temporary safe location until they can be reassembled.

As you can see in the current photos, the iconic glass has been removed to start the deconstruction process along with critical elements of the chapel structure. Numerous trees have been removed, along with the roof of the colonnade, and glass loggia.

There is also significant damage to the Visitors' Center and the parking lot continues to feel the brunt of the ongoing landslide.

Note that 20 rose bushes were saved by parishioners last week when the garden was removed. As a part of the chapel disassembly process, the bricks are currently being preserved and stored. They will be a part of the chapel reopening.

The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

Please visit our donation pages to help save Wayfarers Chapel:

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/donate/online-giving/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wayfarers

05/14/2024

Yesterday, on it's 73 year anniversary, Wayfarers Chapel management announced plans to move forward with disassembly of the iconic structure to save it from landslide destruction. Currently, Wayfarers Chapel and the surrounding grounds are closed due to the momentum of local land movement. The Portuguese Bend landslide has accelerated at an unprecedented rate and is dramatically impacting the Wayfarers Chapel campus and surrounding area.

It has been determined that the immediate deconstruction of the chapel is the safest and most viable preservation action to take at this time and will prevent further irreparable damage to the chapel’s structure and materials. The team will begin the careful disassembly of the chapel, which includes cataloguing and documenting each piece, preserving as much of the chapel’s original materials as practicable, and relocating all component parts to a temporary safe location until they can be reassembled. Simultaneously, the team will evaluate options for reconstruction on this site or one nearby. The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

For more information, please visit our website to view our recent press release and frequently asked questions.

📸:

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/wayfarers-chapel-restoration/

FAQs: https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/wayfarers-chapel-restoration-faqs/

05/13/2024

Press conference tomorrow, Monday May 13th @ 9am onsite on front steps to Wayfarers Chapel.

04/18/2024

It is with heartfelt gratitude to Rector Rev. Jason Shelby and the Congregation of St. Francis Church in Rancho Palos Verdes that we have a place to worship on Sundays! Please note that parking is limited and we will be gathering in the smaller chapel, not the main sanctuary. We have graciously been invited to join their coffee hour following worship service. Please join us this Sunday!

Location: St Francis Palos Verdes
2200 Via Rosa, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274

https://www.stfrancispalosverdes.org/

03/05/2024

Your donation will exclusively support activities to stabilize and restore the Chapel. This is an endeavor that will take years and must be done in stages. We are inviting you here to be among the first supporters helping us recover from the devastating landslide of 2024.

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, one of only a handful of National Historic Landmarks in Southern California.

Contributions from this page support the nonprofit established by Wayfarers Chapel specifically to fund Chapel restoration efforts. Now that the winter storms and resulting landslide have forced our doors closed, this restoration has become a rescue mission.

Our plans to slow down this land movement include installing 1,000 linear feet of French Drain to safely divert water from the uphill side of the property into the ocean. There are several dewatering wells that have recently been activated, pumping out hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day. We are also escalating this issue to activate resources at the Federal Level.

We know that our National Historic Landmark is an iconic legacy of the Wright family to the world and we are doing everything possible to save it for many generations to come.

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of … Rev Dr David Brown needs your support for Save Historic Wayfarers Chapel After Landslide

02/20/2024

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, one of only a handful of National Historic Landmarks in Southern California.

Contributions from this page support the nonprofit established by Wayfarers Chapel specifically to fund Chapel restoration efforts. Now that the winter storms and resulting landslide have forced our doors closed, this restoration has become a rescue mission.

Our plans to slow down this land movement include installing 1,000 linear feet of French Drain to safely divert water from the uphill side of the property into the ocean. There are several dewatering wells that have recently been activated, pumping out hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day. We are also escalating this issue to activate resources at the Federal Level.

We know that our National Historic Landmark is an iconic legacy of the Wright family to the world and we are doing everything possible to save it for many generations to come.

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of … Rev Dr David Brown needs your support for Save Historic Wayfarers Chapel After Landslide

02/16/2024

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, one of only a handful of National Historic Landmarks in Southern California.

Contributions from this page support the nonprofit established by Wayfarers Chapel specifically to fund Chapel restoration efforts. Now that the winter storms and resulting landslide have forced our doors closed, this restoration has become a rescue mission.

This is the official fundraiser supporting the disaster recovery of … Rev Dr David Brown needs your support for Save Historic Wayfarers Chapel After Landslide

02/15/2024

Chapel & Grounds Are Closed - NO PUBLIC ACCESS ALLOWED ON PREMISES

Effective immediately, we are extremely devastated to announce the closure of Wayfarers Chapel and its surrounding property due to the accelerated land movement in our local area.

For those who have confirmed reservations at Wayfarers Chapel, please know refunds will be issued, and our Weddings and Events Office will be in contact with you soon.

In the meantime, anyone with a confirmed reservation is welcome to inquire about your event at [email protected]

For those with general inquiries, you are welcome to reach out at [email protected]

01/23/2024

Thank you National Historic Landmarks Program!