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| Fifty years of church history |
 Donald Zimmermann, Music Director of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, takes us on an excursion through some fascinating church history. The year 2012 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the construction and dedication of the 1962 additions to the sanctuary of Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Don had planned to write this history of the building project before the recent discussion of the future use of the complex, so these comments may now be of even more relevance.
Charles Haertling History (Part two)
By Donald Zimmermann, DMA In the late 1950's the congregation of Our Savior's, needing much more space for its activities, contracted with the young modernist architect Charles A. Haertling of Boulder to build the first phase of an ambitious project. His biography appeared in last month's article in this series. Haertling's completed project would have included two wings for classrooms, meeting rooms and offices; a choir room, library, and chapel; an eleven-story high-rise apartment complex; and most stunning of all, a penthouse-level church sanctuary in the modern style which would have overlooked the city and faced directly west into the mountain range with a spectacular view. The most controversial part of this proposal, however, was that the original 1925 sanctuary of Our Savior's would have to be torn down to provide space for the high-rise. This was quite surprising in keeping with Haertling's own ideals of environmentalism and historic preservation. Perhaps in later life he had second thoughts about this destruction. First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, for example, managed to preserve its original 19th-century sanctuary as a chapel within its modern 1978 complex without compromising its architectural integrity. At any rate, the twin issues of the extreme modernism of Haertling's artistic design and the bulldozing of the old sanctuary tore the congregation of nearly 1000 members into heated debate. One can imagine the arguments on both sides. It might have been divided along generational lines. The "young moderns" no doubt extolled the modernity while sneering at that "old-fashioned sanctuary." The "pillars of the church" probably were appalled at the radicalism of the project and the destruction of their beloved sanctuary where they had been baptized, married, and buried.
I maintain that had the church completed the entire Haertling concept, with or without tearing down the old sanctuary, Our Savior's probably could have been Denver's Lutheran mega-church. One should keep in mind that fifty years ago many congregations were leaving the downtown urban environment for the suburbs: Augustana Lutheran, for example. The members of Our Savior's who voted for Haertling's proposal were determined to make a stand, to stay in the inner city, and to build a landmark modern structure which would make quite a statement. |
By 1962 factions had arisen and a compromise made. It was decided to build only the first phase of the project, the existing additions which we have today. To cool tempers, it was decided not to tear down the old gem of a sanctuary. But the church had split severely with nearly half the members departing over the project. In the end no was satisfied, least of all Haertling, who saw only part of his dream being realized. His son Joel made a film of the construction of the additions as well as the building of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Northglenn, which was completed to his father's satisfaction and still exists today.