|
The Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida de Ponce (English: ''First United Methodist Church of Ponce.'' Officially, ''Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church'') was the first structure erected in Puerto Rico by the celebrated architect Antonin Nechodoma.〔Felix Julian del Campo, State Historian; and Hector F. Santiago, State Architectural Historian, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) August 1987. In ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form''. United States Department of the Inferior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 3. Listing Reference Number 87001822. August 1987.〕 Constructed in 1907, the building houses a Methodist congregation and is located on Villa street in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The structure was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1987.〔Felix Julian del Campo, State Historian; and Hector F. Santiago, State Architectural Historian, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) August 1987. In ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form''. United States Department of the Inferior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 2. Listing Reference Number 87001822. August 1987.〕 ==Physical appearance== The First United Methodist Church of Ponce is a magnificent example of early 20th-century eclecticism, integrating Neo-Gothic, Spanish Revival, Spanish Baroque, and byzantine elements.〔 It is constructed entirely of rusticated, reinforced-concrete with gabled wood and corrugated sheet metal roofs. In volume, the church consists of a gabled single-nave, parallel to the street and subdivided into three sections. A large, central cross-gable creates the main facade at Calle Villa, facing north.〔 On Calle Villa, the cross-gable is articulated by a Spanish-baroque style rope pediment. Flanking this gabled, central transept are two square-plan towers, a shorter turret on the west and a taller bell-tower on the east, both resting upon the intersections of the main nave and cross-gable. The main gable is divided into three bays: a wide, central bay with a large, wide, four-centered gothic arch stained-glass window and two flanking bays with similar but smaller and narrower stained-glass windows. Above the central bay, a stained glass Spanish-renaissance oculus (consisting of a square with semicircular projections at each of its four sides) occupies the area within the pediment.〔 The east bell-tower consists of a two-storey rusticated base and step-backs to an onion-shaped cupola above the belfry. At the ground level, an entry vestibule is created by an open, four-centered archway. At the second story, still within the tower's rusticated base-section, a series of four narrow, stained-glass strip windows provide a distinct, modernist, element. The first segment of the step-backs of the tower contains two smaller strip windows, and the following, taller set-back houses the church-bell behind narrow arches, one on each of the four sides, supported by Corinthian columns. The onion-cupola caps the composition.〔 The smaller, west tower is completely rusticated and terminates in a rope pediment, at a level slightly lower than the base of the opposite tower. At the ground level there is a vestibule similar to that of the other tower and above, a circular opening with an oculus within. The main nave extends only one bay beyond the towers. These bays are identical to the smaller stained-glass bays of the main gable. A series of low buttresses supports all major walls, one at each extreme of. each wall. The side gables of the main nave repeat, exactly, the articulation of the facade of the main cross-gable.〔 A rusticated concrete and wrought-iron gate surrounds the property, articulated by square pillars at approximately 20 foot intervals, and spanned by an approximately 2 foot high rusticated concrete base and bar-like wrought-iron railings above.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida de Ponce」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|