Rock Rapids United Methodist Church, formerly known as First Methodist Church, is located in Rock Rapids, Iowa, United States. The church building is significant for the use of blue-gray and red granite used in its construction. with It was designed by Sioux Falls, South Dakota architect Joseph Schwartz utilizing the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style. Completed in 1896, it is the second church building for a congregation founded in the 1870s. The blue-gray granite quarried near Sioux Falls is the main building material, and it is laid in a random

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

pattern. The red granite was acquired from the receiver of a bankrupt packing plant which had begun, but did not complete, a new stone building. It is used for the trim, especially in the voussoirs of alternating colors. The building also features a tall corner bell tower. The pipe organ was ordered from the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois in January 1905 at a cost of $1,960 (). An addition was added to the south side of the church in 1966. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

References

Churches completed in 1896 United Methodist churches in Iowa Romanesque Revival church buildings in Iowa Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Lyon County, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Buildings and structures in Lyon County, Iowa {{Iowa-church-stub