Westminster's History

Overview

Our historic building

Westminster’s historic building was built by architect Charles Dean and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003.

Ceremonial laying of the cornerstone, 1927
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A “one of a kind” building
Styles: Byzantine, Italian Romanesque, Lombardic, Spanish

The Mission Revival movement was born in California and was the first style to be exported from west to east, not vice versa. It was distinctly Californian in character and marked a historically transitory time. According to Karen Weitze, author of California’s Mission Revival, the movement was born in 1885 when Leland Stanford combined the adobe style Franciscan Missions of California with a “higher form of architecture” known as Richardsonian Romanesque, to create a unique style for the campus of Stanford University, Palo Alto was identified as ‘peculiarly Californian.’

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About the architect

CHARLES F. DEAN—Sacramento County has good reason to be proud of its professional men, among whom is numbered Mr. Charles F. Dean, of the well-known firm of architects, Messrs.

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Music Tradition

For 150 years, Westminster has distinguished itself with high-quality music, musicians, and musical instruments.  When many churches had only a piano or reed organ, Westminster’s first church building (completed in about 1866 and located at 6th & L Streets in downtown Sacramento) had a small, hand-pumped pipe organ.