Denver 3rd Ward: Interior & Mural

While the building was originally built without a mural, a group of women in the ward, in 1952, asked permission to commission a painting to decorate the meetinghouse. Permission was granted for them to commission a mural by LeConte Stewart (who has painted murals in Laie, Mesa, and Cardston) to be placed in the chapel. Stewart painted it at his studio in Utah and brought it to Denver in 1956.

The mural depicts Christ teaching the 12 apostles outside the walls of Jerusalem.

Apparently some suggestion was made that the mural should be painted over in the 1980s. A local ward member went to Salt Lake and talked with Church History Museum and Physical Facilities Department officials, and it was decided that the mural would stay. The ward had offered to pay to preserve the aging mural, but the Church paid for an official restorer to come and restore the mural. It still stands in the chapel.

Denver 3rd Ward

The Denver 3rd Ward (which now houses 2 wards in the Aurora Colorado South Stake), in and of itself, barely qualifies as distinct and historic architecture. While I don't have a construction date, from the style and plans, it looks like it was built right around 1950.

(Image Source: Church History Library)

The building has largely been preserved as it was originally built, which is nice to see. It's mostly distinctive because it has a nice courtyard--the building wraps around it--as well as a beautiful mural by LeConte Stewart in the chapel. This mural will be highlighted in my next post.

(Image Source: Google Maps)

Payson First Ward: Interior Details

My favorite parts of this chapel was the woodwork on the pulpit and the art deco mouldings.

The brightly colored, geometric mouldings that go around the chapel were common for the flamboyant Art Deco style of that time period.

 

Payson First Ward: Interior

Long-time blog readers may remember how back in 2015, I highlighted the Payson Third Ward. Three years later, in 2018, I did a post on the exterior of the Payson First Ward, which shared the same original floor plan of the Third Ward. Since the Third Ward was demolished last year, I decided to finally document the interior of the first ward building.

This building has had many more additions than the third ward building, which makes me hopeful that it will be preserved. However, it only has one ward meeting in it (a huge anomaly for a chapel in Utah County), so the area definitely has seen a decline in membership.

Upon entering the west side, just like the third ward, there is a grand lobby. Stairs lead up to the chapel, while on either side, curved stairs go down to classrooms and offices.

The chapel has a really nice feel, with beautiful woodwork on the pulpit and striking art deco geometric patterns on the mouldings. I'll have some detailed pictures in my next post.

 

 

Springville Second Ward: Stained Glass Windows

Several years ago I talked about the Springville Second Ward, originally located near 400 S and Main in Springville, and which burned down in 2006. 4 of the stained glass windows were moved to the Dry Creek Stake in West Springville. I discovered that 2 more were in a chapel on Main Street in Payson.

To be clear, this is a completely modern chapel, and I'm unsure why it was selected to get 2 of the windows. It might have just been timing. I'm glad they were preserved. I'm unsure how many windows were in the original chapel. In the image I can find, there were at least 4 facing the street. We know 4 were preserved in Springville, and 2 in Payson, so that's 6 total. Perhaps there are more scattered around the area.