Our Building continued

 

 

The Rev. Ray Welles, writing his Rambling Redding Recollections in in the summer of 1992, says that Clayton Kantz had hoped that Mr. Wright could be enticed to design the project, but Clayton was worried about the cost and design difficulties. After frustrating interviews with eight other architects, building committee member and architect Merrill Doud was prompted to propose the approach to Mr. Wright. Other committee members were skeptical, but Merrill placed a phone call to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation at Taliesin West. The information was relayed to Mr. Wright in New York, where he was working on the Guggenheim Museum, and his reply was, "Tell the people of the little church that I will help them out." Further, he said, "If I like the 'feel' of a job, I take it."

Arrangements had been started in October 1956 to buy 4.6 acres from Orr Chenoweth for $26,000, with the idea of having a parsonage built on the church property as well. (The purchase was made by the Conference of the Congregational Church, and our church acquired the deed in 1963.) As a protection to our property, Mr. Chenoweth also donated a strip of land across (and west of) the creek adjoining our site. In the spring of 1957, Shasta College students under the tutelage of Gwynn Bland completed survey work on the site. Church charter member Vincent Gamboa prepared the terrain drawings showing not only contours but also the location of the larger rocks, boulders and trees in such detail that Mr. Wright later commented that he had never seen this type of work so well done.

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