Sunday Church Feature

Manito United Methodist Church

Spokane, Washington

The 1999 church booklet "Manito Memories" reports that the original  Manito Methodist Church was chartered in 1909 and a building designed by Kirtland Cutter built across the street from the existing parking lot in 1911.  The present building at 3220 S. Grand Blvd. was also designed by Kirtland Cutter. Construction was started in 1923 and the building was dedicated in 1924. The tower of the building was modeled after the Basilica of San Francisco in Assisi, Italy. (See Note.)  


"After the building was completed in 1924, the Spokesman-Review article described the church as..."The main auditorium seats 300 the gallery 125. On the same floor are the Epworth League room, a prayer room and the pastor's study.  On the street level floor are a ladies community room, a community hall seating 100, a dining room seating 100, and an electric kitchen.  The community hall will be a valuable for general purposes at any time.  The gymnasium is two stories high, extending from a sub basement through the ceiling of the street floor.  It will have a basketball and handball courts with shower baths, barber shop and toilet facilities for both men and women."(Link 3.)


The tower of the building was modeled after the Basilica of San Francisco in Assisi, Italy.  The sanctuary can hold a congregation of 250 and there is also a small chapel for intimate weddings and memorial services. (See Note.)

"After World War II, the South Hill area, like the rest of the nation, experienced a baby boom and the church was bursting at the seams.  Plans were drawn up for a three story educational wing addition that would contain classrooms, a chapel, bride's room, offices and library.   A new sanctuary was also part of the plan.  The educational wing cost $275,000 so the new sanctuary building was postponed.  The new wing was consecrated on January 17, 1960.  The new sanctuary was never built, which leads to a challenge since the two buildings don't line up well.  As a result, there are many steps to move from one level to another. " (Link 3.)

In 1968 the church became Manito United Methodist Church.  Today approximately 100 worshipers attend the Sunday service.  (*See Note.)


"Kirtland Kelsey Cutter was primarily a Spokane architect with a significant practice in Spokane, Seattle, and Southern California, as well as commissions as far away as England. Of Spokane’s many prolific and successful architects, he is the best known to the general public today. Spokane is where he first made his reputation, his buildings giving clues about the “economy, power structure, social life, and changing fortunes” of the growing city ... Cutter’s career spanned 50 years, from 1889 to his death in 1939. His legacy of large-scale houses and public buildings still standing in Spokane, Seattle, Southern California, and elsewhere is varied and impressive.

"With the encouragement of his uncle, Horace Cutter, a Spokane banker, Kirtland Cutter came to the fledgling city in 1886 and decided to practice architecture rather than to pursue a career in art. Initially Cutter supplemented his income from architecture by working as a teller in his uncle’s bank. His first residential designs were for his uncle and for his own house, “Chalet Hohenstein,” in 1887. On the basalt-strewn South Hill overlooking downtown Spokane, both were in a somewhat Swiss style. He received two important commissions in 1889, probably through his uncle’s banking connections. He made a success of two fine Tudoresque half-timbered houses, also on the South Hill, for James N. Glover (1837-1921), considered the father of Spokane, and businessman F. Rockwood Moore. With these residences, Cutter “had begun his long career in Spokane designing houses in an Arts and Crafts manner that seemed to grow out of the rocky hillsides”..." (See Link 1.)

Among the other Spokane buildings that Kirtland Cutter designed are: 1898- Amasa B. Campbell House, now part of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture; 1898-Patsy Clark Mansion 2208 West Second Avenue which contains the largest stained glass window ever made by Tiffany Studios;
1910-Spokane Club; 1911-Monroe Street Bridge; 1912-Waikiki Mansion, now Gonzaga University's Bozarth Center; and 1914-The Davenport Hotel. (See Link 1.)

Photo: Taken in Spokane, Washington in 2007 by SW.
Note:   Thank you Rev. Flora Bowers for the history information given in our
               2010 phone conversation.
Link 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Cutter
Link 2: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=115
Link 3: http://www.manitoumc.org/history