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St. Peter's, Del Mar
The Church Built of Redwood
Prepared by Jarvis Nolan, Historiographer
The breeze blows in from the ocean, the train rolls by daily, and the pods from the eucalyptus trees fall on the patio – yes, we are talking about St. Peter’s. Episcopal services were held in Del Mar as early as 1891. The services were led by The Rev. William E. Jacobs who traveled down from Oceanside in a horse-drawn, covered wagon. Returning to Oceanside, he would be seen traveling on the beach in his covered wagon at low tide, singing hymns. In 1923 The Rt. Rev. Bertrand Stevens, second bishop of Los Angeles, bought a summer home in Del Mar and held services in an open-air theatre in a canyon off present-day Amphitheatre Drive. In 1931 services moved to Batchelder’s Real Estate Office, which is presently Bully’s Restaurant.
A groundbreaking occurred on September 8, 1940, on land donated by the South Coast Land Company, which was on a bluff overlooking old Hwy 101. Herschel Larrick, a parishioner and owner of Solana Lumber Company donated the clear redwood for the church building. Carlton M. Winslow, architect, designed St. Peter’s after old churches in New England; Winslow referred to the architectural plan as “Carpenter Gothic.” The first service was held Christmas day 1940 and was attended by 65 people.
During the 1950’s, church property expanded to 15th Street, land donated by the Jocoy family. A parking lot was built on the site of a eucalyptus-lined hitching post where people tied their horses at the turn of the century. During this time the men of the church constructed a rock wall around the church on 14th Street and Maiden Lane. The wall with original rocks is still there.
The church expanded again in 1965 into a cruciform design to seat 250 worshippers. The Rev. Charles Condor, dean of the Convocation of San Diego, represented the Rt. Rev. Eric Francis Bloy, bishop of the diocese of Los Angeles. The expansion included a free standing altar, a pipe organ, six new, stained-glass windows, and a choir area behind the altar. The 2000-foot parish center housed offices, a library, a choir room and Sunday school classrooms. The campus was dedicated on October 9, 1966.
St. Michael’s Day, 1969, brought The Rev. Tally Jarrett from Christ Church, Las Vegas to St. Peter’s as the third rector. During his eighteen years as rector, St. Peter’s grew and began offering community outreach programs. Fr. Jarrett retired in 1987. Soon a rectangular memorial window commemorating his ministry, designed by Judson Studios of Los Angeles, will be installed over the south door. The edging and background will match the older windows.
By 1995 St. Peter’s was building again. They hired the Del Mar firm, Bokal Kelly-Markham Architects, for major expansion of the campus. The Rev. C. Corydon Randall, rector, brought his experience to the task, having restored Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This building has been recognized in the National Register of Historic Landmark Buildings. When the new buildings at St. Peter’s were completed, the San Diego Architecture Foundation presented the congregation with an Orchid Award for Architecture.
Presently, a traditionally Anglican, twenty-voice choir led by Ruben Valenzuela enhances the liturgy at St. Peter’s Church. “Joyful Noyse,” a contemporary worship band, leads music on the second or fourth Sunday of the month. Most recently, the St Nicholas Choristers, which boasts twelve-fourteen trebles, has established itself in the tradition of the collegiate and cathedral choirs of England.The choirs periodically offer Choral Evensong, and concerts of major works, as an outreach to the Del Mar community.The choirs sit in beautiful, century-old, wicker choir chairs.The organ is a unified, twelve-rank, three-manual organ built by M.P. Möller of Hagerstown, MD and was installed for Easter services 1981. It replaced an historic organ that came from the Del Mar Fairgrounds by way of Grace Church (later becoming Grace Cathedral) in San Francisco.
St. Peter’s entered the 21st century by calling the Rev. Stephen Wendfeldt as fifth rector in 2001. Since his arrival the church has nearly doubled in size and the average age has dropped from 65 to 40. Joe Ardizzone, head of the Mission/Outreach/Social Justice Commission and diocesan ERD representative, states that, “in the last three years St. Peter’s has committed itself to social justice.” Net proceeds raised by The Thrift exceeded $60,000, all of which benefited Esperanza International, a health center in Mexico, and the Encinitas Community Resource Center that supports domestic violence shelters. A springtime U2-charist raised $2000 for the Millennium Development Goals. St. Peter’s continues to minister to seniors through its Senior Service Corp, which started in the 1980’s as a Venture in Mission project.
Trudy Ardizzone, diocesan leader for Christian Education, leads the burgeoning Children's and Young Families Ministry. “I am excited,” states Natalie Bates, one of eleven young people from the Journey to Adulthood group making a pilgrimage to England this summer. The group will be joined by four young people from Christ Church, Coronado, and will be sent on their way with a blessing and commissioning Eucharist at St. Peter’s. Their agenda will be visiting cathedrals and Holy places of the Anglican Church. They sold coffee, Christmas wreaths and held a garage sale to raise money. A blog page will be created to post reports and pictures from their trip.
In the 1940’s St. Peter’s was the only church in the village serving the Protestant community. Today, it is the only church in the village. The hourly tolling of the chimes announces its presence. The church serves the community by hosting unrelated church groups such as the North Coast Chapter of the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego Children’s Choir as well as in 2006 forty-three non-recurring group meetings. The church is best described by Fr. Randall, who says, “this may be an Episcopal Church but it belongs to the community.”