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Overview

The Los Angeles architectural firm of Pereira and Luckman associated with the local Claremont firm of Criley and McDowell on the campus plan of the Southern California School of Theology in Claremont beginning in 1957. It was called the "Southern California School of Theology" from 1957 until 1964, when the name was changed to the "School of Theology at Claremont," and eventually became known as the "Claremont School of Theology." As planned by Pereira and Luckman, the campus would consist of about seven buildings clustered around a central green. The architects also positioned the chapel, the school's spiritual and literal heart, at the center of the 15-acre property. Later, the campus expanded to the north, when residence halls were built to accommodate students and faculty. It operated in Claremont between 1957 and 2023.

Building History

This seminary traced its existence to the Methodist Episcopal Maclay School of Theology established in San Fernando, CA, in 1885. From its beginning, Maclay School of Theology remained affliliated with the University of Southern California, also a Methodist-backed institution. Maclay relocated its campus to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1900. It was formally integrated into the USC School of Religion in 1922, but a disagreement developed between USC and the Southern California-Arizona Methodist Conference, leading to its separation from USC in 06/1956. Several new sites were proposed including those in Claremont, Redlands, and outside of San Diego. (See "Claremont To Be Proposed as Site of Methodist School," Los Angeles Times, 06/9/1956, p. A1.)

The Methodist Southern California School of Theology relocated to a 16-acre campus in Claremont, CA, in 1957, led by Dr. Ernest Cadman Colwell (1901-1974), the former President of the University of Chicago (1945-1951)..(See "First President Selected for Theology School," Los Angeles Times, 05/17/1957, p. 5.) Initially, the school was known as the "Southern California School of Theology," and became loosely affiliated with the Claremont Colleges. A note in the Los Angeles Times of 02/23/1957 said "One donor has deposited $30,000 toward purchase of a 15-acre site at Claremont for the new Southern California School of Theology. Attorneys are working on an agreement with the Associated Colleges to provide for an interchanges of certain services." (See Dan L.Thrapp, "Southland Parish," Los Angeles Times, 02/23/1957, p. 10.)

The Southern California School of Theology officially kicked off a $5,000,000 funding campaign to build a new campus at Claremont in 06/1958. "The initial project will include buildings for academic instruction with minimum library, office and residence occupations. As funds are received, other units will be added. The total campus will include residences, fellowship, library, auditorium and chapel, Lawrence Cooper, chairman of the board of trustees, and President Ernest Cadman Colwell have announced." (See "Theology School Opens Building Funds Drive," Los Angeles Times, 06/14/1958, p. 9.) By 06/1957, a total of $100,000 had been collected to build the campus. The fund-raising process was slow, however, and the first building was scheduled to open in 1958. This first multipurpose classroom/office/chapel building was not completed until after 1960.

During the first part of 1957, the new Methodist seminary carried on classes at the University Methodist Church in Los Angeles. (See "Methodist Rally Set at Redlands," Los Angeles Times, 06/15/1957, p. 12.) In the latter part of 1957, classes occurred in space freed up on the Claremont College and Claremont Men's College campuses. (See "Planning for New Campus Is Furthered," Los Angeles Times, 10/20/1957, p. F8.)

School administrators cermonially broke ground on the new campus on Monday, 10/201958. "It will begin a three-year building program. Officials plan to have facilities ready by 1961 to handle 225 students and 21 full-time professors and five part-time professors. Grading will begin this month and construction is scheduled for January." (See "Ground To Be Broken for New College," Los Angeles Times, 10/18/1958, p. 9.) A cornerstone was laid for the first buildings on 06/15/1959. (See "Cornerstone Ceremonies at School Set," Los Angeles Times, 06/14/1959, p. 26.)

The school formerly changed its name to the "School of Theology at Claremont" by 06/1964. (See "School of Theology to Stress Doctorates," Los Angeles Times, 06/20/1964, p. 16.)

Facing debt and unable to maintain its Claremont campus during the 2000s, the Claremont School of Theology moved again to a new site in Los Angeles, CA, in 2023. It relocated to the Westwood United Methodist Church, at 10497 Wilshire Boulevard, near the UCLA campus. The disposition of the Claremont School of Theology campus became a point of contention between the seminary and the Claremont Colleges in 2016, when the former sued the latter for fraud. According to the Claremont Colleges, "The Claremont Colleges agree[d] to sell a portion of the Scripps grant property to the Claremont School of Theology subject to an education-use restriction, as well as a right of first offer requiring CST to sell the property at an agreed price, calculated according to a negotiated formula." This stipulation was viewed as below market value by the seminary, and litigation between the parties continued between 2016 and 2022 at various CA court levels. An arbitrator settled a fair price to have been $7.7 million in 2023, and a legal transfer of the property occurred on 11/15/2024. (See Claremont Colleges Services.edu, "The History of the North Campus Property," published 11/17/2024, accessed 01/07/2026.)

Building Notes

The Modern, templar compositions of early buildings by Pereira and Luckman recalled the work of Edward Durrell Stone, as at his Stanford Medical School buildings of the mid-1950s, except without the geometricized ornamentation.

PCAD id: 25916