St. James-by-the-Sea in La Jolla

Now the largest Episcopal church in the San Diego diocese, St. James-by-the-Sea dates back to 1907 when its cornerstone was dedicated on the present triangular lot that was donated by Ellen Browning Scripps. Between 1889 and 1907, however, La Jolla residents shared the small clapboard Union Church on Girard where services for various denominations were celebrated on alternate Sundays. Virginia Scripps's Wisteria Cottage also temporarily housed the Episcopal congregation until it moved into its first permanent building in 1907.

Designed by Irving Gill, and of outstanding Spanish architecture, today's church houses two sets of remarkable stained glass windows and the Parsons Memorial organ, a custom built instrument of sixty ranks. The graceful tower, designed from photographs by Louis Gill, is a replica of one destroyed by Porfirio Diaz's forces at Campo Florida, Mexico. Donated by Ellen Browning Scripps as a memorial to her sister Virginia, it houses a historic set of tubular Deagan chimes that are playable from the organ console and from a programmable digital computer.

Through the years, the growing parish has expanded into a variety of supplementary buildings and its tireless works have become well known throughout.