These Walls: Trinity Episcopal Church

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City),  Jun 6, 2008  by Kirby Lee Davis

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What TripAdvisor.Com has called "the best example of Gothic architecture between St. Louis and California" owes its existence to a dedicated, Depression-stressed fellowship.

Downtown Tulsa's Trinity Episcopal Church covers nearly an entire block, its magnificent limestone edifice consistent in look and feel from its 1926 spires and cathedral arches to the 1950s fellowship building addition and the 1970s school construction. That testifies of the steadfast faith of parishioners.

"They had to work for 25 years to get the church paid off," said the Rev. Canon John Powers, who was baptized at Trinity in 1937, then returned to serve as rector from 1977 to 1991. "They had sold bonds to build the church. Well, you can imagine trying to pay those bonds off after the Depression hit."

Worshipping together for the first time in the 1903 home of Dan Hunt, which stood on the future footprint of the 320 S. Boston building, the Trinity Mission followers didn't get a home of their own until 1905, when they bought the apple orchard at Fifth and Cincinnati for $800. That year they built their first Trinity Episcopal Church, at a cost of $3,500, according to a September 1939 issue of the Chronicles of Oklahoma.

As oil-rich Tulsa prospered, the parish not only became self- supporting, but felt growing pains. Encouraged by Bishop Theo P. Thurston to raise a gothic church of cathedral proportions, Trinity Archivist Fred Kumpf said the church tore down its original home in 1920 to make way for a new hall, its fellowship meeting in downtown's Majestic Theater.

Working from designs by noted Tulsa architect George Winkler, construction crews completed the basement in 1922, allowing worship services to resume in that crypt. Four years later the parishioners met in their new nave after installing its centerpiece stained- glass windows, dedicating the estimated $400,000 facility on Dec. 9, 1926.

"It's probably one of the best examples of good Gothic architecture west of the Mississippi," said Powers, although Kumpf said its 50-feet reach from floor to ceiling doesn't compare to classic medieval churches, where roofs may soar 100 to 150 feet.

"For an English Gothic church it's relatively small," agreed Powers, "but it's perfectly proportioned and very accurate in its representation of English Gothic."

It also employed several elements to cut costs, such as extensive use of plaster in the nave, decorated to look like cut stone.

"The only stonework in there is around the arches and around the windows and the columns," said Powers. "If you get up close you'll notice they're plaster, they're not stone. The mortar is just painted on."

That may have been to accommodate Trinity's extensive use of stained glass. The renowned firm Burnham of Boston made four large windows to highlight the Apostles' Creed, as well as other elements.

"All those windows were done by the premier glass people of the day and they were very expensive," said Kumpf. "The big windows were $3,000 apiece when they were built."

The frugal approach also reflected difficulties raising funds. Initial financing involved $100,000 in pledges and $275,000 in bonds and other loans. The church issued a second round of bonds in 1928 to retire those four years old. But with the onset of the Great Depression, the church defaulted. New 1934 bonds paid off the 1928 securities at 75 cents on the dollar, halving the interest rate to 3 percent.

"They were happy to get that," said Kumpf.

It took Trinity some 40 years to install its pipe organ and most of the cathedral's delicately carved wood trim and statues, stained- glass windows and stone monuments that visitors cherish today, all commissioned works from the finest craftsmen.

With a $4 million renovation and addition completed earlier this year, and a $12 million endowment in place, Trinity may have left such problems behind it.

"That was quite a feat for Tulsa, Oklahoma, to build that Gothic church, just like Boston Avenue was a feat, and First Presbyterian," said Powers.

"I think it's also an example of great care has been given to maintaining and adorning the building with art through the years."

Hitler, Mohammed and the glass

Those who look closely at Trinity Episcopal Church's dozens of stained-glass windows might be surprised to find one with the face of Hitler, Mohammed, Buddha, Plato and some 61 other figures from throughout history.

"That's the 'He descended into Hell' window," said Trinity Archivist Fred Kumpf, explaining its controversial depiction of historic "unbelievers" perceived condemned for eternity. "That window today probably would not be seen as politically correct. But the time it was done, it was politically correct."

Called the "Resurrection" window in Trinity's historical record Behold the Glory by Martha Cole, it's one of several depicting the life of Christ, the rise of Christianity and other elements of the Episcopal creed.

"I'm sure that Trinity is not the only church in Christendom that has the windows that give the story of the creed," he said, discussing the broad scope of all the glass. "But I think it's quite impressive."