St Barnabas Church
Building Permit: 1915
Building Style: English Tudor Revival (Arts & Crafts movement)
Architect: Charles M. Nye
In January 1869, a local parish priest designed the first St. Barnabas Church in Omaha. Located at 9th and Douglas streets, it was a 20' x 36' structure that cost under $1,200 to build. February 7, 1869, marked its first service, and by July of the same year the structure was relocated to 14th and Cass streets. In early July 1870 the congregation again moved their church, this time to 19th and California streets, but on July 13 a tornado tore the church from its foundation. Five days later the congregation broke ground for a new building on the same site.
Following the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913, St. Barnabas purchased the land across from the Joslyn home for $7,000. The Reverend Lloyd D. Hosapple, a native of Herford, England, arrived in 1914 and influenced Charles M. Nye's design from the new church, basing it upon a Hereford parish church complete with wood timber and stucco construction.
St. Barnabas features many important appointments in the interior. One is a relief of the Virgin and Child, cast from the original Luca della Robbia mold of the 15th century. Wood carvings in St. Barnabas were hand made in Oberammergau, Germany. The church's nave is home to the most extensive collection of ecclesiastical art glass by C.E. Kemp in the country. The four windows at the Epistle of the altar were made by Ernest Lakeman and installed in 1935.
