Taylor Memorial Chapel at La Foret Conference and Retreat Center is a historic chapel in
Black Forest, Colorado
Black Forest is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of th ...
. It is a
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 ...
Alice Bemis Taylor Alice Bemis Taylor (October 15, 1877 – June 22, 1942) was a philanthropist and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
For her significant contributions to Colorado College, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and the Colora ...
's husband, Frederick Morgan Pike Taylor. Designed by
John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of ar ...
on the property of Taylor's summer home, La Foret, it was her private place of worship until 1942 when she died. It was donated to the United Church of Christ's Rocky Mountain Conference in 1944. The chapel's interior and exterior were restored using a State Historic Fund grant of $120,000.
Description
It is historically significant because it is a John Gaw Meem " Santa Fe Style" church building, built north of the
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...
. The pueblo chapel is surrounded by a walled courtyard near a ravine in the Ponderosa pine forest. It appears much as it had when originally built with
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ed walls, log
vigas
This is a list of characters associated with the character The Punisher.
Family Tree
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Frank Castle Jr.
Francis "Frank" Castle Jr. is the son of The Punisher (Frank Castle) in Marvel Comics. Th ...
, a bell from "an old mission church in New Mexico". The two-storied building is entered through double carved wooden doors. It has an altar and north and south
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 withi ...
s, each with side porches. Inside the church are a number of wood carvings features.
Eugenie Shonnard
Eugenie Frederica Shonnard (1886–1978) was an American sculptor and painter born in Yonkers, New York.
Career
Shonnard began her art studies at the New York School of Applied Design for Women with Alphonse MuchaRubenstein, Charlotte Streife ...
carved 20-foot
reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
of seven saints. Archways to the transepts "rough hewn wood carvings". The altar, pulpit, lectern, and other furnishings are made of carved wood, also by Shonnard. Above the log vigas is a herringbone pattern made of Aspen saplings. Flagstone is used for flooring. A spiral staircase is used to access the second story where there is additional seating.
Bainbridge Bunting
Bainbridge Bunting (November 23, 1913 – February 13, 1981) was an American architectural historian, teacher and author.
Bunting received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Beginning in 1948, he was a faculty member of the University of New Mexi ...
wrote in his book, ‘’John Gaw Meem: Southwestern Architect:’’
The Taylor chapel, Meem’s first essay in the traditional church form, was commissioned in 1928 by Mrs. Alice B. Taylor. As in his early Spanish-Pueblo houses, the forms here ten to be more picturesque, the batter of the walls is exaggerated, and the profiles of the parapets self-consciously irregular. The woodwork is also elaborately carved, much more so than any that survives in a mission church. This is especially true of two interior doors leading to the “transepts.” These and the reredos were carved by Meem’s friend Eugenie Shonnard...
It reflects Taylor's values of piety and simplicity, "passion for Southwestern art", and with an "unparalleled view" of
Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...
.
La Foret
The chapel is one of two historic properties located in the La Foret Conference and Retreat Center. The
Ponderosa Lodge
Ponderosa Lodge at La Foret Conference and Retreat Center is a historic lodge in Black Forest, Colorado. It is a National Register of Historic Places listing
Black Forest fire
Taylor Memorial Chapel and other buildings at La Foret Conference and Retreat Center were spared from the
Black Forest fire
The Black Forest Fire was a forest fire that began near Highway 83 and Shoup Road in Black Forest, Colorado around 1:00 p.m. on June 11, 2013. As of June 20, 2013, the fire was 100 percent contained, were burned, at least 509 homes were sa ...
(June, 2013), at least partly due to mitigation efforts.
The retreat center created the "Black Forest Strong" organization to serve as a resource to the recuperating Black Forest community. The seven point plan includes grief counseling, serving as a community resource center, providing aid to victims and organizing events. In addition, the plan includes preservation, reseeding efforts, and mitigation training and services.