St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a parish church in the Diocese of Iowa. The church is located in

Harlan, Iowa Harlan is a city in Shelby County, Iowa, along the West Nishnabotna River. The population was 4,893 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Shelby County. History Harlan was platted in 1858. It was named for one of Iowa's early ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It has been 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 ...

in 1978.

History

The Episcopal Church was organized in Harlan in 1881. Regular services, however, were not held until 1896, the year the parish was founded. The congregation held services in a rented room on the east side of the courthouse square until this church was opened in 1900. with The Shingle style building was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot & Bird. In 1950 the basement of the church was excavated. The church building was listed on the

in 1978.

Architecture

St. Paul's Church follows a cross-shaped plan that measures . It is eclectic in style in that it combines the Shingle Style and Gothic Revival decorative elements that are expressed through different types of materials. The lowest level of the exterior is brick, above which are narrow

clapboards Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

up to the imposts of the

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet ...

, and shingling above that to the eaves. Shingling is also found on the main facade. The structure is capped by a busy roofscape. The main roof is a high-pitched

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

that features small triangular

dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

. The

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s have

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

s, and they too have small dormers. The

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

's gable roof sits at a right angle to the main roof. There is another hipped roof over the central bay of the narthex that houses the

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

. Rising above the main roof is a short, square, central tower. Although clad in shingles, it suggests the Richardsonian Romanesque style and appears out of scale to the rest of the building. The tower features pinnacles on its corners and it culminates in a high-peaked roof with a finial on top. There are also finials on several other roof and dormer peaks. Lancet windows are located in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and transepts. There are

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four ring ...

windows in the dormers. A large, recessed rose window is located on the front facade of the nave, and a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

window located on the opposite end of the church over the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

. Entrances into the church are located in three of the four corners. They, like the windows, employ the pointed arch, and are recessed below

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

s. The interior features an oak hammerbeam ceiling, plaster walls, and

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...

. The pointed arch predominates throughout.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Pauls Episcopal Church, Harlan, Iowa Christian organizations established in 1896 Churches completed in 1900 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Shingle Style architecture in Iowa Episcopal church buildings in Iowa Harlan, Iowa Churches in Shelby County, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Shelby County, Iowa