sketchclub.net: The El Paso Sketch Club: 1908 Guardian Angel Church

Guardian Angel Church, located at 3021 Fruitas, was completed in June 1908, with its dedication service taking place the 7th of that month. This was one of the later Catholic parishes established by Father Carlos Pinto, known as the "Jesuit Apostle of El Paso", with its cornerstone laid on October 27, 1907.

The church was primarily English speaking for its first few years, until the influx of Spanish speaking refugees from the Mexican Revolution in the latter 19-teens.

The cost of construction for this red brick structure was planned to be $15,000, but ended up being $16,000. The architectural style is based on brickwork and arches derived from the North Italian Medieval tradition, according to the Texas Historical Commission. Contractor for both the Church building and rectory was Sorenson & Morgan, who also built an expansion to the rectory in 1909. The area of town it was erected in was referred to as both The Northern Hills area of El Paso, and also as East El Paso.

We have found no primary period documentation identifying the architect(s) for the building, however the Texas Historical Commission identifies the architect as Father Pinto himself. Additionally, the interior design, according to the historical marker on site, was done by Rev. Carmello Tranchese. An architectural drawing was published in the 10/28/1907 El Paso Herald, however was unsigned. We've reproduced it below.

I was able to photograph the building on December 8, and found the structure to be in very good condition.

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Text, modern photography and research provided to sketchclub.net by Mark Stone, citing period newspaper articles accessed at newspapers.com and at the UNT Digital Archives (https://texashistory.unt.edu/). We also farmed information from the Texas Historical Commission marker onsite, which is pictured below.