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Historic Name

First Methodist Episcopal Church of Upland

Address

262 N Euclid Avenue
Upland, CA 91786

Architect

Inwood & Shilling

Evaluation

Building
5/7/2007

Construction Date

1931-32

Current Owner

First Methodist Church of Upland

Current Owner Address

262 n Euclid ave
Upland, CA 91786

Description

Tudor Revival styling dignifies the First Methodist Church at the southeast corner of Euclid Avenue and C Street. The brick structure is oriented north towards C Street, with a steeply pitched front gable with no overhang surmounting the nave. A cross gable tops the transept and adjacent spaces. The facade, fronted by a courtyard, is of severely simple design. Archivolts, articulated by intricate brick work, surround a Gothic portal. Instead of an ornate rose window, a bulls-eye window with a star pattern in the glass is set into the gable end. Set back slightly on the south a two-story bell tower is topped by a tall steeple. Paired Gothic windows pierce its north and south elevations. A second entry, marked by a gabled vestibule, opens into the west elevation of the tower. Broad apertures with pointed arch heads define the bays on the west elevation; tracery divides the leaded glass into three smaller archs.

T e Methodist Church in Upland began as an outpost of the Ontario Methodist Episcopal Church in 1899. Initially meetings were held in private homes, then in rooms in the Stowell Block followed by a building on the corner of Ninth and C. A Sunday School was organized by Peter Walline. In 1897 the North Ontario group received permission to erect a chapel. Two lots at the corner of C and Euclid were made available to the congregation by the Harwood Brothers for a token fee and a chapel was built in 1898. On October 1, 1899, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of North Ontario (later Upland) was officially established, independent of the Ontario church, with 81 charter members. A lot adjacent to the chapel on the south was purchased and a parsonage erected in 1900-01. Then in 1905 a new church building was constructed to accommodate the growing congregation, then numbering 188.

The two-story transept is characterized by half-timbering on stucco on the upper story. An oriel window glazed with diamond paned leaded glass is centered on the gable end. Other architectural features include another entrance, set beneath a shed roof, on the north side of the transept and a cloistered, brick-paved courtyard east of the sanctuary. Details include carved wooden timbers in the west entrances, original light fixtures, and variegated brick ranging in color from red to black on the exterior. Adjacent to the courtyard on C Street, F.C. Crowell Memorial Hall is a two-story structure in the Mission Revival style. Set on a high cobblestone foundation, the building is sheathed with stucco. Its most prominent feature is a tall es~adana which surmounts the facade. The shape of the parapet is echoed by the pediment over a central entry. Raised letters on the pediment identify the building and its date. Double wooden doors are pierced by square windows which are subdivided into four small squares. Five steps with stone rails lead to the entry. It is flanked by a single double-hung sash window on each side. The second story also contains single windows on the sides, with three windows centered over the entry and below a vent. A stringcourse separates the upper and lower floors. The entire Methodist Church complex is in good condition. Although a third building (the Educational Building on First Avenue) is of recent construction, the historic structures are visually pre-eminent. They appear to be substantially unaltered. 19. SIGNIFICANCE AND EVALUATION: By 1917 the number had swelled to 493 and the need for more space for the Sunday School resulted in the construction of Crowell Hall. It was named in memory of Frank C. Crowell, former superintendent of the Sunday School. Church member F.W. Edwards was the builder of the new hall, which cost about $10,000 with furnishings. Plans for the present church building began to be laid around 1926. In 1931 the membership embarked on an active building campaign. A design by architects Inwood and Shilling was obtained. The cornerstone was laid on September 31, 1931 and the sanctuary dedicated a year later on November 6, 1932. It had cost $35,000, including furnishings. Prominent in the fund raising drive were Upland residents William Rohrig, Frank Buffington, James Goodban, Mrs. Hiram Waterman, W.F. Naftel, and Arthur H. Johnson.

Still housing an active congregation, the Upland Methodist Church is a notable landmark on Euclid Avenue. It is one of only two historic church buildings still occupied by the congregation that built it. It is the youngest of the five historic church buildings that have survived in Upland and the only one from the 1930s. Crowell Hall is additionally significant as a rare example of the Mission Revival style and for its association with the congregation since 1917.