now United Methodist Church
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First Methodist Episcopal Church (now United Methodist Church)
1905–1908, Proudfoot and Bird. Pleasant St., end of 10th St.
Architects designing within the fold of the Beaux-Arts had a decided fondness for the Roman Pantheon of the second century as a source for a number of twentieth-century building types. This Proudfoot and Bird church, with its central auditorium, could hardly be seen as a replica of its Roman ancestor; still, the ancient building served as an inspiration. In the Des Moines church, the pedimented porch with Ionic columns is Greek rather than Roman in its proportions and detailing. The building's siting perfectly expresses the Beaux-Arts ideal: a location at the terminus of a street (Tenth Street), near the slope of a hill which necessitates a pair of ramplike stairs leading up to a low terrace platform, upon which the church was placed.
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