An acre-and-a-half site, the congregation's first building was a brick school and meeting house of forty-four square feet.

In 1847 Mrs. Negley, now a widow, donated an additional tract of land that includes the current South Highland Avenue frontage.

A vacancy of a year occurred until the Reverend Stuart Nye Hutchison was called as pastor in April 1921.

Cram writes in 1935, "Seldom in the case of great churches are the architects permitted to see their highest ideals carried out after a complete and definitive fashion.

Here the donors had a vision of adequacy and completeness...it is doubtful if there is anywhere in this country a church of similar magnitude where every detail of utility and artistic quality has been achieved in so full a degree.

The original pipe organ in the church was also a gift of Richard Mellon and was built as Opus #884 by the Boston firm of Æolian-Skinner.

[3] The Penn Avenue main entrance carvings represent the City of God (left) and the Tower of David (right).

The windows, from the studios of Reynolds, Francis and Rohnstock, form a glass screen between the narthex and the nave.

Within them is found the following symbols: chrysanthemum, thistle, star, fleur-de-lis, rose, and finally a budded cross.

The large window depicts the Revelation 21; the figure of a woman representing the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.

[3] As of 2021, the Church is considering the removal of the Thomas Jonathan Jackson panel due to his Confederate infamy and affiliation.

A single lancet panel, beneath the American Presbyterian History Window, is by Oliver Smith Studios.

A brief history of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church is also here inscribed, documenting the congregation's gratitude to the Mellons for their gift of the building.

Five Christian virtues are carved as symbols on the west wall of the east transept on shields: Charity (a sheep), Wisdom (a serpent), Faith (a chalice and cross), Chastity (a phoenix), and Patience (a yoked ox).

Four small rose windows highlight the importance of music in worship and portray King David (Psalmist), Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina, Pope Gregory I (Gregorian chant), and Johann Sebastian Bach.

[3] A "sounding board" is mounted above the pulpit, which served, prior to modern microphone and speaker systems, to project the preacher's voice into the nave.

The Last Supper, carved by John Angel, is regarded as one of the two outstanding achievements of his career (the other being the bronze doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City).

"[3] Notable occasions on which the bell was rung include the Centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the passing of the funeral train of Resident McKinley, and during the World War as a call to prayer.

[3] As part of the church's 200th anniversary celebration, new exterior lighting was installed to highlight Ralph Adams Cram's architectural masterpiece.

Following the deaths of Richard Beatty and Jennie King Mellon in 1942, the Church Session voted to construct to them a memorial which became Trinity Chapel.

[3] Desiring to be conscious of those suffering the economic repercussions of the 1929 Great Depression, the congregation intended to use the Wayfarers' Chapel (located at the corner of Baum and Whitfield) for a ministry of social service.

However, by the time the church was completed in 1935, the worst of the Great Depression was over, and the Wayfarers' Chapel did not fulfill its intended use until many years later.

Three windows in the chapel's interior are designed by Howard G. Wilbert and depict the Great Seal of the United States of America, The Crucifixion, and an angel holding the Gospel.