HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

5. Detailed description of rehabilitation work. Use this page to describe all work or create a comparable format with this information. Number items

consecutively to describe all work, including building exterior and interior, additions, site work, landscaping, and new construction.

Number 1 Feature General Project Description Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The First Church of Christ, Scientist (aka Christian Science) Building is 3 blocks west-southwest of the downtown Paris, Texas, Plaza (central square), at the northwest corner of West Kaufman Street and 4th Street Southwest (Figure 1). The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1988 as an individual property in the Multiple Property listing “Architectural and Historic Resources of Paris, Texas,” and is south across Kaufman Street from the west boundary of the NRHP-listed Paris Commercial Historic District. Built in 1917, the property is a lofty 1-story church with a plan of superimposed rectangles, finished in brick and terra cotta, with a truncated-hipped-roof finished in composition shingles and topped by a skylight over the dominant sanctuary space. The lofty and sky-lit sanctuary, sharing the overall floorplan only with small service rooms on the north and south ends, originally served the city’s Christian Science community through the mid-1970s, then the Ensign Christian Center from 1978 through 1990s, and most recently the Primera Iglesia Bautista el Calvario congregation through the early 2000s (Photos 1 and 2). As with many other buildings constructed in the aftermath of the city-wide fire of March 21, 1916, the building was designed by an architect, in this case the local office of Curtis, Broad & Lightfoot, and offers a sophisticated Beaux-Arts vocabulary popular at the time. Beaux-Arts Classicism was also the standard for a contemporaneous nationwide Christian Science church-building push, and locally inspired many other institutional buildings contributing to the rebuilding of Paris after the fire. The building has been vacant for about 15 years, but remains in good structural condition with a remarkable number of original features, and in a similar transitional neighborhood setting—a mix of commercial, institutional, and residential—as in its period of significance, 1917–1966. Photo numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 Drawing numbers Sheet 1; 1/6 [= 1 of 6] Describe work and impact on feature The First Church of Christ, Scientist Building will be rehabilitated into functional office space, or a small retail store, depending on downtown rental-space demand. The subject building and adjacent open lot will be brought up to code in mechanical systems and public services (described in sections below)(Figure 2). This project will join the Paris Main Street Program and Certified Local Government to retain a viable downtown and serve a small business that fits within the variety of retail stores and service offices in the city center. All work on the building will adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, and will follow several appropriate NPS Preservation Briefs named below for specific guidance. The National Park Service (NPS) listed the First Church of Christ, Scientist Building in the NRHP on 26 October 1988, making it a Certified Historic Structure for purposes of this Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit application.

Number 2 Feature Site Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The 1917 First Church of Christ, Scientist sanctuary occupies a corner lot, acquired by the congregation in 1908, that historically fronted onto a commercial establishment north across West Kaufman Street, another church on the opposite corner of West Kaufman and 4th Street Southwest, and residences west across 4th and on adjacent lots immediately south and east. Landscaping around the historic building appears to have always been a gently sloping mowed lawn accented with large deciduous trees on the west, south, and east, and perhaps low edge-softening bushes around the foundation (Photo 14). The wood-frame boarding house on the east, purchased by church owners in 1979, disappeared in 2015 and the current owner of the Christian Science building also acquired the empty lot.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

Photo numbers 1, 2, and 14 Drawing numbers Sheet 1; Figure 2 Describe work and impact on feature Site work will repair and level the adjacent existing sidewalks along West Kaufman Street and 4th Street Southwest—the latter a quaint narrow walk with sidewalk strip of grass—and ensure a curb-cut for disabled access at the street corner. A narrow walkway from the sidewalk along 4th Street will continue to access the building’s southwest door. A new curb cut along Kaufman Street for vehicle access to the east lot will become an entry to a new curbed and paved parking area on that lot, including disabled-access parking spaces very close to this building’s existing southeast door. A switchback concrete ramp meeting Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifications will rise from near those parking spaces to the southeast door (see Building Envelope and Interior below), and will include a direct stairway from the parking area, all requiring several square feet of ground straddling the two adjoining lots. Care will be taken to pour this ramp independent of the building foundation and without damaging the building. A new concrete walkway will abut the parking lot’s west edge, connecting to the ADA ramp, and a new short walkway joining the lot to the original concrete entry apron—scored in a modular pattern and to be retained—on the building’s north side (Figure 2; Photo 2). The new east parking lot offers outdoor space for an ample utility yard that accommodates disposal-truck turning and loading garbage, recycling, and other disposal bins, accessed by pedestrians from the building through the rebuilt entry door on the southeast corner (Sheet 1/Site Plan). Number 3 Feature Building Envelope Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The building's Beaux-Arts composition results in a small but imposing Classical/Italian Renaissance temple on a generous corner parcel, allowing public view of all its elevations, including the rear (south) wall, all offering rich masonry detail. Rising from a concrete perimeter-wall foundation, exterior-wythe blond bricks with dark mortar finish the majority of all walls in running bond above and below the water table of light-gray marble, with strategic corbeled horizontal brick bands and cast-stone (or marble) points, bands of soldiers, accent panels of soldiers/stretchers/headers, and enframed window openings through marble sills, stacked stretchers, and soldier lintels. The building’s load-bearing brick walls are also supported by an interior wythe of red structural bricks, visible at some un-plastered areas in utility rooms. Original wood-sash art-glass windows light the interior primarily from the west and south elevations; many are damaged and missing (see 6-Window and Doors below). The formal entry pavilion, facing north to West Kaufman Street, rises several feet from ground level, lifting pedestrians up a wide concrete stairway and drawing them through 4 Ionic columns of terra cotta. The full terra cotta entablature above is inscribed on its frieze with “FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST.” Instead of a pediment above, the entry pavilion is capped with a stepped and staggered brick parapet protected by deep terra cotta coping. The inset brick entry wall is framed for 3 large doorways, but the middle frame is paneled in brick with cast-stone (or marble) accents and an inset sign panel, segregating entry to the east and west openings, each through double 10-lite wood doors. The west elevation facing 4th Street Southwest and the east elevation mirror each other through, front to back: the entry pavilion with high double art-glass windows into restrooms on each side, continuation and termination of the terra cotta entablature, and parapet with coping above; 90-degree turn of the sanctuary’s rectangular space with a tall narrow art-glass window; 3 large art-glass windows on each side lighting the sanctuary, each window topped with a multi-lite lunette (round arch); and 90-degree return (a double return on the east corner caused by the boiler chimney that rises to the eave and several feet above) into the blocky rear pavilion that accommodates the inside chancel and its side rooms, with single-leaf entry doors on the west (up a staircase protected by a low wall, to sanctuary level) and east (at ground level). The south (rear) elevation is a single plane of brick, without the water table or window enframing for 3 windows of different sizes asymmetrically spaced, plus an implied frieze panel of rowlocks/headers/cast-stone (or marble) corners, and a subtle “cornice” of soldiers, all topped by a parapet and deep terra cotta coping. (See also 5-Roof below.) Photo numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, and 14 Drawing numbers 5/6

HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

Describe work and impact on feature Exterior bricks are generally in good condition and do not need extensive or intensive cleaning. Rehabilitation work starts with fixing the slight foundation drop at the south end that is causing cracks in exterior bricks on the west and east elevations (see 4-Foundation). Work on all exterior brick walls includes selective repointing with matching 1917 mortar where needed, matching color, texture, and tooling of the original masonry. Replacement of any damaged or missing brick units will be addressed in-kind where needed, and repair or replacement of any damaged or missing terra cotta coping units will be addressed in-kind where needed, following NPS Preservation Briefs 2- Repointing Mortar Joints and 7-Glazed Architectural Terra-Cotta. Windows suffered much vandalism damage and theft of sashes before boarding up; their wood trim and sashes, and art-glass panels will be repaired, restored, and properly sealed for energy efficiency, following NPS Preservation Briefs 9-Wooden Windows and 33-Stained and Leaded Glass. The southeast door, entering the building’s former boiler room at ground level, will be reconfigured—rebuilt at a higher level on the wall—for the ADA ramp to access this building entry at the sanctuary-floor level. The terra cotta entablature’s cornice is water damaged and stained, and will be repaired and cleaned as needed, following Brief 7. Other terra cotta will be similarly and gently cleaned and spot-repaired as needed. The wood eave corbels/brackets and soffits are water-damaged throughout, and will be repaired in-kind and painted with an appropriate durable product. The central flat roof and skylight have many leaks and will repaired and sealed with appropriate materials and original products when possible (see 5-Roof). Number 4 Feature Foundation Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The concrete perimeter-wall foundation, encircling a pier-and-beam system under the interior flooring, is in relatively good condition. Evidence through exterior brick cracking at the southeast and southwest sanctuary corners indicates some subsidence of the overall foundation system on the south end. The southeast corner of the building contained the boiler room, probably on an independent concrete floor. Multiple downspouts channel roof water to those corner areas, and their maintenance lapsed, perhaps causing the evident foundation subsidence. Photo numbers 2, 5, and 12 Drawing numbers 2/6, 3/6 Describe work and impact on feature Foundation repairs will be accomplished with in-kind materials, correcting subsidence, drainage, and other water, moisture, and life-cycle deterioration problems. Number 5 Feature Roof Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The sanctuary roof, supported by large wood trusses that create the expansive clear-span room below, rises from the main rectangular block on corbels/brackets supporting deep eaves on the west and east with soffits of boards and geometric battens. The hipped roof is drained by hidden perimeter gutters. Above the hipped planes, a large flat area supports the outer skylight; proper drainage of this flat roof area is not functioning, judging from the leak damage rectangular pattern in the sanctuary ceiling below. The north-projecting entry pavilion has a flat built-up roof behind its parapet capped with terra cotta coping. The south-projecting chancel/service rooms pavilion likewise has a flat built-up roof behind its parapet, capped with terra cotta coping. The most severe leakage appears to originate at the intersection of the hipped roof planes and the flat roof plane. The partially hidden perimeter gutter around the hipped roof appears to be leaking, causing the visible corbel/bracket and soffit damage. Photo numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 Drawing numbers 1/6, 4/6, 6/6

HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

Describe work and impact on feature Shingles on the hipped roof planes appear to be in good condition, but will be checked for normal deterioration and repaired as necessary. All the building’s flat roofs’ membranes will be repaired or replaced as necessary, with built-up surfaces and seals that allow the roofs’ structural and drainage systems to function as originally constructed. The outer skylight will be sealed properly where it rests on the central flat roof. The original gutter system will be refurbished in-kind, made functional, and assembled to allow seasonal future maintenance. Some new utilities requiring exterior parts, such as HVAC fans, will be mounted on the parapeted flat roofs, or the central flat roof around the skylight, to hide them from street view (set back from street elevations), and without damaging any of the roof’s structural integrity.

Number 6 Feature Windows and Doors Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition In addition to exterior windows and doors noted above (3-Building Envelope), the building retains all of its interior doors, most stained wood in public spaces and painted wood in service areas: 2 sets of double French doors, with beveled clear panes, from the north entry vestibule into the sanctuary; wood-panel restroom doors on the west and east; wood-panel doors flanking the south chancel; and interior wood-panel doors to the rear chancel and corner rooms flanking the chancel on the west and east. Several doors in the south chancel area access the baptismal pool (a recent addition; Christian Scientists do not include baptism in their service), former boiler room, utility closets, and southwest room, which might have been a preparation area for service leaders and storage area for Christian Science literature, with its west elevation outside door. As noted above, many art-glass windows have been damaged with glass pieces missing and whole sashes stolen. However, most windows remain, including the complete restroom windows, the lunettes on the main sanctuary windows, and several sanctuary-window operable sashes. Photo numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 Drawing numbers 1/6,2/6,3/6,4/6,5/6 Describe work and impact on feature All wood components of the original windows and transoms will be repaired, made operable where possible, and weather-sealed for energy efficiency, all in-place, following NPS Preservation Briefs 9-Wooden Windows and 33-Stained and Leaded Glass. Missing art-glass window sashes and panels will be restored and windows sealed for protection, matching originals in materials, size, pane configurations, color, trim details, and planar and reflective qualities. Examples of all missing elements survive on other windows to aid in art-glass reconstruction. Storm windows, if necessary following an energy audit of the completed window restorations, will be exterior panels that do not interfere with original window-frame lines, resulting in additional protection for the art-glass panels. Doors will be cleaned and repaired in-place, with exceptions of: the southeast exterior door that will be re-hung and automated in a higher position for ADA entry; the chancel door into the former boiler room, which will be widened and rebuilt in-kind to ADA specifications to accommodate the accessible entrance made by raising the boiler room floor to the shared ADA-ramp and sanctuary-floor level; west chancel door that was cut shorter for the podium alterations, possibly with a replacement left for conversion of the east restroom outer door; east restroom outer door to be widened and rebuilt in-kind for ADA access; and east-restroom interior doors, removed for ADA dimensions in the room (see 8-Restrooms below) but saved for re-use as needed elsewhere in the building (see this paragraph, and 3-Building Envelope above). Number 7 Feature Interior Floor, Trim, Surfaces Date of Feature 1917; 1979 Describe existing feature and its condition The building’s interior wood floors are all originally at the same level, with exceptions of the southeast boiler room accessed by steps from the sanctuary down to the exterior ground level, and the slightly raised chancel platform. The sanctuary floors are heavily water damaged by years of

HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

roof leaks and some areas are missing floorboards, elsewhere floors are largely intact upon an apparently stable pier-and-beam foundation. The original smaller, lower, and outward-curving chancel podium, accessed by steps on its west and east sides (still in place below alterations) was at an unknown time—likely post-Christian Science occupancy—additionally raised and widened beyond the flanking chancel doors, causing those doors to be rebuilt shorter. The original inset chancel stage—flanked by volute brackets and topped by a large wood (music system?) screen under a broad segmental arch—was also partly enclosed with plywood paneling. A large opening in the new paneling allowed the congregation to view full-emersion baptisms in the Fiberglas tub installed about 1979 above and behind the original chancel stage. The sanctuary is finished with broad expanses of smooth-plaster walls, detailed only with a continuous broad wood chair railing, a broad wood picture molding across the south wall flanking the chancel, and oversize wood crown molding at the intersections of walls and the angle-coved ceiling. Interior doorways are generally detailed with wood surrounds that extend up to implied but non-existent transoms. The inner rectangular skylight, with its remarkably intact large art-glass panel and “God Is Love” stained-glass inscription within a center circle, is centered in the sanctuary ceiling. Acoustical fiber-board ceiling panels, supported by wood-board nailers attached to the trusses and possibly original, have mostly detached due to water damage; a few intact examples remain in place. Four original ceiling fans, one from each corner of the skylight, are suspended by steel pipes dropping into the sanctuary about 10 feet above the floor. Original wood pews remain in the room, but are detached, damaged, and in piles around the room. Photo numbers 7 and 8 Drawing numbers 1/6,2/6,3/6,4/6,5/6 Describe work and impact on feature Rehabilitation of the interior starts with rebuilding water-damaged areas of the sanctuary’s wood floor, retaining as much original wood as possible. Door, window, and wall trim will be cleaned and selectively scraped so that new paint on all trim will encapsulate any original lead-paint surfaces. Plaster wall areas will be repaired in-kind in order to retain as much original plaster as possible, guided by Preservation Brief 21-Flat Plaster Walls and Ceilings. The plaster will be painted in a scheme close to the tone and finish of the original. The ceiling’s expanse of acoustical tiles will be replaced in-kind—maintaining the existing configuration of ceiling-tile dimensions and depth, the ceiling’s angled coves, and its profiles at corners and the art-glass skylight—with a modern material similar to the original missing and damaged panels. Benign insulation material in the ceiling will greatly increase the building’s energy efficiency. The art-glass skylight will be cleaned and sealed, and its structural supports examined for any additional needs. Once other rehabilitation work in the sanctuary and support rooms is complete, the restored sanctuary floor will be restored where floorboards are missing, all sanded for consistency, stained, and sealed as the finished surface for future occupants. Number 8 Feature Restrooms Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition Two of the few ancillary services originally offered in the Christian Science building in Paris were men’s and women’s restrooms flanking the north entry vestibule on its west and east sides. Each is entered through a single-leaf paneled-wood doorway into a small lounge, with a full inner door into the washroom, and in the washroom a partial door and paneled screen for visual privacy in the single toilet chamber. Paired 1/1 art-glass windows, placed high for privacy (intact but currently boarded), light the lounge and washroom of each restroom grouping. Both restroom groups are still in place with these windows, fixtures, inner doors, and paneled screens, but they are both in disarray and shabby through disuse and vandalism over the past 15 years. Photo numbers 10 and 11 Drawing numbers 4/6, Figures 3 and 4 Describe work and impact on feature The west restroom will be restored with its original plaster walls, fixtures, partitions, doors, and windows, and made operable for the future building tenant. The east restroom will be converted to ADA access by: widening the entry door with a replacement that matches the original

HISTORIC PRESERVATION CERTIFICATION APPLICATION PART 2 – DESCRIPTION OF REHABILITATION

Property Name: First Church of Christ, Scientist Building NPS Project Number:___ Property Address: 339 West Kaufman Street

and reuses its original hardware; removing the inner doors and existing partitions, so that circulation dimensions in the resulting full room meet ADA specifications; and new disabled-access toilet and sink. Any removed doors and fixtures will be carefully saved and used elsewhere in the building, for example, to rebuild the west restroom, replace the west chancel door shortened by later occupants, and craft a new wider east chancel door and this bathroom’s entry door so they continue to reflect other original doors. Number 9 Feature Utilities Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition The wiring and plumbing in the building is likely vintage 1917 with few upgrades since the building has no offices and no large HVAC system installation in its lifetime. Several cast-iron radiators survive inside the building (Photo 8), left from the steam boiler and pipe system that originally heated the building; the boiler was removed long ago (Photo 9). Photo numbers 8 and 9 Drawing numbers 4/6, 5/6, Figure 2 Describe work and impact on feature Rehabilitation of the Paris Christian Science church building will include new electrical wiring to meet building codes and increase the building’s capacity for modern HVAC, lighting, communications, and electrical-service outlets. Below-floor plumbing will be renewed for the west and east restrooms, and for any piping necessary for the new HVAC system. The generous foundation crawl space and attic allows wiring, plumbing, piping, ducts, and venting to be installed without damaging or visually disturbing historic interior spaces. Ample room for any HVAC or other utility installations inside existing south-end service rooms—or in outside installations near the least-visible south elevation—is available without major visual intrusions in those areas, in order to serve the more active public spaces.

Number 10 Feature Lighting Date of Feature 1917 Describe existing feature and its condition A few small light fixtures, and the 4 sanctuary ceiling fans noted above, survive inside the building, but most are missing along with exterior lights that once decorated the north entry porch. Photo numbers 8 and 13 Drawing numbers Describe work and impact on feature New light fixtures similar to existing and known historic fixtures will be installed in original locations, with addition of some low-wattage task-lighting and backlighting for art-glass window and the skylight. The original decorative fixtures on the north porch will be identified and replicated.

Figure 1: Map from National Register Nomination Form

Location of First Church of Christ, Scientist, 339 West

Kaufman Street

Figure 2: Christian Science Building, Proposed Site Plan

North

West Kaufman Street

N

Figure 3: First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, Existing Floor Plan (from Drawing Sheet 2/6)

N

Figure 4: First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, Rehabilitated Floor Plan (from Drawing Sheet 4/6)

Photo 1. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking southeast and showing intersection of West Kaufman Street (middle left to lower right) and 4th Street Southwest (lower left to middle right). Empty lot at left (east) on Kaufman held a large 2-story wood-frame boarding house through 2015. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 2. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking northwest and showing east (right) and south elevations. Boarded ground-level door at southeast corner is entry to former boiler room, to be reconfigured higher on its wall to meet the new ADA ramp, to be installed where group of preservationists is standing. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 3. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking southwest from downtown Rogers-Wade Building, showing 2 of the church building’s 3 roofs: parapeted flat roof over the entry portico, and hipped roof truncated for flat area with skylight. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 4. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking south at north-facing façade. Note module-scored concrete apron leading to entry, double entry doors flanking as-built bulletin panel in center, terra-cotta entablature and staining. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 5. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking southeast at the southwest corner of the building, showing results of severed downspout (right) and leaking soffit gutter directly above ground depression below. Note associated cracks in bricks above and below the window. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 6. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking up and southwest at the exterior ceiling over the entry portico, showing damage from leaking flat roof of the entry pavilion. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 7. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking up and southeast at the chancel and sanctuary ceiling , showing damage from leaking main-block roof system around the skylight. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 8. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking northwest in the sanctuary, showing (from left) art-glass windows on west wall, small sanctuary window on north wall return, west vestibule double entry doors inside and outside, and west restroom door off vestibule. Note door surrounds that imitate transoms. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 9. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking west inside former boiler room, with outside door below—to be rebuilt higher for ADA access—and east chancel door to left. Photo 5/12/16.

Photos 10 and 11. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, inside west restroom showing toilet room screen, door, and detailed molding (Photo 10); and one of the intact art-glass windows mounted high in the lounge room inside the main entry door (Photo 11). Photos 5/12/16.

Photo 12. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking southeast at northwest corner, showing downspout separation from ceramic elbow on ground, missing its horizontal drain away from building. Note marble cornerstone, water table, and foundation-facing adjacent to concrete-facing. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 13. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, looking west in north portico, showing electrical outlets for former decorative light fixtures flanking the center bulletin panel. Photo 5/12/16.

Photo 14. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Paris, Texas, 357 W. Kaufman Street, photo c. 1920 with west-side neighbors from the Daniel family in a multi-generation portrait. Concrete-block wall is inside Daniel property across 4th Street Southwest from church. Note church landscape of lawn, bushes at north, and young trees on west side.

1920s West View of Church One of the first known photos of the First Church of Christ, Scientist was taken of the Daniel grand and great grand-daughters in apparently the early 1920s. By now the landscape around the church is maturing, and the tree at the southwest corner is planted. The girls are sitting on the South 18th Street (later renumbered to 4th Street Southwest) wall of the Daniel property, the view Em would have had looking out her east windows. They are: Virginia Haile; Gussie Haile; Mary Emma Williams; Bonnybel Haile; and in front, Mary Agnes and Margaret Williams. Gussie, the mother of her daughters sitting on the stone with her, died in 1923. Thus, the date of the photo is maybe the last she took with her three daughters. Photo and Caption from Skipper Steely, “History of First Church of Christ Scientist,” 2016.