In 1894, Joseph Worcester commissioned A. Page Brown to design a church for the Swedenborgian congregation at the corner of Lyon and Washington Streets. As minister, Worcester played an active role in the conceptual design of the Church, offering advice and direction for its overall architectural and artistic presentation. The Reverend was an avid student of art and architecture. He often held informal soirees at his residences in Piedmont and San Francisco to discuss art and theory. His home in Piedmont was built in redwood, leaving the wood in its natural state. Inspired by the rustic finish, Worchester applied this naturalist perspective to the construction of the Swedenborgian Church. He believed that the natural world reflected the divine and imparted a sense of spiritual enlightenment to those who contemplated its beauty.

For the Swedenborgian Church, Worcester enlisted the help of his friends A. Page Brown, William Keith, Bernard Maybeck, Bruce Porter, and Albert Cicero Schweinfurth to create a church that celebrated the beauty of California. Maybeck and Schweinfurth served as draftsmen while Porter and Keith provided artistic input for the project.

The exterior of the Church drew upon historic traditions of Asia, Europe, and California. The walled courtyard was reminiscent of Spanish missions while the incorporation of red brick, iron trellises, and a campanile recalled rustic churches of the Italian countryside. Bruce Porter, well-known artist and landscape architect, designed the garden. Porter appropriated Japanese horticultural design in his layout of the garden. This melding of various traditions defined the regional aesthetic of California art and architecture in the early decades of the twentieth century.

From the garden, one enters the church through a small alcove. The asymmetrical layout of the nave conveys a homespun quality to the construction that underscores the simplicity of the design. This simplicity is reinforced by the hand-crafted treatment of the interior space. Upon entering, one notes the lattice, boxed redwood roof supported by madrone arches, still covered in bark. Throughout the nave, the naturalistic treatment of the sanctuary complemented Worcester’s philosophy of nature and spiritualism.

Bruce Porter designed the stained glass windows of the sanctuary. Above the altar, a dove rests upon a fountain in a garden; the arrangement connects the sanctuary to the exterior courtyard of the Church, where a similar birdbath is nestled under the redwood trees. On the south wall, the second stained glass window by Porter depicts St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river. William Keith painted the murals of the four seasons decorating the north wall. Bernard Maybeck designed the chairs for the sanctuary. Unlike pews, the chairs permitted a variety of configurations that facilitated various functions within the church. Gustav Stickley replicated the chairs and the style became an emblem of the Arts and Craft Movement.

The Swedenborgian Church exemplifies a unified expression of art, architecture, and landscape. Its naturalistic perspective and the coordination of various disciplines to create a comprehensive approach to art and design became a cornerstone for the Arts and Craft Movement in California. Both Maybeck and Schweinfurth used the Swedenborgian Church as a model in their renderings for the First Church of Christ, Scientist (Maybeck) and the First Unitarian Church (Schweinfurth) in Berkeley.