First Universalist Chruch

In the spring of 1847, the First Universalist Church of Provincetown decided to build a new church in order to provide space for its growing congre- gation. The church, set slightly back from Commercial Street, is now crowded on all sides by late nineteenth and twentieth century buildings. The exterior of the structure is walled with white clapboards and decorated with classical elements. The gable façade is divided into three bays by means of four giant pilasters decorated with recessed panels. These pilasters support a simple banded entablature and blank pediment. The entablature continues along the side elevations where it is supported by corner pilasters. The central bay of the gable end contains a doorway flanked by smaller pilasters and headed by a shelf entablature.

The fenestration in each flanking bay is composed of four sash windows placed 2 over 2. These are incorporated into a single large unit by a common lintel and sill. The unit is divided vertically by a mullion and horizontally by 2 panels with a meander motif. Three similar window units break each side elevation. The three stage steeple, which rises from the roof of the auditorium, has been for many years incorrectly identified with the style of Sir Christopher Wren. However, the proportions, massing and handling of classical detail are pure Greek Revival, of which style the steeple is an excellent example. The most significant feature of the church is the trompe f'oeil treatment of the auditorium. The wallpainting in egg tempera is the work of Carl Wendte, a young German artist.

Wendte had traveled and studied in Italy which accounts for the Italianate flavor of the murals. The focal point of the auditorium is the illusionary apse behind the pulpit.

The First Universalist Church is the second home of the Unitarian parish founded in Provincetown in 1829. The church was begun in 1847 and, according to local sources, is the oldest building on the Lower Cape still in its original state and being used for its original purpose. The most significant features of thed che ehhrie its eraborene three-stand toe ero oite ( oeil pa intiogsectich called the "Christopher Wren Tower, decorate its ceilings and walls. The Universalist Church was built by ship's carpenters under the supervision of Benjamin Hallet of Barnstable. The immediate model for the building, with the exception of the tower, was a small church constructed in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1845.

Only the entrance and auditorium of the Provincetown Church were finished in 1847; the remaining sections of the building were not completed until the 1860s. The trompe d'oeil paintings of the auditorium are the work of a young German artist, Carl Wendte. Born in Verden, Hannover, in 1820, Wendte studied art in Siena, Italy, and became expert in the use of fresco and tempera. In 1841, Wendte and his wife came to America and settled in Boston. The painter's reputation gradually grew and his murals appeared in a number of New England churches. Wendte's work in the Universalist Church was done in egg tempera and shows the influence of his study of Italian churches.

Atter leaving Provincetown, Wendte accepted a commission for a church in Boston; while working there he was stricken with pneumonia and died in 1848, at the age of 28. The tracher organ, which was installed in the First Universalist Church in 1850, is the oldest on Cape Cod. Its carved wooden pilasters framing the organ pipes are copies of the pilasters which appear in Wendte's murals.