First United Methodist Church, Methodist church in Jasper, Alabama.
The First United Methodist Church is a two-story masonry church faced with Georgia marble, set on a raised basement on a corner lot in Jasper. Its north and east facades carry hexastyle porticoes with monolithic Ionic columns, and a shallow terracotta-tiled hipped roof is topped by an octagonal cupola. Inside, the square sanctuary is ringed with Honduran mahogany woodwork.
The congregation was established in 1833 and built this structure between 1912 and 1921 as its fifth church building. Four earlier buildings dating to the 1830s preceded this one, showing the community's long presence in the area.
The sanctuary is a square auditorium ringed by panelled pilasters and woodwork in Honduran mahogany. Its 34-foot art glass dome, 9 feet high, is built from 109 sections and 30,000 pieces of glass, lit from above by electric bulbs. The congregation left the United Methodist Church on December 10, 2022, joining the Global Methodist Church as Jasper First Methodist Church.
The building sits at a corner location on Third Avenue and is easily found and accessed on foot. The structure is built on a raised foundation level that you will notice when entering.
The sanctuary's circular art glass dome measures 34 feet across and rises 9 feet, built from 109 sections and 30,000 pieces of glass lit by electric bulbs above it. The architect of the 1912–21 building is unknown; scholars have proposed William Leslie Welton, pastor William Winfield Scott, or plans 58 and 59 by New York architect George Kramer.
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