Cathedral of the Madeleine

The Cathedral of the Madeleine features twin spires that rise two hundred feet above South Temple Street, capped with distinct copper-clad lanterns. Completed in nineteen oh nine, this Catholic cathedral replaced a smaller structure that had become inadequate for the city's growing congregation. When the bishop Lawrence Scanlan commissioned the building, he insisted on the intricate Gothic Revival style, which was highly unusual in the American West at the time. Construction workers spent years carving the sandstone details that still define the exterior today.