Seminole Heights United Methodist Church, also referred to as Seminole Heights Methodist or Seminole Heights UMC, is an active

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

and a historic,

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

constructed in 1927 in the Old Seminole Heights neighborhood of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. The building is one of the

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

within the

Seminole Heights Residential District The Seminole Heights Residential District, known also as the Seminole Heights Historic District, is a U.S. and Local Historic District located in Tampa, Florida. The district is roughly bounded by Hanna Avenue to the north, Cherokee Avenue and I ...

, a U.S. National and Local

Historic District A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

. Seminole Heights United Methodist Church is located at 6111 Central Avenue, at the southeast corner of the intersection of Central and Hanna Avenues.

Architecture

The site where the church is located was originally the site of Seminole Heights

Elementary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. The school would eventually be relocated to its present campus directly across Hanna Avenue, which cleared the way for construction of a church facility on the school's former lot. Aside from being very close in age and location,

Seminole Heights Seminole Heights is a historic neighborhood and district located in central Tampa, Florida, Tampa. It includes many early 20th century bungalow homes and historic buildings. It was an early residential area of Tampa connected by streetcar. The ...

' namesake Elementary School and Methodist Church buildings also share in common their primary building material, yellow

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

."Seminole Heights United Methodist Church - Page 1".''Tampa Pix''.
Retrieved February 11, 2010. The sanctuary was designed by one of the highly regarded architects of Tampa, Frank A. Winn, Jr. Winn is responsible for several prominent area structures, some of which have been recognized individually by the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The Old Lutz Schoolhouse is one such example. In 1927, the year Seminole Heights Methodist Church was built, the Methodist Church in nearby

Tampa Heights Tampa Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city limits of Tampa, situated in the central part of the city. As of the 2000 census, the neighborhood had a population of 16,393. Historic buildings in the area include the Tampa Free ...

completed a three-story Sunday school building, also designed by Winn. Winn chose to design the Seminole Heights Methodist Church in

style. Today, the value of Frank Winn's design, as contributed by Seminole Heights United Methodist Church, is one reason why Gothic Revival is one of the architectural styles for which

is recognized. From the front of the building, a tiered stairway ascends to the main floor where a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

with three arched openings precedes the main entry. Inside, the sanctuary is expansive and open, lit on either side by twelve towering stained glass windows. Between each window and along each corner the building is supported by buttress-like exterior

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. The elevated main floor allows for a lookout-style

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

("Allen Hall") below, a rare feature for local architecture. The yellow brick masonry is accented with white cast concrete detailing, and the building is topped by a steeply pitched

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

roof.

Function

Church

The congregation of Seminole Heights United Methodist is an active church within the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Annual Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main pu ...

of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

, a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

. Its members meet for worship services each Sunday, with additional meetings during the week for Bible study, youth and children's programs, music rehearsals, and congregational dinners. Seminole Heights UMC sponsors special events throughout the year, such as outdoor movie nights, flea markets, craft bazaars, and church conferences, in addition to seasonal events such as an Easter Egg hunt, a

pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

patch in the fall, and several community events around

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

. The church also operates a pre-school and

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

from an adjacent building to the rear of the historic sanctuary.

Community space

In addition to its capacity as a religious house, the building plays host to community-organized events. Seminole Heights Elementary School uses the sanctuary for annual concerts. The building is also the site of regular meetings by Twelve-Step groups and community organizations such as the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, which regularly uses the church building for its general membership meetings."General Membership Mtg".''Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association''.
Retrieved February 14, 2010.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Florida Churches in Tampa, Florida United Methodist churches in Florida Gothic Revival church buildings in Florida Christian organizations established in 1927 Churches completed in 1927 Tourist attractions in Tampa, Florida Historic district contributing properties in Florida 1927 establishments in Florida National Register of Historic Places in Tampa, Florida