Nathan Hollister

Art 101

Dr Larson

5/13/2010

Architecture

Santa Barbara has many very interesting buildings in it, most of them being
Spanish style due to the rebuilding of the town. The University of California also has
some very interesting more modern building. But the building I chose for this paper
represents the Gothic revival; a period I time that contains some of my favorite
buildings. I chose Trinity Episcopal Church which is located on State Street; a castle
standing against the Spanish set backdrop of the rest of the town.

On of my favorite things about this building is just how much it stands out
against the back ground. Its bell tower reaches high above many of the surrounding
buildings so it can be seen from quite a distance. It is build with a golden colored stone
which makes it look very out of place put next to the Spanish white wash of the
surrounding buildings. The doorways leading into the church are gothic arches, having
parallel lines running up and converging into a point above the middle of the
doorways. There are also many stained glass windows contained by the same gothic
arching found along the walls of the narthex and the sanctuary, along with other
portions of the church, though the stained glass seems to be solely in the windows of
the narthex and sanctuary.

Inside the sanctuary is even more impressive than the outside in my opinion. The
high vaulted ceiling looks like an elongated gothic arch running the length of the
sanctuary, yet on the sides there are roman arches coming down in pillars, which come
down near the aisles between the pews. The stained glass windows that can be seen
from the outside are illuminated by the sun and cast amazing colored shadows along
the ground leading all the way up the pews until one reaches the giant stand glass
window above the farthest alter which casts its shadow down onto the ground where
the priest generally stand. The stone feeling and gothic arches, along with the wooden
ceiling and over all “castle” feeling of the place make it one of my favorite buildings in
town.
 I love being around this building, mainly the sanctuary, is just the gothic feeling
about the place, the materials, structure, and even lighting that is created by this
windows make you feel like you are in a castle in Europe somewhere. Then at the same
time you can move throughout the church grounds and hit more and more modern
feeling rooms. For example you can go into their theater, which is almost entirely
wooden, and get a more Tutor feeling, still old and medieval but not quite the same as
you would get in the sanctuary. Then you can progress into the Sunday school are
where externally it is made of the same stone as the sanctuary, but it more square,
lacking the archways and arched windows, and on the inside completely modern with
carpeted floors and all. So over all I love the place because you can be transported to a
castle in Europe, take a few steps, and be in Tutor time in England, walk a little further
and be in modern time, all the while being about to step off the ground and being
surrounded by Spanish architechture.