Property Record
523 1ST ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH |
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| Other Name: | Holy Trinity Church |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 950 |
| Location (Address): | 523 1ST ST |
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| County: | Barron |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Vance Creek |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 32 |
| Range: | 14 |
| Direction: | W |
| Section: | 5 |
| Quarter Section: | SW |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | SW |
| Year Built: | 1923 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1994 |
| Historic Use: | house of worship |
| Architectural Style: | Romanesque Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. CENTRAL STEEPLE WITH ONION DOME AND ROUND WINDOW; OTHERWISE QUITE SIMPLE. ORIGINAL CHURCH ON THIS SITE STOOD FROM 1907-1920. Photo code #1 is: NR 137/36. Also see OWW 1635-39. In the undulating open countryside of Barron County rises Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, a small red-brick Byzantine Revival church. The style reflects the tradition of European Orthodox ecclesiastical architecture, with a narthex at the west end, a wider and taller nave, and a semi-circular apse containing the altar at the east end. On the sides, three large round-headed windows are tightly grouped to express the nave’s compactness and centrality. The west tower, topped with a prominent onion dome and a three-bar cross, marks the church as Russian Orthodox. On the interior, the nave is barrel vaulted with a choir loft at the west end and, at the east end, a tall iconostasis, which almost completely separates the nave from the sanctuary, while connecting the earthly and heavenly realms. Ablaze with color, it holds three tiers of icons. Additional icons, their display determined by the church calendar, are held on icon stands at the front of the church. The iconostasis is pierced by the central paired royal doors and deacon doors on each side, permitting the clergy and altar servers to pass through the screen during the service. Construction of this church was used to promote settlement by East Slav and Russian immigrants in the area. The Lohrbauer Land Company donated the lot, and in 1897 the Russian-American Orthodox Messenger published eye-catching plans and elevations by Victor Cordella of Minneapolis for an ornate, monumental masonry church. Instead, about 1900, the congregation erected a modest wooden church, which was replaced by the current structure in 1921 following a fire. The only masonry rural Orthodox church in the state, this brick structure was built by a contractor from St. Paul; Cordella may have been the architect, judging by the design’s sophistication and his other commissions for Slavic congregations. |
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| Bibliographic References: | WISCONSIN PRESERVATION, DHP NEWSLETTER, VOL. 18, #6, NOV./DEC. 1994. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |