St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, California

Architect: Quintin & Kerr Architects

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 Front of St. Paul's (Viewed from Lincoln Blvd.)

 Main area of worship (taken from pew facing alter)

St. Paul's Lutheran Church is a Lutheran religious institution located on the intersection of Lincoln Blvd. and Washington Ave in Santa Monica, California. Quintin & Kerr Architects utilized stone and cement-based mortar as the foundation for the walls, and included 27 distinct-stained glass windows in its interior that were commissioned by Judson Studios. The building's architecture draws from Gothic Revival Style influences. The church has become known as a community meeting place along with being a religious institution that includes a pre-school and an AA meeting place. St. Paul's is also welcoming of everyone regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. 

Architect/Artists:

Quintin & Kerr Architects drafted the original design for the church in 1926 and the church was completed January 27th, 1927. The original rendition of the church was to include a smaller steeple to the North side of the building, but was ultimately cut. Quintin & Kerr Architects were a small firm consisting of David Scott Quintin and Thomas Logan Kerr located in the city of Alhambra, CA. Thomas Kerr immigrated from Scotland to Canada; and from Canada to California where he met David Quintin. The two created the firm in 1923 until 1927. One year after the creation of the church, Kerr moved back to Vancouver, Canada. Quintin remained in Alhambra and started an independent firm that remained active until 1947. Quintin & Kerr Architects was most notable for building residential homes in Hollywood and Rosemead. St. Paul's Lutheran Church is not credited nor listed under the firms notable buildings and works. 

The church contains a total of 27 individual stained glass windows which were installed along all four walls of the churches interior. All of the Stained Glass windows were commissioned to be completed by The Judson Studios located in Pasadena. Installation of the stained glass windows was completed in 1927 when the church was finished. Judson Studios operated under it's founder William Lee Judson until his death in 1934 and his three sons including Walter Horace who was a stained glass expert. Judson Studio's was founded in 1897 and has since become the oldest family-run stained glass studio in the United States. There is no direct record as to who exactly designed the the stained glass art, but in accordance to the time period of when it started and completed, the project would have most likely been under the supervision of Walter Horace and worked on by craftsmen employees working for Judson Studios during that time period. 

Fun Facts: 

• During the Great Depression, the church fell to hard times as many during that era resulting in the building being sold in 1936. The Building was later repurchased in 1938 with the aid of the American Board of Mission of the United Lutheran Church. 
• The Film "Father of the Bride" starring Elizabeth Taylor was shot here in 1950.
• In January 1994, the church was damaged severely by the North ridge earthquake.

 

While the church itself correlates directly with the themes of places of worship and shelter, the most distinct part of the church is the stained glass panels surrounding the interior walls of the church. Below are just a handful of the 27 stained glass windows pictures. The most important aspect of a place of worship is that it allows a person to be able to have an area to form a one on one connection to the deity they are praying or meditating to. When a person walks into St. Paul's Lutheran Church, they are greeted by different bright hues of color lighting up the church throughout the day. Each stain glass's design and placement falls in chronological accordance to Jesus Christ's life, and each window tells a different parable per say. The deities that people worship in this specific church include God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary. 

 

Figure 1: Left: Walking on Water (Jesus told his disciples to "get on the boat and go on ahead...") later in the evening the disciples were terrified by the sight of him walking on water (crying out: "It's a ghost"). (Jesus says: "Take Courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.")    Right: Found in The Temple ("They went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After a few day's they found him in the temple courts sitting among his teachers, listening to them and asking questions. When his parents saw him, they were astonished... They were worried and wondering why and where he had been..." Jesus: "Didn't you know I had to be in my fathers house")                    

Figure 2: Left: Come Unto Me O Ye That Labor and are Heavy Laden Jesus: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."  Right Behold He Was Taken Up and a Cloud Received Him Jesus: "But you will be filled when the Holy Spirit comes on to you, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem... and to the ends of the Earth." "When he said this he was being lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight."

Figure 3: Left: Women at The Sepulcher "After the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene (Jesus' Mamma) and Salome brought sweet spices to anoint the body of Jesus, but the tomb was empty" -Mark 16:1 Right: Garden of Gethsemane Depicts Jesus kneeling and praying... He's asking, "Father, My Father, All things are possible with you. Take this cup away from me. Not what I want, but what you want." -Mark 14:36

Figure 4: Left: The Hope of The World "...Little kids brought to Jesus... Disciples rebuked them..." Jesus says: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Right: The Good Samaritan Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jerico, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened by... saw the man and passed by. So to a Levite... But a Samaritan... came to the man... took pity... bandaged his wounds.. put him on his donkey and took him inn... Which one of these three do you think was a neighbor to thy man?" They answered, "The man who showed mercy." Jesus told them to "Go and do likewise." -Luke 10:30-38

Theme Comparison

First and foremost, this is a direct example of a place of worship where Jesus, Mary, Father, Holy Ghost and others are the Deities. This can also be related to reproduction (even if it was immaculately done in Mary & Jesus's case). Mortality and Immortality are also front and center when we think of Jesus dying for humanities sins and the being resurrected (Fig.4 right) and lifted to an immortal afterlife. Lutherans also believe that while the body is mortal, the soul is everlasting (especially if you believe in god and remember to ask for forgiveness before you pass). St. Paul's Church in a sense immortalizes God and Jesus Christ and gives followers a place to worship  and honor them in a individual or community way, hence creating a sort of mausoleum. 

    The themes of Food & Shelter  are very evident at St. Paul's Church through it's religious rituals and symbolization behind the church.  We have a beautiful church where the ritual of eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood is a highly regarded form of worship and ritual. The moment you consume the body and blood of Jesus Christ, you are able to become one with him and allows you to fully satisfy your "hunger or "thirst" that has been burdening your life.  In addition to this, churches have always been regarded as a place of refuge or asylum, as no killing is allowed with the walls of a church and churches tend to most of the time welcome anyone who is in need and providing them shelter. Churches regularly house priests, nuns, followers and the homeless. It's also shelter for those looking to claim sanctuary from the devil, the law, taxes and as a place to atone for sins, gather with friends & family and have a pot luck. St. Paul's has been able to emphasize this community bond as well as a place of refuge for the homosexual community as they have displayed pride flags on both the outside and inside of the church symbolizing that they support those who are par of the LGBTQ group. 

     Mind, body & soul is what we're made of and what we go to church to save, heal and enlighten. The church has always been secular and at the forefront of mapping the conversation and path on race, gender, clan, and class; for good and bad. Let's start with the Jew's being persecuted back when Jesus was coming up in the world. Let's use The Good Samaritan Parable (Fig. 6, Right) where the Samaritan takes care of the Jew despite being arch rivals. That's a great example of the opposite clan, class & race helping the other out. There have been both good and bad instances of diverse intermingling from the church throughout history. It's usually the bad that gets remembered though. The church has historically endorsed/enforced gender roles and segregated it's worshipers recently and today. St. Paul's is a Lutheran church which is a similar break away sect of Catholicism.

   Nature is in much of the artwork displayed at St. Paul's. There's Jesus walking on water (Fig. 1, left) and being lifted (resurrected) into the clouds (Fig. 2, right). We also think of the Garden of Eden and Moses herding a pair of every animal on Earth into his arc for the great flood. As stated earlier, the Tree of Knowledge however, is a serious no no and resulted in an immediate end to Adam & Eve's blissful ignorance in that beautiful garden. Like knowledge, technology also hasn't gone over very well in helping church, or at least it seems that way with less and less diligent followers these days.

The stain glass windows relate to the class by what is normal and abstract of a humans body. The windows contain a perfectly normal body but with an exaggerated drawn leg or arm. The window we can first look at is the Baptism of Jesus. The bodies are realistic but has some parts that are abstract like the left leg in Jesus or the arm and  leg of John. The arm of John looks as if can be plastic because of the lining of the arm and how stiff it appears. We can compare that to the image "Goering the Executioner", with the exaggerated head. He is one of the major leaders of the Nazi Party, with having his head pulled forward, increasing the thickness of the neck it emphasizes the aggressiveness of his face. Another image we can look at is the "Echo of a Scream" with the detached head. The detached face symbolizes the massive cry that symbolizes the combined pain of all the victims we don't see. An explanation for the enlargement of these specific body parts is that since the stained glass windows are high on the walls, viewer perspective comes into play with how the image appears. Therefore, while it may be large from one angle, it looks completely proportional from another angle. 

You can connect the glass windows with the course through nature as well. In almost all the windows there is some sort of nature, whether its water, grass, or dirt. We can look at the "walking on water" window. Nature is presented in bright colors to show how beautiful it is. An image from the course that has nature in it can be "Ophelia" which is a painting of a death within a lush landscape. This image shows the beauty of nature with bight green colors and clear water. This painting exhibits the feeling of grief and nature with deep color, lushness, accurate detail, and extraordinary delicacy. 

However, a major factor on how the glass windows and the class relate is by having some art work be gifts or as a peace trade. Most of these windows were a gift to specific people. There is numerous artwork that are considered as a peace trade or a gift. A perfect example can be the "Pipe Tomahawk" this idem was never used in a battle. This is meant to present as a ritual peace offering.

In conclusion, St. Paul's Lutheran Church embodies all aspects of a place of refuge (shelter), giving it's members "bread" to satisfy the needs and connection to God (food), a place to pray to God and meditate (place of worship), while also bringing into play the themes of nature, politics, and immortality within it's stained glass windows designs. While, it would be simple to call St. Paul's simply just another Lutheran church, it is much more than that. It as a community that people participate and are involved religiously in order to find a connection to God in their daily lives and also meet others who want the same spiritual connection in their lives. 

Citations:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Gothic Revival.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Mar. 2017, www.britannica.com/art/Gothic-Revival.

“David Scott Quintin (Architect).” PCAD - Frank H. Happersberger, Pacific Coast Architecture Database, 2005, pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/4271/.

Hoffman, Barbara. “A Brief History of St. Paul's.” History | St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Santa Monica, California, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, stpaulssm.org/history/.

Lazzari, Margaret R, and Dona Schlesier. Exploring Art: a Global, Thematic Approach. 5th ed., Langara College, 2017.

Lentz - Beasom, Helen Marie. History of the Stained Glass Windows at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, California. History of the Stained Glass Windows at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, California, St. Paul's Lutheran Church , 2018.

“Quintin and Kerr, Architects (Partnership).” PCAD - Frank H. Happersberger, Pacific Coast Architecture Database, pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/3184/.

“PHMC Gothic Revival Style 1830 - 1860.” PHMC > Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission , 26 Aug. 2015, www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/architecture/styles/gothic-revival.html.

Santa Monica Public Library . “St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 958-960 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, Calif.” Imagine Santa Monica , Santa Monica Public Library , digital.smpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/smarchive/id/2736/rec/14.

“Thomas Logan Kerr (Architect).” PCAD - Frank H. Happersberger, Pacific Coast Architecture Database, 2005, pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/4272/.

“Who We Are.” Judson Studios, The Judson Studios , 2016, www.judsonstudios.com/historystaff/.

* All photographs taken by students 

 

Contributors:

Teresa Navarro

Theresa Aguilar

Jessica Chutan

Jeremy Trimble

Melanie Marentes

Davis McDonald

Yu Hsin Kao

Andrew Ryan

Austin Rodriguez