Aimee Semple McPherson
Who was Aimee?
Aimee Semple McPherson (October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as "Sister Aimee" or simply "Sister," was an evangelist and media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s, founder of the Foursquare Church.
Aimee's Mysterious Disappearance: Kidnapped?
(Excerpt from Wikipedia)
On May 18, 1926, McPherson went to Venice Beach with her secretary, to go swimming. Soon after arrival, McPherson disappeared. It was generally assumed at the time that she had drowned; mourners crowded Venice Beach, and the commotion sparked a days-long media coverage of the event, fueled in part by William Randolph Hearst's Examiner, and even including a poem by Upton Sinclair commemorating the "tragedy." Daily updates appeared in newspapers across...
Read Wikipedia's in-depth article to learn about this fascinating builder of Aimee's Castle.
Aimee Semple McPherson traveled across the US in a car with the message "Jesus is Coming Soon - Get Ready" painted on the side.
Aimee's Castle
Church renovating evangelist's 'castle'
November 21, 2005
By SEAN NEALON / The Press-Enterprise
LAKE ELSINORE - The church founded by Aimee Semple McPherson, a celebrity evangelist of the 1920s and '30s, has bought the Lake Elsinore home she built 86 years ago and is restoring it for retreats. The Foursquare Church bought the home, known locally as Aimee's Castle, this summer and is working to make it look like it did in 1930s when Semple McPherson lived there.
The church plans to have it finished by September for a meeting of Foursquare leaders from around the world, said Tim Royce, a church member overseeing the restoration. "The main thing the church wants to do is re-establish the foundation and part of that is in Elsinore," said Royce, who moved to the house from Los Angeles.
Semple McPherson was a Pentecostal evangelist dubbed "God's greatest saleswoman" and one of the first to spread her message through modern communications.
She drove across the country in a 1912 Packard with "Jesus is Coming -- Get Ready" painted on the side. Her sermons later were broadcast live on radio. She also introduced jazz into the church and dramatized sermons through stage plays.
She helped raise $1.2 million for the building of Angelus Temple in 1923. Four years later, she founded Foursquare, a church based on international evangelism. It has grown to more than 3 million members and almost 30,000 churches worldwide, including almost 30 churches in the Inland Empire.
Aimee's Castle was built on five city lots on a hill on the northeastern side of Lake Elsinore. From the roof, the entire lake can be seen as can Interstate 15 and a nearby outlet mall.
The 5,000-square-foot Moorish-style home was built from 1926 to 1929 and cost a reported $229,000.
It has 14 rooms, including an 18-by-30-foot living room with a mosaic ceiling accented with gold leaf. There also is a prayer tower, an attached caretaker's house and pool overlooking the lake.
Semple McPherson used the house part time as a retreat until 1939, when the church sold it. During that time, she reportedly swam across Lake Elsinore as a demonstration of her physical prowess.
Several people have since owned the house, said J.J. Swanson-O'Neal, Lake Elsinore Historical Society president. One of them was Violet Sweet Haven McFarland, a world-traveler and author, who owned it from 1961 until she died in 2001.
Jeffrey and Laura Bairnsfather bought the house in 2001 and started renovating it before selling it to Foursquare this summer for $1 million, Royce said. Royce moved in with dog Jasmine. He converted Semple McPherson's porch into his office and sleeps in an adjacent bedroom.
He supervises the construction crew and searches for details of the home's original appearance. He has joined the neighborhood watch group and through its members got to know a woman who knows a woman in Florida who has many photos of the home. Royce plans to get them soon.
He also has been in constant communication with the city's historical society, which provided him with photos and written accounts of the home.
Historical society officials said they support restoration.
"We're glad they have it and they're doing what's right for the house," Swanson-O'Neal said by telephone.
Royce plans to give the historical society anything he finds in the house that the church can't use. He has also taken more than 500 photos documenting the restoration.
Royce said he spent his first four weeks cleaning up the grounds. Brush was cleared. Trees and cacti were cut down. Cobwebs and spiders were removed.
The path for a circular driveway has been created.
Stained-glass windows have been fixed. Artists have been lined up to repaint murals.
The deadline for the project's first phase is Dec. 31, Royce said. It includes restoring the kitchen, which was converted into a laundry room, and the caretaker's house, which Royce will occupy. A wall that cuts off the patio from the pool also will be removed.
Subsequent phases will include restoring and refinishing oak floors, Royce said.
It also involves converting a room with 9-foot windows and views of Lake Elsinore from a library back to a dining room. Semple McPherson's bedroom will become a library.
They also may restore murals that used to surround the living room.
Royce declined to say how much the church plans to spend. "It's just going to be expensive," he said, "and they're going to do it."
AIMEE SEMPLE MCPHERSON'S LIFE
1890: Born on farm in Ontario, Canada.
1908: Marries evangelist Robert Semple.
1910: Missionary in China. Robert Semple dies. Daughter, Roberta Star Semple, born.
1912-13: Marries Harold McPherson. Son, Rolf McPherson, born.
1916-17: Preaches and travels in an automobile dubbed the "Full Gospel Car" and comes to California.
1919-23: Settles in Los Angeles. Divorces Harold McPherson. Builds the 5,300-seat Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. It becomes the center of her ministry.
1926: Creates media sensation after disappearing at Southern California beach. Turns up a month later in Arizona, saying she was kidnapped. Prosecutors charge her with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and corruption of public morals. The case is dismissed.
1926-29: Lake Elsinore home built.
1931: Marries Dave Hutton. They divorce three years later.
1939: Lake Elsinore home sold.
1944: Dies in San Francisco of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.
Reach Sean Nealon at (951) 375-3730 or snealon@pe.com