The Curtis Oaks Christian Church was designed by Starks and Flanders and built in 1941 for $35,000. The church was located at Freeport Boulevard and 5th Avenue in the Curtis Park neighborhood of Sacramento. Under unknown circumstances the church burned down in 1984. According to the Sacramento Bee, it took four dozen firefighters 90 minutes to extinguish the fire.
Thank you to Joanna and Maggie Valentine for researching this project.
Starks, Jozens, & Nacht designed one of the first community churches for the newly developed suburb of Land Park, Sacramento in 1957. Parkside Community Church has since expanded and is still active in the Land Park community today.
Leonard Starks was commissioned in 1948 to design the Mexican Center Hall in the South Side Park neighborhood of Sacramento. The building is done in the Spanish Mission style Mr. Starks was so prominently known for. The project features a terracotta tile roof to compliment the light tan building.
The memorial statue of a Hispanic-American veteran was present in the court yard. Once the center was sold the memorial statue was moved to the Capitol Mall between 10th and L street on the grounds of the California State Transportation Agency (915 Capitol Mall).
This campus is now associated with the Tenrikyo Churches and Fellowships in the America and Canada Diocese named Tenrikyo High Sacramento Church.
Photo courtesy of Center for Sacramento History.
Also know as the Pioneer Congregational Church, this house of worship was built in 1920’s at a cost of $170,000. The concrete exterior was done in the neo-Gothic style that was projected to honor the population of European pioneers who settled the Sacramento area.
The structure consists of a main floor and balcony, stained glass windows throughout, and a choir loft with a pipe organ in the chancel. The two story, 15,500 square foot administrative wing was remodeled in 1998 and contains offices, meeting and classrooms, a fellowship hall and a kitchen
This project although designed by Hemmings and Starks, was completed after Hemmings death in 1924.
Photos courtesy of the Sacramento Public Library.
Originally designed in 1924 by Leonard Starks, this church was once home to a Presbyterian congregation. The church was styled in the Spanish Revival style popular of the time. The church was sold in March 1964 and is now known as the Faith United Methodist Church.
E.C. Hemmings and William A. Jones of Vallejo began preparing plans for the First Baptist Church of Vallejo sometime in 1920. In the July-December 1920 Issue of Western Architect and Engineer it was stated that the plans for the edifice would cost $60,000. Design started in 1920 and construction finished sometime in 1924 – 25.
Jones, a member of the congregation, is considered Vallejo’s most prolific architect. He is responsible for several Vallejo city landmarks which is why he is mostly associated as the Architect of the church while Hemmings is generally listed as the builder.
This may not be totally accurate. Their professional relationship seems to have begun a decade earlier as the duo teamed up to design and build the Solano County courthouse in Fairfield, California. For that project Hemmings seems to be most identified as the Architect in association with Jones. Hemmings was an architect like Jones in his own right and not a contractor or “builder” as sometimes listed for this structure. What is more likely is that Jones and Hemmings designed and constructed this project together just as they had a decade earlier with the Solano Courthouse.
Designed by E.C. Hemmings in 1915 which upon its completion the Sacramento Bee ran the following article:
On Saturday, March 20, 1915
FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH, which has been completed at Twenty-seventh and N Streets, and which is now being used by the congregation. The little church is unique in design and one of the most attractive little churches in the city.
The church is constructed of cedar shakes, with brown stained woodwork. The windows are of amber glass in simple leaded patterns of the casement type. Architect E. C. Hemmings drew the plans for the building. The structure cost $8,000.
[One striking] feature of the structure is the entrance, which is on a Pergola porch, formed by big bark covered cedar logs. Both the auditorium and social rooms have open trussed roofs with rolling partitions, so that both rooms may be used as one in the event of a big crowd. A big fireplace of mission tile makes the social room the coziest part of the church.
A most delightful feature of the building was later discovered to be the effects of the tall windowed alcove behind the pulpit. There the hanging drapery curtains diffused the natural light from the east windows so that it streamed down to accentuate the form and color of flowers and greenery from field and garden customarily placed there for morning services.
The church was later demolished to make way for another Unitarian church which was also later destroyed. The site is now occupied by homes.