| Trinity Episcopal Church | |
| Location: | 1519 Martin Luther King Boulevard Detroit, Michigan |
| Coordinates: | 42.3414°N -83.0728°W |
| Built: | 1890 |
| Architect: | George D. Mason & Zachariah Rice |
| Architecture: | English Gothic |
| Added: | May 22, 1980 |
| Refnum: | 80001929 |
| Designated Other1: | Michigan State Historic Site |
| Designated Other1 Date: | August 3, 1979[1] |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
Trinity Episcopal Church is located at 1519 Martin Luther King Boulevard in the Woodbridge Historic District of Detroit, Michigan. The church was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1979[1] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is now known as Spirit of Hope.
The Epiphany Reformed Episcopal parish was founded in 1878 as a place where Anglicans not pledged to the Episcopal bishop of Michigan might worship.[2] In 1880, the congregation built a small frame church, and in 1889 changed their name to Trinity Episcopal.[2]
James E. Scripps, owner of The Detroit News, was a member of the Trinity congregation. Scripps was born in London,[2] and developed a fascination with historic English churches. He commissioned sketches of churches in England,[2] and in 1893 put up $55,000 to build the current church building.[3]
In 1896, Trinity members voted to unite their church with the Episcopal diocese of Michigan.[2] In 1926, the parish house, which includes a chapel, dining room, gymnasium, offices and classrooms was constructed.[3] As the neighborhood around Trinity changed, the church reached out to new constituents, including the Irish community.[4] However, the declining population of the surrounding area led to a decline in the congregation.[4]
In 2001, the nearby Jeffries Housing Projects were torn down; the Faith Memorial Lutheran Church, founded in 1956 to serve the community, found itself with a drastically reduced congregation.[4] The congregations of Faith Memorial Lutheran and Trinity Episcopal began exploring the concept of merging, and in April 2006, the two joined to become the Spirit of Hope.[4]
In 2007, Kathleen Devlin (Tuka) began the Spirit of Hope Urban Farm which was featured in the September/October 2011 Natural Home & Garden magazine.[5]
James E. Scripps commissioned architects Mason & Rice to design this English Gothic-style church.[3] The floorplan of Trinity Episcopal Church is laid out in a cruciform pattern. The walls are two feet thick Trenton limestone, and the roof is sheathed with copper.[3] Smooth brown limestone used as trim offsets the white limestone used for the bulk of the walls.[2] The 85adj=midNaNadj=mid central, supported by stone arches and buttresses, tower contains ten bells. The exterior holds over two hundred carvings, including gargoyles that serve as water drains.[3] Inside the sanctuary, ten stone angels supporting the nave beams face inward; several windows contain stained glass, including a Tiffany, a LaFarge, and a window over the altar was created by Franz Mayer & Co. of Germany.[3] A 1200-pipe organ manufactured by the Jardine Company of New York City is also inside.[3]