First United Methodist Church

Designated a U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 9/13/1990.Built circa 1925, the First United Methodist Church is significant for its highly artistic, academically correct use of the Gothic Revival with a strong English Gothic influence. According to the City’s FloridaSite File records less than ten buildings inSt. Petersburg are designed in the style and seven of these are churches dating from 1887 to 1925. Designed by James Baldwin, the Church is constructed of red brick which is laid in common bond. Cast concrete ornamentation is present on all facades. All of the windows in the sanctuary are made of leaded stained glass, manufactured in 1926, by the George Hardy Payne Studios of Paterson, New Jersey. These windows are in the Tiffany style, which incorporates multiple layers of opalescent colored glass, often faceted, with the traditional painted and fired glass. The ten windows of the east and west walls of the sanctuary on the lower level depict major events in the life and passion of Christ. The large south wall window is a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper."The church's lofty bell tower originally housed a ten-bell carillon, which has been increased to 15 bells. The original bells were bronze, cast by the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York, in 1926. The largest bell weighs 2,208 pounds. The basic tonality is the key of F, but an additional E-flat bell permits limited use of the key of B-flat. The original manual lever system was altered to an electronic keyboardin 1964.