St. Mark’s Parish Church is a historic Episcopal church located at 1160 Lincoln Street in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. Built in 1889, the church was designed by Lang & Pugh, one of Denver’s most influential architectural firms of the late 19th century. Recognized for its architectural significance, St. Mark’s was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1975. Since 1996, the building has functioned as a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

, known as The Church, primarily hosting

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

(EDM)

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

, DJ performances, and other

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

events.

History

St. Mark’s Parish Church was founded as part of the Mission of the Holy Comforter in 1875 under the direction of Sisters Eliza Barton and Hanna Austin. The mission was later elevated to

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

status in 1887, and in 1889, Reverend Arundel acquired land at 12th and Lincoln for a new church building. The total cost of the construction, land, and furnishings exceeded $100,000 (). The church’s original Hooks and Hastings organ, installed for $7,800 (), was used until 1959, when it was replaced by a

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instrument at a cost of $10,000 (). By the late 19th century, St. Mark’s had become one of Denver’s most significant religious institutions, recognized for its architectural grandeur and active role in community service, music, and education. In 1987, the congregation was moved to a new location in the Washington Park neighborhood following a split in the congregation. In the early 1994, the building was purchased from the Colorado Episcopal Diocese for $275,000 () by Regas Christou, who converted and opened the church as a "restaurant, coffee house and blues night-club" in 1996.

Architecture

St. Mark’s Parish Church exemplifies

High Victorian Gothic High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Prom ...

architecture, a style characterized by pointed arches, intricate woodwork, and a pronounced vertical emphasis. The building was designed by William Lang, who designed a number of prominent buildings in Denver, and his business partner Marshall Pugh. The exterior of the church is constructed from buff

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

sourced from

Longmont Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Its population was 98,885 . Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder. It is named after Longs Peak, a prominent mountain th ...

, and dark red sandstone columns sourced from the Kemmuir quarry in

El Paso County, Colorado El Paso County is the List of counties in Colorado, most populous county in the U.S state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 730,395, surpassing the city and county of Denver. The county seat is ...

. The interior is finished with rough-hewn native stone, paneled oak, and a

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open-timbered ceiling. The structural design of the church is particularly noteworthy. The wood trusses of the roof transfer forces downward through

hammer-beam A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams proje ...

projections into columnar piers that support five pointed arches on each side of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. These roof elements, enhanced with intricate Gothic ornamentation in carved wood, are considered some of the most authentic examples of their kind in Colorado, next to the great

drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th ce ...

Glen Eyrie Glen Eyrie is an English Tudor-style castle built in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. The castle is owned today by The Navigators, a worldwide Christian organization. It is open for public tours and event ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

. The five-arched

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

gable at the west end of the church allows for an influx of natural light, complementing the large west-facing

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

window. The east wall of the sanctuary features an unusual set of seven tall slit windows, symbolizing seven

altar candles An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

. These windows are designed to create a visual effect resembling flickering candlelight, with stained glass elements providing dramatic contrast. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

, titled "Ascension and the Attendant Angels" and completed in 1923 by R. Byron Olson, received recognition from the Denver Art Association. The sanctuary and choir area, set in deep relief, are further accentuated by an elaborately painted triptych

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

that incorporates

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

detailing.

Structural changes

The church originally featured a

castellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

tower and

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

, but in 1950, structural failure caused the upper portion of the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

to collapse, damaging the attached

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

. At a cost of $40,000 (), the turret was removed and replaced with a

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

for stability. Despite this loss, the exposed ridgeline of the nave has since become a defining external feature of the structure.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mark's Parish Church Gothic Revival church buildings in Colorado Episcopal church buildings in Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Denver Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Churches completed in 1889