Wanted – a visionary architect, builder, sculptor, or craftsman who likes to solve problems. The task: figure out how to repurpose a 90-foot-tall building in Laramie that must be removed.
In March 2019, the congregation of the First United Church in Laramie, Wyoming held the last service in the unique sanctuary it had built in the 1960s. Dedicated in 1968, the building had 50 years of use by the congregation until they made the difficult decision that it was just too costly and non-functional to maintain.
The architect was George S. Hoover of W.C. Muchow and Associates. That respected Denver firm, no longer in business, submitted Hoover’s plan in 1965. The congregation already had a 1961 brick two-story education building which contained a large fellowship hall that doubled as a temporary sanctuary. A large plot to the west of that building had been planned as the site for a new sanctuary. Hoover’s design of wood construction was chosen over a more conventional brick design that the congregation also considered – it was estimated to cost more to build in 1965.
The Hoover design is essentially an A-frame structure – but it is nine stories tall. It has no roof, the triangular frame is covered with siding from top to the gradually widening base, with a triangular footprint. Inside, it is a single, very tall space, with a small balcony at the wide east end, and a narrowing tip at the opposite end with a raised pulpit. The 9-story high triangular wall at the east end has a spectacular faceted glass “rose window” imported from France. The multi-colored facets of light cast into the sanctuary interior from eastern sunshine was one of the most enchanting aspects of the building.
On the inside, the building comes to a narrow point at the front as the supporting beams narrow. Seen from the outside, the west end resembles the prow of a ship – upside down. Others, looking at it from the east or west, suggest it resembles a featureless gigantic drive-in movie screen. Either way, it has become an iconic presence in the northern section of Laramie, a structure that is hard to miss.
The building utilizes a shape called a “hyperbolic paraboloid.” A Wikipedia search for images of buildings with this shape brings up nearly 100, most utilizing the “saddle shape” reminiscent of the double curves of a Pringles potato chip. In the First Methodist sanctuary, the huge laminated wooden beams themselves are straight but there is a hint of the inward double curve typical of the hyperbolic paraboloid due to the geometric shape.
The illustrations demonstrate how unique and photogenic the building is. The problems that developed with it were partly due to its unique design (acoustics, heating, and lighting), but also to construction errors (collapsing duct work under the floor), and material failures (shingles that did not function well as siding). The congregation was able to right some of these wrongs, but as costs mounted, new problems developed, and a decision first contemplated about 20 years after it opened was made to close the door permanently. The congregation is fully supportive of the move back to the “temporary” sanctuary in the education building – now renamed “Wilson Sanctuary.” The Hoover building is no longer designated as a “Sanctuary” by the denomination.
What is to be done with it now is the question. Plans for a new brick sanctuary to be built on the opposite side of the education building have been received and a building fund has been established. However, those plans are on hold, awaiting as the entire building fund may be needed to remove the Hoover building. Its space would become a parking lot there.
It isn’t just new building costs that have escalated these days. Demolition costs have likely skyrocketed also. Shingles have already blown off the exterior, presenting a dilapidated appearance to the neighborhood which borders a public park. Something must be done soon, minor dismantling on the Hoover building interior has already begun by volunteers.
The unique shape of the Hoover building is inspiring to Ellen Martin, who as a new graduate in architecture is now interning with a Laramie firm. “The hyperbolic paraboloid is such a unique concept in design,” she says, “I had never heard of it until I came to Laramie. It would be a shame for such a unique structure to end up in the Laramie city landfill, rose window and all.”
“The rose window won’t end up in the dump,” firmly avows one person who joined the Laramie Methodist congregation after the Hoover building was in use. “If it can’t be used in the new sanctuary building, surely a buyer could be found.”
“I think it is an iconic architectural design with great historical significance,” says Ellen Martin’s employer, Chet Lockard, principal architect of the Laramie firm that bears his name. He says: “It could be dismantled, and the parts reassembled somewhere else. The many laminated beams beg to be reused somehow.” Lockard and Martin have visited with the governing body of the church which has given them some time to come up with solutions.
“Our goal is to get the word out to people in Wyoming and the wider region about this dilemma and to see what ideas can be generated for solutions,” says Lockard. “No one should want to see all these fantastic building components end up in the Laramie landfill,” he adds.
