Aspen Community Church is located at the intersection of East Bleeker and North Aspen streets in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected in the late 19th century. In 1975 it was 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 ...

, the only house of worship in Pitkin County to be accorded that distinction. When built, it was originally the home of a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

. Several decades later, when Aspen's population had declined considerably from the era when the church was built, the church merged into a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

congregation in the city, part of an agreement by which a Methodist church elsewhere in Colorado became Presbyterian. The church building, restored in the early 21st century, is largely intact from its original construction. During the work, the largest organ on the Western Slope was installed. The church, often compared to a fortress or castle in appearance, has been a popular local music venue and is used annually by the Aspen Music Festival for

recital A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety ...

s. It hosts two children's music camps of its own every summer, among a range of programs that include

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

and a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Building

The church is on a lot at the northeast corner of the intersection, a block north of Main Street ( State Highway 82). It is just outside downtown Aspen. The surrounding buildings are primarily residential; although there is a large commercial plaza a

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

to the north along East Hallam Street. The level terrain of the city's commercial core begins to slope gently toward the

Roaring Fork River Roaring Fork River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in west central Colorado in the United States. The river drains a populated and economically vital area of the Colorado Western Slope called the Roaring Fork Valley or ...

. The building itself is a three-story structure faced in rough-cut peachblow

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

topped with a

hipped 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, ...

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 ...

d sections cross in the middle of the side elevations, with supporting

buttress 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 ( ...

es. A large cylindrical bell tower is located at the southwest corner. On the opposite corner of the south (front) facade, the bell tower is complemented by a slightly projecting gabled section. Its first story has three small square windows. Above it is a large round stained glass window, topped by two narrow windows in the gable field. In the middle, the central section has the main entrance, where a short set of steps rises to recessed glass-windowed wooden double door in a segmental-arch surround. In its transom is a floral pattern

carved Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

into a single sandstone block. Its springline is parallel to the first-story windows on the eastern section. The bell tower has three stages. Just to its north is a secondary entrance, sheltered by a dark wooden shed roof on posts, pierced by a gable. The first stage of the tower rises to the roofline, with three narrow windows on the west side and two on the south. At the roofline its facing changes to stained wooden shingles. This middle section is

fenestrated A fenestra (fenestration; plural fenestrae or fenestrations) is any small opening or pore, commonly used as a term in the biological sciences. It is the Latin word for "window", and is used in various fields to describe a pore in an anatomical s ...

with narrow

lancet arch Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English; see spelling differences) is a window blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain and direct sunshine. The angle of the sla ...

ed vents at 45-degree intervals. The top is the slightly overhanging bell-shaped roof with finial. Inside, the sanctuary has its original oaken pews and oak floors, covered in a body Brussels carpet. The pews are arranged in a semicircle, descending gently toward the pulpit. The detailed stained glass windows are original except for the round window facing Bleeker, which was added in the 1960s. The walls are done in red except for the large white

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

. Inside it is a

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

with some artifacts from the church's construction—a Bible, the Presbyterian newspaper, some Aspen newspapers and a list of all the church officers and the workers involved in the construction project.

History

Construction began on the church in 1890. At that time, Aspen had experienced rapid growth in the preceding decade, from a rough campsite to a bustling city of thousands due to the

Colorado Silver Boom The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Over 82 million dollars worth of silv ...

. The Richardsonian Romanesque church by

Frederick Albert Hale Frederick Albert Hale (December 25, 1855 – September 6, 1934) was an American architect who practiced in states including Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. According to a 1977 NRHP nomination for the Keith-O'Brien Building in Salt Lake City, "Hale w ...

, designer of the First Congregational Church in

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

and the Aspen and Cowenhoven blocks downtown,Colorado Historical Society, ; June 2, 1977; p. 1. Retrieved June 18, 2011. used the same distinctive orange peachblow

, quarried in the nearby valley of the Fryingpan, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Roaring Fork, as other Aspen landmarks like the

Wheeler Opera House The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends ele ...

and

Brand Building A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. A thousand people attended the church's dedication ceremony in 1891, the conclusion of ten months of building that cost $20,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). There the cornerstone vault was filled. The '' Aspen Daily Times'' was the first to liken the building to a fortress or castle. Two years after the church's completion, Aspen's fortunes changed for the worse. At the onset of the Panic of 1893, Congress repealed the

Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...

, the underpinning of the city's growth and prosperity. Over the next decades, the population began to decline as the local economy shifted to ranching and what little silver mining the market could still sustain, a period in the city's history known as the "quiet years". The church continued to hold services, but by 1934, with Aspen's population down to a few hundred, the congregation was too small to continue. A solution came in an agreement with the local

church, which was also feeling pressured. In Loma, on Colorado's western border, a similar situation had developed with a Presbyterian and Methodist church contemplating a merger. The four churches agreed to merge into two and swap denominations. The Aspen church became Methodist and the previously Methodist Loma church became Presbyterian. In the following decades, Aspen was slowly reborn as a popular and pioneering

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

and second-home community for the wealthy and famous. The combined church grew with it. The round stained-glass window on the Bleeker side was added in 1966. In the 1980s, the building was extensively restored inside and out in anticipation of its centennial. Most of its finishes had never been modernized, so they regained their original appearance afterwards. The basement was gutted to make it even more usable for community events, and the side entrance was added. It was completed in time for the 1990 observances. A later renovation added the largest organ on Colorado's Western Slope to the sanctuary. In 2009, structural engineers and other experts hired by the church told it the building's structural system was handling 12 times the load it was designed for. The church met in the Aspen Historical Society's property at the former Wheeler–Stallard House for six weeks while

tie rod A tie rod or tie bar (also known as a hanger rod if vertical) is a slender structural unit used as a tie and (in most applications) capable of carrying tensile loads only. It is any rod or bar-shaped structural member designed to prevent the separa ...

s were installed in the ceiling. Pipe Organ Facade

Pipe organ

In 1999 a 30 rank Wicks pipe organ was installed in the church. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the

Wicks Organ Company {{Primary sources, date=December 2016 The Wicks Organ Company is an organ manufacturer in Highland, Illinois in the United States where they build, repair, and restore organs. History The Wicks Organ Company was founded by Adolph Wick, John F. Wick ...

of Highland, Illinois from a 20 rank organ that originally served First Lutheran Church of Boston, Massachusetts. Currently it has 32 ranks as a largest pipe organ on the western slope of Colorado. The organ has a 2 manual movable draw knob console with 25 stops. The organ replaced a 1920s 7 rank Kimball

theatre organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements ...

that was installed in 1961 in the church

Programs and services

The church holds services every Sunday morning at 9:30 am. Professional childcare is provided. Several of the Aspen chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous meet in the church almost daily. The church is also available for weddings, including receptions, and other special events and community groups. Music is also a regular activity since the sanctuary provides exceptional acoustics. During the Aspen Music Festival every August, student

s are held, free of charge and open to the public, three days a week. Recitals are also held by local and visiting musicians year-round. The church also participates in charitable work and missions, both in Aspen and overseas. Locally, it supports the city's homeless shelter and works with other private and public agencies to provide any emergency response that may be needed. In 2008 two members traveled to Meru, Kenya, as part of the Partnering in Education and Aid for Kenya (PEAK) program sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Conference of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

. They helped rebuild a local school and improve its facilities, and the church was able to send thousands of donated books later. More volunteers, including

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Jane Keener-Quiat and her husband, traveled to Meru in 2010 and did more work improving water and sanitary facilities. An ongoing sponsorship has been started, and more trips are planned through 2012.

References

External links