page_title: Warren H. Hayes
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: Warren H. Hayes / Works
caption_attribution_description: Picture of the former George Hayes property in Penn Yan, N. Y viewed by his Granddaughter, Elizabeth Anne (Betty)[nee Eaton] Blake 27 July 1989 2505 County Line Road
context_page_description: Warren Howard Hayes was a leading designer of churches in the United States and Canada during the late 19th century. Hayes' work holds a significant place in its association with the "Social Gospel" movement. He is credited with some of the earliest use of the "diagonal auditorium" plan and the vast majority of his churches uncovered to date are centered on the diagonal auditorium design with fan shaped pew arrangements and, to assure excellent acoustics, the seating sloping toward the pulpit and domed ceilings. As noted at the opening of the Rockville Ct. Congregational Church:
  The acoustic properties of the auditorium are something wonderful. The pastor says he never before spoke in church or hall which can compare with it in this respect. There are yet to be added a protected desk light for the pulpit and a shaded reflector for the organ. The seating capacity of the auditorium is 600, of the gallery 300, of the chapel 300. This capacity can be extended by placing chairs in vacant spaces without obstructing any aisles from 100 to 200 more. —Warren H. Hayes of Minneapolis.
context_section_description: After graduation from Cornell, Hayes set up his office first in Penn Yan and then in 1873 in Elmira, New York. One of his earliest published designs is an 1878 English cottage that appears in the American Architect and Building News.  Another example of Hayes' early residential works is his father's home built in about 1883 at 2505, County House Road, Penn Yan, NY, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, and where inscriptions noting the design work signed by Hayes have been found.
  Hayes designed his Minneapolis home at 619 12th Avenue South. The last known example of a Hayes residential commission appears in The Improvement Bulletin of June 24, 1899, which reported that Hayes had prepared plans for a 2-story frame residence to be erected by Rev. T. M Findley at Spicer, Minnesota.
  Hayes' first known church commission was the First Methodist Church of Watkins Glen, at 127 E. 4th Street, Watkins Glen, NY 140891.  Noting that Hayes went from a
  "private school in Italy, NY, thence two years at Watkins Academy, here, in 1865, joining on probation the First M.E. Church, (whose present fine edifice erected in later years was from his first church design) ..."
  This was no doubt due to his close ties to the community. Hayes' uncle, Daniel Howard, was the President of the Board of Trustees. The church also has a stained glass window in memory of Daniel A. and Hannah Howard.
  Other churches designed while at Elmira include the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lodi, New York, featured on the cover of the July 29, 1882 edition of the American Architect and Building News (No 344), and now on the National Register of Historic Places.
  In Minneapolis, Hayes designed the Calvary Baptist Church, the Fowler Methodist Episcopal Church (in 1906 the original sanctuary was converted into a Chapel as part of a substantial church expansion designed by Harry Wild Jones, which retained the Sunday school rooms which are now part of the 'Red Room' of the Scottish Rite Temple, which has the original plans, with copies at the Northwest Architectural Archives), the First Congregational Church, and the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church.
  Elsewhere in Minnesota, Hayes designed the Central Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul.
  Hayes' design of a Church for the First Methodist Church Society of Beijing, China, with seating capacity for 2000, was almost as large as his Wesley Methodist Church.
  Hayes also prepared designs for institutions and developers. Examples include the Science Hall at Hamline University, University Hall-Old Main at Hamline University, Ladies Hall at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the Music Building at the University of Minnesota.
  Examples of his furniture designs also still exist, such as an octagonal table inscribed "Designed and Built for Warren H Hayes, Architect, 1893" and signed by Hayes.
caption: The former George Hayes home in Penn Yan, NY during its 1989 remodeling
exif: {}