[5] Called "bold" in its time, St. Stephen's is an example of Philadelphia's earliest Gothic Revival buildings that responded to the great local demand for this type since the 1780s.

A plaque on the outside front wall, apparently unrelated to the oval Philadelphia Historical Commission marker above it, reads: "THIS CHURCH IS BUILT ON THE SITE WHERE BENJ.

Architect Richard Upjohn designed a side chapel (1849–1853) to house the Burd Children's Monument.

Other artwork includes the Burd Canopy Tomb (c. 1860), designed by architect Frank Wills and sculpted by Henry Kirke Brown; various memorials to former rectors; and, until it was purchased by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2004, the sculpture The Angel of Purity by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

[7]In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the rector is the priest elected to head a self-supporting parish.