Origins and Leadership

In the fall of 1889, when William Whitney Newell and his wife Helen (see American Girls' Art Club) began hosting student gatherings in their apartment on the Boulevard St. Germain, the American Cathedral quickly took notice and endeavored to support these events. This support became even more steadfast when the Newells moved to a larger apartment at 87 rue de Rennes. Soon after, the Newells proposed the establishment of a church service on the Left Bank, somewhere in the Latin Quarter, where many American students lived and worked as part of the so-called "American colony." In addition to support from the Cathedral, the Newells also found a friend in A.A. Anderson, then president of the American Art Association, headquartered in Montparnasse.

William W. Newell was ordained, and in the fall of 1891, he and his wife began offering formal church services sanctioned by the Bishop at 56 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. As the first service was held on St. Luke's Day, October 18, 1891, it was only fitting to name the entire venture after St. Luke, patron saint of artists, students, and physicians. In these early days, Sunday services were held at 11am each week, with Holy Communion celebrated on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.

"A beautiful altar-cross and candlesticks, in brass, the work of Messrs. Barkinton and Krall of London, have been presented to St. Luke's by a member of our congregation... The large windows of the studio in which temporarily the services are held have been beautifully decorated by one of the congregation, Mr. Malcolm Fraser, an American artist living in the quarter. Upon one he has painted a representation of the Annunciation, and upon the other a representation of the Nativity" (American Cathedral archival records, as quoted in Allen, 450).

Fraser, a Canadian art student, had moved to Paris in 1888 to study at the Sorbonne and at Académie Julian under Benjamin Constant and others. Fraser moved to New York in 1897 and embarked on a successful career as a portraitist and illustrator. A large collection of his works can be found at the Ormond Art Museum in Ormond Beach, Florida.

Archival records from the American Cathedral in Paris indicate that on July 14, 1892 the cathedral decided to formalize the relationship to Rev. Newell's Latin Quarter church services, and oversee the work of what would  officially be called St. Luke's Chapel of the Church of the Holy Trinity (Allen 451). Over the summer of 1892, a new site for the chapel was found at 5 rue de la Grande Chaumière. Rev. Dr. Morgan, Rector of the Cathedral, appears to have leased the land on the rue de la Grande Chaumière from J.J.E. Keller, the son of Pastor Jean-Jacques Keller, founder of the Keller Institute.

A temporary iron building, the "Little Tin Church," was anonymously donated and erected by a church member. St. Luke's had outgrown its former space on rue Notre Dame des Champs and the new iron structure could comfortably seat 150 people. Rev. Dr. Morgan led the first service in the new St. Luke's on Sunday, November 13, 1892 at 11 o'clock, assisted by Rev. Newell, for a large standing-room-only crowd. Rev. Wilberforce Newton, who attended a service at St. Luke's in 1895 (with nearly one hundred artists present), records in an article in The Independent some remarks made by Rev. Dr. Morgan at the service: "'It will be a great thing if we can help to give art a Christian tone,' said Dr. Morgan, on this occasion, 'for it will help in the work of making America over again. Therefore let us begin with the artists here'" (13). Rev. Newton also describes a painting of Christ walking among the lilies as one of the lone adornments in the chapel.

A document in the American Cathedral archives reflects the chapel's early attempts to meet the varied needs of its congregants: "The work of any church, true to itself, true to its responsibility, must be more than worship. So St. Luke's stands ready to be a friend in whatever direction a friend may be needed. In this it is largely your trustee, to minister in trouble, sickness, need, or other difficulties" (Allen 464).

The rest of the property of the former Institution Keller surrounding St. Luke's, including all of the buildings and the garden at 4 rue de Chevreuse, was leased to Elisabeth Mills Reid in 1893, for the establishment of the American Girls' Art Club. Mrs. Reid had her own close ties to the American Cathedral, having been confirmed there in 1874 (in the same class as famed artist John Singer Sargent) while she was studying in Paris at a finishing school. According to the New York Herald (April 30, 1931), she partially contributed funds toward the erection of the chapel, which became an integral part of everyday life at the Club.