8 Beautiful and Awe-Inspiring Churches and Cathedrals in Florida

Architecture, art, history, and spirituality. As buildings, churches offer a unique combination of features to inspire visitors and worshipers alike. In Florida, Christianity (and its churches) played a role from the state’s earliest origins, with Spanish colonizers seeking to spread their religion. Waves of Spanish, British, and American settlers brought their different denominations with them, building houses of worship to fit their needs. Some of the churches they built still stand on Florida soil today; others have been rebuilt or restored. Whether you’re a Florida native or a visitor from elsewhere, Florida’s historic, beautiful, and awe-inspiring churches are well worth seeing.

1. Cathedral Basilica of Saint Augustine

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine is the oldest Catholic Church in its namesake city of St. Augustine, and represents the oldest parish in the country. Three of its walls are from the original construction in 1797. Its architecture is mission-style. The exterior includes a statue of St. Augustine of Hippo, for whom the church and the city were named. The interior includes murals, stained glass windows, and sculptures. The basilica hosts regular services and also provides guided tours to visitors. Take a virtual tour at thefirstparish.org/virtual-tour.

2. St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church

Once called “the biggest jigsaw puzzle in history,” this church was constructed from 1133-1141 in northern Spain. It was occupied by Cistercian monks for nearly 700 years, then seized in a revolution in the 1830s, and converted into a granary and stable. So what is it doing on a list of Florida churches? Well, in 1925 media mogul William Randolph Hearst purchased the structure and had it dismantled, packed up, and shipped to his estate. But he was beset by financial problems, so the disassembled church was sold at auction. The entrepreneurs who bought it reassembled the building in Florida at a cost of nearly 20 million dollars. Today the relocated ancient Spanish monastery is an Episcopal church that holds regular services as well as weddings and receptions, tours, classes, concerts, and other events.

3. Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Designated as a minor basilica in 2013, this Catholic church in Jacksonville has been rebuilt twice. The first structure was built in 1847 but was destroyed by Union soldiers during the Civil War. A new church was constructed and dedicated in 1871. But that building was lost in the Great Fire of 1901, a conflagration that destroyed more than 2,000 buildings in Jacksonville. The rebuilt church was opened in 1910. The church was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

4. St. John’s Episcopal Church

Services in this downtown Tallahassee church began in 1837, but the building was destroyed in a fire in 1879. The rebuilt church, constructed in a red brick Gothic Revival style, began services in 1881. Later renovations included a two-story education building, a parish hall and cafe, a garden, a chapel, and a new south side wing.

5. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

The oldest church in Miami’s original city limits, Trinity Episcopal began in 1896 as a one-room building on donated land. The two-story stone cathedral was completed in 1925, based on the design of the Church of St. Gilles, located near Nimes in southern France. The building, designed by Miami architect Hastings Mundy, combines Romanesque, Byzantine, and Italianate architecture to create a distinctive Mediterranean appearance. In 2014, the church added a Jubilee Altar that incorporated five stones from historic places: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem; Canterbury Cathedral, the birthplace of Anglicanism; the Church of St. Gilles; Washington National Cathedral; and the original St. Paul’s Church in Key West, the oldest church in the diocese.

6. Grace United Methodist Church

A Spanish Renaissance building with concrete walls and terracotta roofing, Grace United was completed in 1887. Industrialist Henry Flager paid for the construction, in exchange for the land occupied by the Olivet Methodist Episcopal Church, where he wanted to build a hotel. The building was created with a then-unusual process using poured concrete. The church contains Tiffany stained glass windows which are original to its 19th-century construction.

7. Gesù Catholic Church

The oldest Catholic congregation in Miami, Gesù Catholic Church was founded in 1896, and established as a parish several months before the city was incorporated. Its first house of worship, a small wooden church, was replaced by the current building in 1922. The new 1,200-seat building featured neo-classical architecture, a popular style of the day, with arabesque towers and leaded crystal Gothic windows.  

8. Old St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Built in 1887, St. Andrew’s featured brick masonry, and made an architectural statement with a massive front corner tower featuring a louvered belfry and a steep spire roof. It was the only major church to survive Jacksonville’s Great Fire of 1901. But in the post-WWII era, residents moved away from the neighborhood, and in 1960 the church was deconsecrated and closed. The building would remain vacant for nearly three decades. In the 90s, the Jacksonville Historical Society began the process of restoring the building, using grant money and donated funds. The project was completed in 1998, and the building remains a striking example of 19^th-century architecture.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Bill Perry/Shutterstock.com