Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church
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Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church
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First United Methodist Church in Ponce, Puerto Rico
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 Location of Ponce and the church in Puerto Rico
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| Location | Calle Villa 135, Ponce, Puerto Rico |
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| Coordinates | 18°00′37″N 66°36′58″W / 18.010405°N 66.616094°WCoordinates: 18°00′37″N 66°36′58″W / 18.010405°N 66.616094°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1907 |
| Architect | Antonin Nechodoma |
| Architectural style | Synthesis of Neo-Gothic, Spanish Revival, Spanish Baroque, and Byzantine elements. |
| NRHP Reference # | 87001822 |
| Added to NRHP | October 29, 1987 |
The Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida de Ponce (English: First United Methodist Church of Ponce. Officially, Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church) was the first structure erected in Puerto Rico by the celebrated architect Antonin Nechodoma. Constructed in 1907, the building houses a Methodist congregation and is located on Villa street in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The structure was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1987.
The First United Methodist Church of Ponce is a magnificent example of early 20th-century eclecticism, integrating Neo-Gothic, Spanish Revival, Spanish Baroque, and byzantine elements. It is constructed entirely of rusticated, reinforced-concrete with gabled wood and corrugated sheet metal roofs. In volume, the church consists of a gabled single-nave, parallel to the street and subdivided into three sections. A large, central cross-gable creates the main facade at Calle Villa, facing north.
On Calle Villa, the cross-gable is articulated by a Spanish-baroque style rope pediment. Flanking this gabled, central transept are two square-plan towers, a shorter turret on the west and a taller bell-tower on the east, both resting upon the intersections of the main nave and cross-gable. The main gable is divided into three bays: a wide, central bay with a large, wide, four-centered gothic arch stained-glass window and two flanking bays with similar but smaller and narrower stained-glass windows. Above the central bay, a stained glass Spanish-renaissance oculus (consisting of a square with semicircular projections at each of its four sides) occupies the area within the pediment.
The east bell-tower consists of a two-storey rusticated base and step-backs to an onion-shaped cupola above the belfry. At the ground level, an entry vestibule is created by an open, four-centered archway. At the second story, still within the tower's rusticated base-section, a series of four narrow, stained-glass strip windows provide a distinct, modernist, element. The first segment of the step-backs of the tower contains two smaller strip windows, and the following, taller set-back houses the church-bell behind narrow arches, one on each of the four sides, supported by Corinthian columns. The onion-cupola caps the composition.
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