Trinity United Methodist Church - Denver, CO
Posted by: FSU*Noles
N 39° 44.715 W 104° 59.238
13S E 501088 N 4399483
This is the Trinity United Methodist Church, Denver's first church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Building #70000161.
Waymark Code: WM3K8R
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 04/14/2008
Views: 93
Trinity United Methodist Church is one of the finest examples of "Modern Gothic" architecture in the United States. According to definitions of design, "the church is an auditorium clothed in a Gothic shell." What made the building "modern" in 1888 was the marriage of Gothic detailing and a Rococo theater with the latest technology.
The building was designed by Robert Roeschlaub, Colorado's first licensed architect. The entire structure, including the steeple, is built of rhyolite quarried locally from Castle Rock, CO, and features a stain-glass window by the Tiffany Company.
The opportunity to build Trinity’s spire was "the magnificent goal of Robert Roeschlaub’s career as a church designer." The spire stands 183’ 7 1Ï2" from the ground. Because of the height, the usual scaffoldings and cranes couldn’t be used during construction. Roeschlaub invented a cage-like mechanism that surrounded the spire, allowing workers and needed materials to be raised and lowered. In 1888, it was one of the tallest stone towers in the United States.
Fundamental in Christian theology, the three entities of the "Holy Trinity" (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) can be found throughout the building’s design: the three arches over the Broadway entrance, the three intertwined circles on the ends of each pew, interior doors, communion rail, in much of the woodwork throughout the sanctuary, the three sections of the spire, and in the wooden arches above each side of the balcony. Within the proscenium arch, above the organ’s pipes, you’ll count 66 lights; each represents a book of the Bible.
In keeping with the traditions of Gothic cathedral design, the architecture directs a viewer’s line of sight skyward, "toward Heaven." The church spire is a prime example, your eyes are led up the stonework, eventually past the highest point, the copper cross. The sanctuary, as well, is built on the second floor, symbolic of the belief that one should walk upward to worship God.
Trinity United Methodist Church is considered Robert S. Roeschlaub's crowning achievement of his extensive career. Not only did Roeschlaub design Trinity, but numerous other historic buildings across the state: the Central City Opera House (1879), Pueblo’s Central High School (1881); the University of Denver’s Chamberlin Observatory (1888), University Hall (1890) and Carnegie Library (1906).
Street address: 1820 Broadway Denver, CO USA 80202
County / Borough / Parish: Denver
Year listed: 1970
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1875-1899
Historic function: Religion, Religious Structure
Current function: Religion, Religious Structure
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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