First United Methodist Church – 2026

The minimal orange brick cube-like structure with a large round oculus on the west side serves as a multi-use sanctuary, classroom and social building, designed also for concerts, theatricals and art exhibitions. The attached glass box chapel is surrounded by a private garden with a columbarium. The chapel, a memorial to Andrew N. Dike, was damaged by termites and rebuilt according to the original plans in 2020. A courtyard ties the sanctuary and chapel buildings to a pre-existing mission-style structure.

The full campus includes the stucco Education Building for classrooms and offices, and a multipurpose auditorium, Harry H. Weeks Hall.

The sanctuary was built on the corner site to replace the 1902 mission-style building that burned by arson in the summer of 1967, the same night as the neighboring First Presbyterian Church and later in the day, part of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Lost in the fire were the 1907 Andrew Carnegie pipe organ and the 1925 Watchorn chimes.

The congregation’s brief for the new building was to be fire resistant and inexpensive. Flexibility was key, for use by the congregation and also the community, with excellent music acoustics a high priority. A lower level forms the foundation of the building, housing classrooms, kitchen and choir room. The basement’s concrete ceiling serves as the floor to the sanctuary. To guard against severe earthquake damage, double brick walls were built up from foundation level – 40 feet high and four inches apart – serving as forms for steel-reinforced concrete poured between them. As the bricks were laid, they were tied to their opposites with rebar.

When the walls were completed, a steel space frame was constructed to perform three functions: secure the exterior walls, provide a grid of channels for wiring and hold the tracks for a manually powered service cart suspended from the ceiling frame. Lights, banners and other equipment can be adjusted manually from the overhead cart.

The frame was built in three sections on the sanctuary floor. Made of parts no longer than four feet and bolted together, the frame ties the walls together to resist them falling inward or outward in an earthquake up to 7.5. A crane with a 120-foot boom lifted three sections of frame, one at a time, and lowered them into position onto steel pillars, spaced at 20-foot intervals along the inside walls as brick-faced pilasters. The space frame sections are welded to the pillars.

According to Rachel Biddick in her book History of the Redlands First United Methodist Church, 1887–1987 (First United Methodist Church, 1991), architect Leon Armantrout reported that this was the first use in a church sanctuary of space frame construction, which evolved from R. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome. “It suitably matches this day and age in the same way that Gothic stone vaults were suitable to their day and age,” Armantrout told Biddick. The total space frame weight is only 30,000 pounds. It was chosen for its strength, earthquake resistance and lightness, and because it could be made from standard lengths of structural steel, which are far less expensive than custom-made steel. The entire construction, including the chapel, was completed in slightly over a year. Its exterior cross arrived from Los Angeles and was mounted in place on March 22, 1971.

The chancel and pews can be reconfigured to set the space for worship, drama, concerts or lectures. The choir loft provides room for the organ, designed by Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany, ($54,000) and installed by a German team in 1973. In memory of the previous building, new candlesticks for the altar table and a baptismal font were fashioned from parts of the wrecked chimes. The new building was built for just under $485,000.

Architect Leon Armantrout, 1958 graduate of Kansas State College, took his first design position with Neutra and Alexander in Los Angeles. Richard Neutra’s indoor–outdoor design, placing people in relation to nature, is credited with influencing generations of modernist designers the world over. His influence is on full display here with the courtyard and garden focus of the gathering area and chapel.

Armantrout came to Redlands in 1960 and worked with Clare Henry Day. Major projects included Clement Junior High School and Redlands High School Terrier Gym. In 1964 he went out on his own; his first project was the La-Z-Boy factory on Tennessee Street. Armantrout worked with Jack Dangermond on the landscape design of that project, which led to many more collaborations, including the glass cafeteria on the Esri campus.

Other Redlands projects include the outdoor theater in Prospect Park – he was one of the leaders spearheading the city’s acquisition of the park in 1968 – and preservation of the Mitten Building. Armantrout also worked on the former Redlands Federal high-rise on State Street. When the Santa Fe station, built in 1909, was scheduled for demolition, Armantrout and friends bought the property, preserving a major part of Redlands’ heritage.

Architect Shan McNaughton, who trained under Armantrout, led the work on the rebuild of the chapel in 2020. McNaughton practices in Redlands. Armantrout died in December 2025.

The two-story Education Building was completed in 1925 for $30,000. The contractor was renowned builder Garrett Huizing. An enclosed walkway connected the second floors of the 1902 sanctuary and the new building. The facility was designed to echo the original sanctuary’s mission style and provided space for classrooms, offices and a parlor. The interior was remodeled extensively in 1945, 1961 and after damage by arson in 1979. Another complete interior renovation was completed in 2003. The building now houses a private school and church offices.

Consecrated in 1964, the Harry H. Weeks Hall was created for social events, dining and theatricals with a commercial-style kitchen and stage. The flat roof proved problematic from the beginning, with leaks after heavy rain. Remodeling in the early 2000s included adding a pitched roof; the profile of protruding brick on the front feature wall was reduced to deter climbers. The remaining rough brick texture echoes the original modernist horizontal design. Church member Dr. Weeks had been a missionary in India.

The architect, Paul Ulmer, attended Redlands High School, the University of Redlands and Harvard. He was an active member of the church. Locally, Ulmer designed the Hall of Justice (1935) on Fifth Street and Safety Hall (1963) on Brookside and Eureka, now demolished, and Edwards Hall at Plymouth Village (1967).

The Redlands Area Historical Society congratulates the First United Methodist Church on its 2026 Heritage Award and for its stewardship of the sanctuary building for 55 years.

Research by Gregg Schroeder.

Presented on June 9, 2026.