First Baptist Church of Ventura is a historic church at 101 S. Laurel Street in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

. It was built in 1926 and renovated extensively into the Mayan Revival style in 1932. Declared a landmark by the City of Ventura In 1975, the building was added to 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 2009. Since 1952, it has been home to the Ventura Center for Spiritual Living. According to its NRHP nomination, it was deemed nationally significant "as a fine and essentially unaltered example of a scarce property designed in the Mayan Revival style by its most prominent and widely-recognized proponent, architect Robert B. Stacy-Judd of Los Angeles. The First Baptist Church of Ventura exemplifies architectural exoticism by representing a moment in American architectural history when the public's desire for the new and different was at its peak. The property is the product of a rare convergence of national cultural events and a unique force of personality." and Some of his other notable Southern California commissions include the

Aztec Hotel The Aztec Hotel is a historical landmark building in Monrovia, California, Monrovia, in the San Gabriel Valley, California. The hotel is an example of Mayan Revival architecture still in existence. It was designed by architect Robert Stacy-Judd, a ...

, (Monrovia), the Masonic Temple (North Hollywood, California), the

Philosophical Research Society The Philosophical Research Society (PRS) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1934, by Manly Palmer Hall, to promote the study of the world's wisdom literature. Hall believed the accumulated wisdom of mankind is the birthright of every ...

, (Los Feliz) and the Atwater Bungalows, (Elysian Park). The other architect known for working in this style was

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. In Los Angeles his

Hollyhock House The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright originally as a residence for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall (built, 1919–1921). The building is now the centerpi ...

and

Ennis House The Ennis House is a residential dwelling in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, south of Griffith Park. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis in 1923 and was built in 1924. Fol ...

are relevant examples. The

Imperial Hotel Imperial Hotel or Hotel Imperial may refer to: Hotels Australia * Imperial Hotel, Ravenswood, Queensland * Imperial Hotel, York, Western Australia Austria * Hotel Imperial, Vienna India * The Imperial, New Delhi Ireland * Imperial Hotel, D ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

was a zenith of this style. His son, the

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

and architect

Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. (March 31, 1890 – May 31, 1978), commonly known as Lloyd Wright, was an American architect, active primarily in Los Angeles and Southern California. He was a landscape architect for various Los Angeles projects (192 ...

, designed the

John Sowden House John Sowden House, also known as the "Jaws House" or the "Franklin House", is a residence built in 1926 in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, California by Lloyd Wright. The house is noted for its use of ornamented textile blocks and for it ...

in a similar style.

References

External links

* *City of Ventura. "City Landmarks, Points of Interest, and Historic Districts"
Historic Preservation in Ventura
webpage. Churches in Ventura County, California Baptist churches in California Buildings and structures in Ventura, California National Register of Historic Places in Ventura, California Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in California Mayan Revival architecture {{California-church-stub

See also

References

External links