Trinity United Methodist Church (Evansville, Indiana)
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Trinity United Methodist Church | |
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| Location | 216 Third St., Evansville, Indiana |
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| Coordinates | 37°58′08″N 87°34′13″W / 37.96889°N 87.57028°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1866 |
| MPS | Downtown Evansville MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 82005248[1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 1, 1982 |
Trinity United Methodist Church is a historic United Methodist church located in downtown Evansville, Indiana. The congregation began in 1825 as a Methodist class and its Gothic Revival style brick church building was completed in 1866.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]
The architectural firm Mursinna & Boyd designed the church's primary 150-by-76-foot structure, modeling it after St. Paul's M. E. Church in Newark, New Jersey (dedicated in 1856). In 1864 the Evansville Daily Journal reported the church hoped to provide "one of the very handsomest church edifices in the whole western country."[3]
Work on the church began in early 1864 in the midst of the American Civil War, providing substantial challenges since many of the church's congregants fought in the conflict and their families back home dealt with related stress. By June 1865, an upper meeting room later called Craig Hall was completed and housed services until the main sanctuary was finished in spring 1866. The new building was formally dedicated on March 25, 1866. The final construction included approximately 400,000 bricks.[4]
The interior of the original church included a grand auditorium, three classrooms, a minister's study, a trustees' meeting room, and a 36-by-68 foot lecture room on the second floor (later called Craig Hall).[4] In the 1920s Trinity added a Tudor-style wing containing classrooms, offices, a kitchen, and full gymnasium.[3]
Replacing the Greek Revival columns, pediments, and large cornices popular earlier in the nineteenth century, Gothic-style buildings had gained popularity by the 1840s as the Romantic movement in Europe rediscovered heavenward-pointed arches of the Middle Ages. Except for spires and window size, Trinity's exterior is identical to St. Paul's M. E. Church in Newark. Inside there are more significant differences, including the height of the ceiling and the height of the windows, with Trinity's much higher in both cases.[4]
Trinity's facade consists of two towering spires, one on each side extending vertically into the air. Such vertical facades were common among European Gothic churches. In choosing a twin spire facade, the architect separated the design for Trinity from the traditional American (Protestant) Gothic revival church which called for a single frontal spire. Although the church lacks cross-ribbed vaults which are typical of Gothic Revival architecture, Trinity does feature buttresses, pointed arches, and other characteristics giving form to the Gothic beauty, including arched openings and an octagonal steeple.[4]
