The First Presbyterian Church of Golden and the Unger House are two buildings in the Foothills Art Center in

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

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. Together with a

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

adjourning the church they were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991, With and are the most prominent landmarks of Golden's Court House Hill neighborhood.

First Presbyterian Church & Manse

The main building of the Foothills complex, the historic First Presbyterian Church was originally built in 1872 as the southwesterly portion of the present building. Originally it was a small east–west oriented chapel with Gothic stained glass windows and brick

buttresses A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (si ...

, for the congregation founded in 1870 by the famed circuit riding minister

Sheldon Jackson Sheldon Jackson (May 18, 1834 – May 2, 1909) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary, and political leader. During this career he travelled about one million miles (1.6 million km) and established more than one hundred missions and churches, ...

. The church was built on land donated by William A.H. Loveland. In 1898 the growing congregation hired prominent area architect James H. Gow to redesign and add onto the building, which transformed it into a roughly cross-shaped chapel with northeast corner

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

, with smooth new facing brick enabling the whole to match. The place continued serving as the First Presbyterian Church until the congregation outgrew this space and moved to south Golden in 1958. The fledgling Jefferson Unitarian Church, led by C. Leon Hopper, then took over the church building, and worshipped here for 10 years until moving to their own home east of Golden in Applewood in 1968. By that time, Golden sidewalk art sales were calling attention to the need for an area art center of its own, which led to the creation of the Foothills Art Center, which took over the already artistic space. It has since become one of the renowned art exhibition places of

. The Manse of the complex is the northwest wing of the Foothills gallery complex. It was built freestanding in 1892 as the home for the minister of the First Presbyterian Church. It is a Queen Anne-styled home with upper story fishscale siding and onion dome tower. Through additions added in 1898, 1920 and 1947 the main church was linked to this building. It now serves as the main entrance and gift shop of the Foothills Art Center.

Unger House

The Unger House, also historically known as the Rubey House, is a brick house which stands south of the First Presbyterian Church building on Washington Avenue. It was originally designed and built in 1899 by prominent Golden builder Perre O. Unger. It is

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

style, featuring a northeast corner

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and ornamental front porch. Built as a speculation, it was sold in 1900 to banker Jesse W. Rubey as a home for family matriarch Ella M. Rubey. Around 1990 the home was purchased by the Foothills Art Center and now serves as their offices.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Golden, Colorado Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Presbyterian churches in Colorado Houses in Jefferson County, Colorado Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Churches completed in 1872 Houses completed in 1892 National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Colorado

First Presbyterian Church & Manse

Unger House

See also

References