Trinity Lutheran Church turns 100
World-renowned architect Belluschi designs new church
By Kim Walker
Correspondent, The Sun

Bill Monroe, a lay minister at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sheridan, invites visitors to stop by and look over the church's special historical display in honor of its 100th anniversary. Photos by Shelley Harman

What does Trinity Lutheran Church in Sheridan have in common with the Portland Art Museum and the Julliard School of Music in New York?

All three buildings were designed by world-renowned architect Dr. Pietro Belluschi, former Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Belluschi, who designed numerous churches during his illustrious career, received the Pacific Lutheran University’s Distinguished Service Award for significant contribution to the life of the church through his ecclesiastical architecture.

Trinity Lutheran Church is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. A special celebratory service is scheduled for Sept. 15.

Bill Monroe looks through church's historical display in foyer of Trinity Lutheran Church. The display includes several Bibles in German that were used by some of the first church members.

The quaint wooden church, located at the corner of Sheridan Road and Schley Street, has seen many changes over the past century. The initial congregation was formed on Sept. 15, 1901, when eight men signed the original constitution, said Bill Monroe, a lay minister at Trinity Lutheran. Monroe and his wife, Bev, have been church members since 1970.

The original church building, a tiny structure with no indoor plumbing, was dedicated on Sept. 23, 1907. The need for a new house of worship became apparent in the early 1980s, Bev Monroe said.

"The old church was small and it had no bathroom," she explained. "There was dry rot, the walls had spread and there was plaster falling down. It wasn’t safe."

Church members looked into preserving and restoring the old church building, but it was beyond saving. The 100-member congregation voted unanimously to build a new facility.

Trinity Lutheran Church was designed by world-renowned architect Dr. Pietro Beluschi and built by church members.

They agreed that all donations would be anonymous and no long-term debt would be incurred, Bill Monroe said.

"The fact that this church was built entirely on anonymous donations makes it extra special," he added. "No one was looking for recognition of their gift, no one was looking to get their name on a bronze plaque. All gifts were purely from the heart."

Securing Belluschi, Portland’s most famous architect, was an unintended coup for Bill Monroe and Hal Hagglund, his son-in-law who is a local contractor and the congregation’s building expert. They jotted down Belluschi’s name off the dedication plaque after admiring his work at the University of Portland Chapel.

"If we’d known how famous he was, we’d probably never have called him," Bill Monroe said. "We were looking at different chapels, trying to get ideas. It was a yearlong search. Hal and I really liked the one at University of Portland, so we found out who designed it and called him up.

"When we first approached him with the project, he said, ‘Do you know who I am?,’ but then he told us he’d made enough money in his life and he would be delighted to design a small rural church."

Belluschi, in his 90s at the time, agreed to meet with church members.

"When we first met with Mr. Belluschi, he had already made sketches based on our phone conversation," Bill Monroe recalled with a smile. "He was very enthusiastic about the project. He visited the construction site often and enjoyed working directly with the builders, the people who actually drilled the holes and hammered the nails. He said he had never worked so closely with builders on any of his other projects."

Consulting with the congregation’s building committee, Belluschi designed a church that was affordable and which could be built using church members’ talents. All labor was done by volunteers, with the exception of some of the electrical and plumbing work.

Construction began in 1987. The fellowship hall was completed first, and not a moment too soon. The old church, which was still standing at the completion of the fellowship hall in the early 1980s, had become too dangerous to inhabit. Large chunks of plaster had begun to fall from the ceiling and church members feared the entire ceiling would collapse.

The old church was razed on May 22, 1988. Building continued and a sanctuary was added in 1991. The altar from the original church was retained. A Kilgen pipe organ from a former Jesuit novitiate was purchased from the Delphian School in 1992.

Roy Setziol, distinguished local carver and church member, contributed the impressive golden wood carvings that adorn the church’s entrance and interior. Setziol’s carvings also grace the entryway of Belluschi’s University of Portland Chapel.

Belluschi designed and donated a striking stained glass window mounted above the chancel. The window depicts a golden cross surrounded by a sea of panes done in gorgeous hues of sky-blue and violet. The sanctuary’s walls are paneled with knotty Oregon white fir stained to a golden glow. Four rough-hewn cedar logs serve as supports for a series of trusses bolted together by heavy metal connectors.

A skylight at the chapel’s peak provides natural light.

Bill Monroe recalled Belluschi expressing great satisfaction about the project: "At the dedication of the church on Oct. 13, 1991, Belluschi said, ‘This has been my most fulfilling experience as an architect because it is the only time I have had the privilege of working this closely with the people doing the actual construction.’ "