
When the congregation of First Methodist Church outgrew the facilities at Marengo and Colorado, they built the present First Methodist Church at the corner of Oakland Ave. and Colorado Blvd. Since the new building was only four blocks away from Lake Avenue Church, the members there agreed to move further east, to Holliston Ave. and Colorado Blvd. To show its appreciation for this fine spirit, the First Methodist Church offered their old building and $25,000 to help move it.
What followed will long be considered unique. The old edifice at Marengo and Colorado was dismantled, with each sandstone block being marked so that it was possible to re-erect the church on the Holliston Ave. site, just as before, but without the steeple that graced the tower. More sandstone blocks, from the same quarry near Sespe, CA, were brought in to build the offices and the Sunday School Building, now named Stevens Hall.
The church building was moved, stone by stone, without damage, and the congregation remained intact, without losing a single member.
At the Holliston site, architects Cyril Bennett and Fitch H. Haskell supervised changes in the interior and exterior to make the building, according to the Pasadena Star News of March 15, 1924, "even more beautiful than before."
A new, educational building was added to the north of the main building, connected by a courtyard. It was named Stevens Hall.
A third unit, north of Stevens Hall, was an old building with a history of its own. The small, original building was Brown Chapel. This building was located facing Holliston Avenue. The congregation of Calvary Baptist Church enlarged it and worshipped there until 1923, when the congregation decided to build a new church at Marion Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. That congregation gave the building to the Holliston congregation, and the building became known as the Social Hall, used for many recreational purposes.
The years around 1923 were exciting, but shadows lurked on the horizon. It was not too many more years until the stock market crash in 1929, and the Great Depression which followed. Holliston Methodist was still in debt following the move, and threatened with foreclosure. It was then that some members mortgaged their houses to save their church. It was more than 20 years before the debt was completely paid off.
This may have been the start of the closeness so long dominant in the affairs of Holliston. And just as families always have room for another, so Holliston welcomes new arrivals into its family circle. Soon they are strangers no longer, but can proclaim with the psalmists and members, "We have a goodly heritage."
The birth of Holliston Church came about in a most unusual manner. Some very creative thinking resulted in the merger of a congregation and a building. The "Charter Members" came from Lake Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, hereafter referred to as Lake Avenue Church, located on the corner of Lake Ave. and Colorado Blvd. It originated as a mission of Pasadena First Methodist Church, located at the corner of Marengo Ave. and Colorado Blvd.
The Annual Conference report in 1923 states that the Methodist churches in Pasadena "indulged in a veritable orgy of giving and receiving" in describing the occasion. Lake Avenue received First Methodist Church's building, pipe organ, and $25,000. The Lake Avenue congregation then gave its sanctuary to Scott Methodist, and the Sunday school room to the Latin American Church. The Lake Avenue pipe organ went to Hartzell Memorial Church, along with $1,000 to defray moving costs.
Added to the west wall was a wing containing offices, rest rooms, and a large room which in 1942 was redecorated and became Warmer Lounge, named for the then current pastor, George Warmer, Jr.
In 1942, Rev. George Warmer spearheaded a campaign to tear down the building, which by then was in bad repair, and erect a new social hall. Holliston Hall, as the new Social hall was known, was completed in 1952 during the pastorate of Frank Williams. It was dedicated in 1954 during the Golden Anniversary of the congregation. It is currently known as Scott Hall, named after Rev. Randall J. Scott, long-time pastor at Holliston United Methodist Church.
Home
last revised 9/20/2001