Addition to First United Methodist Church

1421 Spruce Street/ Hobart D. Wagener architect/ Formalism style/ built 1960

The United Methodist Church was built in 1892 in a handsome style know as Richardsonian Romanesque. The MCM addition along Spruce Street doubled the capacity of the sanctuary. The roof gables and the rusticated stone base reflect the original church. Even the low-arching windows at the ground level relate to the arched-top windows in the old church. The large size of the addition was cleverly reduced in appearance by joining six smaller building blocks instead of using one long, unbroken façade. The addition is perforated with hundreds of openings, most adorned with beautiful stained glass. The end panel forms a pavilion that is an open-air shelter over the main entry to the sanctuary. A unique design element that is not visible from the ground level is the roof geometry. It is built in the form of a hyperbolic paraboloid, which is a technical name for a favorite detail of the MCM era.