Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church
This Gothic Revival cathedral is the only work in Colorado by east coast architect Ralph Adams Cram. It sits at 20th and Glenarm Streets on the border of the modern central commercial district of downtown Denver.
The church is small, approximately 40 by 70 feet, and L-shaped. It’s made of red Harvard brick with limestone serving as lintels and decorative banding and a slate roof. The front faces Glenarm where double wooden doors stand as the entrance situated in an ornate wood-trimmed opening. A square tower east of the entrance bears a large arched gothic window. The opposite façade holds a smaller rose window. The exterior is ornamented with wooden Gothic tracery on the windows and porches. Connected to the church is a clergy house, built as an addition in 1928 in matching style as the main building. St. Andrew’s bell is one of the largest and most beautifully toned in all of downtown Denver and for years has marked the passing of the hours from its timber frame tower.
Inside, pointed Gothic arches made of brick dominate the interior. The interior also includes beamed ceilings and diamond patterned amber leaded glass windows. Paintings and sculptures decorate the interior, including a Sienese Madonna which stands watch at the door, and opposite, an 18th century Portuguese Sorrowful Mother. There are Spanish Monastic stalls carved by Franciscans a hundred years ago. A santo hangs on the wall, an Edwardian rerardos, by the Denver Artist Albert Byran Olsen, adorns the high altar and a Romanesque baptismal fount stands by the front entrance
In 1986, major repairs were conducted. St. Andrew’s received a new composite roof, new plaster and paint and an oak floor was laid over old asbestos tiles. Tim Hinz, a local woodworking artist, made a free standing altar. The men of St. John’s removed asphalt on the property and planted trees in its place. The church was rededicated on the Feast of St. Andrew’s, 1988. On All Soul’s Day 1999, a fire caused significant smoke damage to the nave and sanctuary and destroyed the church organ. While the congregation worshipped at the nearby Temple Events Center, St. Andrew’s underwent repairs and received a new instrument, a Buzard pipe organ.
References
Curtis Park: Denver’s Oldest Neighborhood. Retrieved from https://history.denverlibrary.org/curtispark-denvers-oldest-neighborhood-upgrade.
National Register of Historic Places, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, National Register #75000512.
Our Story. Retrieved from http://www.standrewdenver.org/about/our-history.
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