First Church of Christ, Scientist

First Church of Christ, Scientist

First Church of Christ, Scientist Photograph by Gerald Moorhead
1953, Milton A. Ryan. 302 W. Stayton Ave.

This church is the work of Milton Ryan, a San Antonio architect whose modern buildings of the 1950s brought him national recognition. In plan, the church is an oblong rectangle, with the prayer hall set forward of offices, classrooms, and a rear community room. The roof ascends from the enclosing brick wall to a tall, glass-enclosed cage containing the pipes of the organ loft above the Stayton Avenue entrance doors. Because the congregation has never cut into the fabric of the neighborhood for extensive additions or, even worse, surface parking lots, the church is compatible with its nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century neighbors.

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