William Halsey Wood, hired by Smethport’s Henry Hamlin to design St. Luke’s as a magnificent church and a monument of perfection, was already nationally famous and had the talent to realize Hamlin’s vision. St. Luke’s in Smethport was consecrated in 1892, only five years before Wood’s early death. Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1855, Wood showed exceptional talent for drawing as a young child, trained in the office of architect Thomas A. Roberts, and by age twenty became a partner in the firm of Roberts, Taylor and Wood before entering private practice. Multiple trips to Europe influenced his cathedral style, and he became especially notable as a church architect. He first gained wide fame in 1889 when his plan for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City was one of four selected for elaboration from a field of one hundred architects in an international competition. Although his admired design, based on the theme “Jerusalem the Golden,” was not chosen, he went on to design dozens of cathedrals and other buildings across the United States, as well as St. John’s College in Shanghai, China.