National Register Listing

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

a.k.a. 5AL.260

607 Fourth St., Alamosa, CO

St. Thomas Episcopal Church is eligible for listing in the National Register under criterion C for its architectural significance. The building possesses the distinctive characteristics of the Mission Revival Style with its curvilinear parapets, smooth stuccoed walls, and round-arched window openings. The building represents the work of the prolific Denver architectural firm of William E. Fisher and Arthur A. Fisher, and it is the only identified example of their work in Alamosa County. The building is one of the few religious properties designed by this partnership, which was noted more for the fine residences and commercial buildings it created for Denver's social and financial elite. The use of the Mission style was unusual for the architectural firm, which was renowned for its Mediterranean-style designs. When the firm did utilize the Mission style, it was with an infusion of classical elements that created an eclectic design.

The numerous Spanish missions constructed between 1769 and 1823 throughout California by Franciscans and native labor provided the inspiration for a new architectural style that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. The "California Building" designed in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago introduced the Mission Style. Popular for domestic and public architecture, the Mission Revival style is easily recognized by the curvilinear-shaped gabled wall and the semicircular arched openings used in windows, doors, and arcades. The style is characterized by simplicity with smooth walls that are usually stuccoed or plastered and devoid of any ornamentation. St. Thomas Episcopal Church is one of four examples of the Mission style identified in Alamosa County, all of which are in the town of Alamosa, and each presents its own distinctive interpretation of the style.

Two other examples of the style are located one block west on Fourth Street, and both are listed in the National Register. The 1937 Alamosa County Courthouse (the largest WPA project in the county) exemplifies the Mission Revival style. The U-shaped red brick courthouse with its tile roof is the largest expression of the style. Sacred Heart Catholic Church was constructed between 1922 and 1928 in a cruciform plan with stuccoed walls and an arcade connecting it to the rectory. The Catholic church possesses Spanish Baroque wall surface ornamentation and elaborately shaped (rosa) clerestory windows that make it more representative of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. Another example of the Mission Revival style can be found on the campus of Adams State College. Rex Gymnasium, a 1939 PWA project, is a large stuccoed brick building painted white with a tile roof and numerous straight-headed windows. Despite its almost endless gently curving parapet wall, the building confines the use of the round arch to blind arches over the five doorways. St. Thomas is the smallest and simplest expression of the Mission Revival style, but it also possesses an unusual twist. The 1930 sanctuary addition (constructed several years after the Fisher-designed 1926 parish hall) incorporates the pointed-arched windows from the old 1882 church. It is not known why the addition deviated from the round-arched windows that are so prominent in the parish hall. The reuse of these Gothic windows could have been an homage to the old church or a cost-saving measure during the financially hard times brought on by the Depression. Whatever the reason, these uncharacteristic windows are not readily evident from the street and do not detract from the building's overall expression of the Mission Revival style. A large two-story building filling the adjacent lot to the west obscures the west side of the sanctuary. Vegetation, stuccoed garden walls, and the longer Parish Hall make a view of the sanctuary's east side difficult.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2003.