AWARDS AND HONORS

• Honor Award for Design
  -2002 Palm Beach Chapter A1A Awards for Design Excellence
  
• Outstanding Achievement Award in the Field of Non-Residential Restoration
  -Florida Trust for Historic Preservation
  
• Published in the "Guide to New Urbanism in Florida"
  -June 2002
  

ARCHITECTURAL FACTS

• Originally the First United Methodist Church, this structure is one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture of its time.
• It was built by Walker Brothers of Birmingham, Ala. in 1926 at a cost of $225,000. The architects of the three-story, 51,786-square foot building were Spencer and Phillips, of Memphis, Tennessee.
• The interior of this three-story facility is architecturally significant due to details like the original open-truss, pecky cypress ceilings, a tiered mezzanine and large divided windows overlooking the main floor.
• The structure of the building is composed of steel columns and beams. Exterior walls are hollow clay, with a moderately textured stucco surface. Interior walls are plaster. Cast concrete ornamentation is present on all facades.
• Only minor alterations have been made to the building since 1926. Over the years, many of the windows on the ground floor were enclosed and covered with stucco. During the 1950s, the tower room was rebuilt and a memorial wall commemorating World War II was installed. In 1967, an elevator was added.

HISTORICAL FACTS

• The 1914 cornerstone from the original church was laid on May 2, 1926. The church officially opened to the public on Christmas Eve, 1926, under the leadership of Reverend L.M. Broyles.
• The church housed victims of the 1928 hurricane for nearly eleven months, until all of the people who lost their homes were able to rebuild.
• When the Crash of 1929 hit, pledges for the church were not met, and it was deeded back to the bondholders in New Orleans, Louisiana. Services had to be held in the high school auditorium. When the bondholders couldn't sell the church, they offered the congregation the option of raising $25,000 to take it over. Church members sold everything-including wedding rings-to make the payment!
• In 1987, the church was sold to Downtown/Uptown developers Henry J. Rolfs and David C. Paladino for $2.75 million. The deal included a clause stipulating use of the church by the congregation until a new church was built. The final church services were held December 31, 1989.
• In 1990, the stained glass windows, organ, sanctuary floor and the original cornerstone were moved from the old church to the new $8 million United Methodist of the Palm Beaches church at 900 Brandywine Road.
• Renovations did not begin on the church until late 1998, when final plans were approved for successor of the uptown/Downtown project – Palladium.