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First United Methodist Church

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1906, Sheetz and Gesberg. Northeast corner of Jefferson and Dubuque streets
  • (Photograph by Maggie Grove)
  • (Photograph by Catherine Boland Erkkila)

If one were to change this church's windows and detailing to the Romanesque, it could easily pass as a Richardsonian Romanesque design. Its massing, with its one large and one small corner towers, its strong ashlar block stone walls, and the specific pattern of its windows are all logical for the late nineteenth-century versions of the Romanesque. But its entrance with three gable roofs, its single rose window above, and its windows with pointed arches are all meant to be experienced as Gothic. The tower, its crenellation rising at each of its corners, its corner-angled gargoyles, and its almost classical entablature and cornice certainly matches no known historic style. The building was restored in 1990, and short buttresses were added to the east and west sides of the building.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim

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