Historic Church Renovation
Historic church's renovation funded
By Karen Klinka
The Oklahoman
The distinctive silhouette of a giant American Indian tepee rises over the horizon of northwest Oklahoma County like an exclamation point.
Even from a distance, people can see that the Hopewell Baptist Church at NW 178 and MacArthur Boulevard is something extraordinary, despite its deteriorated state.
A $2 million restoration plan to preserve and renovate the historic church, which was designed by University of Oklahoma architect Bruce Goff, was announced recently by the Hopewell Heritage Foundation.
Connie Golden, the foundation's project director, said restoration of the church to its "original spirit" is expected to cost about $1.25 million. Remaining funds will be set aside for maintenance, Golden said during a recent tour of the aging building.
Golden said the foundation was formed specifically to accept funds to aid the restoration of Goff's famed "tepee" structure, built in 1951.
Joining the foundation in its restoration effort is noted Oklahoma City architect Rand Elliott, principal architect of Elliott and Associates Architects.
Elliott said he always has admired Goff's work and jumped at the chance to work on the church's restoration.
"Bruce Goff was so inventive in this building's design," Elliott said. "He was enclosing space in a very economical way, using corrugated tin and surplus pipe from a nearby oil field, and then welders who were members of the church welded the pipes together as trusses.
"The Hopewell church is an important piece of architectural history needing to be preserved, and I'll do all I can to help with that project," Elliott said.
The 12-sided church was designed in 1948 while Goff was head of the School of Architecture at OU, and built for $20,000. Goff was paid $1,200 to design the building and oversee its construction.
Goff wrote the congregation in a letter that he had reduced the fee for the Hopewell project from his customary 10 percent of the building's cost to 6 percent, "inasmuch as this is a church job."
Architectural scholars consider the church an important design because it demonstrated Goff's ability to create an imaginative structure on a limited budget and with surplus or indigenous materials.
Goff's design called for the use of surplus oil pipe and corrugated aluminum from a nearby oil field and stone quarried near Calumet.
According to a history of the building, the church was built almost entirely by the congregation.
Noticeable on the building's exterior are 12 tapered trusses, constructed from surplus oil-field pipe, which the congregation named for each of Jesus' disciples. Because the final truss proved to be so difficult to attach to the compression ring at the top of the church structure, church members named it "Judas."
Locals quickly dubbed the conical structure "the tepee" because of its resemblance to the dwellings of Plains Indians, who once had roamed western Oklahoma.
Golden said the unusual structure is owned by the Church at Edmond, which vacated it in 1989 because of flooding and lead problems. Asbestos was removed in 1999. Nevertheless, the church still draws visitors.
Last summer, nearly 100 Goff enthusiasts from across the world visited the Oklahoma City landmark as part of the Bruce Goff Centennial Celebration, Golden said.
In 2002, with the help of OU professor emeritus of architecture Arn Henderson, the congregation succeeded in getting the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Elliott + Associates Architects prepared the historic structure report, including photographs, drawings and cost estimates to bring the building into compliance with codes and handicap-accessibility regulations.
Mike Mays, an architect with Elliott + Associates, said a backdrop of large red cedar trees will be planted just north of the church.
Originally Posted by metro
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