Old Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral

864 Fulton Street
San Rafael

The Old Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral was originally St. Stephens Episcopal Church.  St. Stephens’s parish was organized in 1876 as a mission and occupied a temporary chapel built on the back of the property.

The present wood Gothic structure was designed by John Wright and was built by Wright and Sanders in 1881.  St. Stephens was consecrated August 25, 1889.  John Wright has been described as the “Grandfather of West Coast architecture”.  Of more than 100 major buildings designed by John Wright, only six remain standing.

The Russian Orthodox Church purchased the building in 1930.  Artist Gleb Ilyin directed removing the pews, and installing the iconostas to separate the open nave from the sanctuary.  The original oak floors and the soaring redwood interior structure remain.  In the 1930’s, the south façade was stuccoed, but the original shingled exterior of the clerestory and the west side of the building remain.  It was consecrated on October 5, 1930.  The new cathedral at 6210 Geary was completed in 1963 and consecrated on January 30, 1977.

The Old Cathedral of the Holy Virgin was designated San Francisco City Landmark 28 in 1969.

The three double stained glass windows in the choir were created in 1943 by Carl Huneke, Century Stained Glass Studio, San Francisco.  The other stained glass windows closely resemble windows advertised in an 1860 catalog from Heaton and Butler, London.