Last updated on December 26th, 2024
I’m sure you’ve heard of Gustave Eiffel’s famous tower in Paris. But did you know Eiffel is also said to have designed a pre-fab metal church that ended up in Santa Rosalia, Mexico?
Was this prefab metal church the work of Gustave Eiffel?
Officially the Church of Santa Barbara (Iglesia de Santa Bárbara), this prefabricated metal church is said to have been designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel in 1884 as a protype for churches that could be sent to Africa. According to the most common story, the church was built in 1887 and exhibited in the 1889 Paris Exposition.
While nothing in this story has any actual evidence supporting it, most of it is within the realm of possibility. (More on that later.)
What does seem pretty certain is that the church was found in a warehouse in Belgium and purchased by the French Boleo Mining Company, which operated a large copper mine in Santa Rosalia in Baja California Sur. The mining company then shipped the church (in pieces) to Mexico, where it was reconstructed in Santa Rosalia (a company-built town) in 1897.
The church as originally designed and assembled in Santa Rosalia. (Photo licensed from Mexicoenfotos.)
Although Boleo Mining left Santa Rosalia in the 1950s, the church remains in use today.
This article has affiliate links. I use links to provide additional information, but a few also pay me a small amount if you use them to make a reservation or purchase. You don’t pay extra, but it helps keep this website running without intrusive ads. To learn more, see my policies and disclosures.
The Eiffel church of Santa Barbara today
Take a quick look at the church as you walk through the heart of Santa Rosalia and you might not give it a second thought. A simple white church with colorful windows and a basic bell tower.
Just another simple church. Or is it?
But look closer and you’ll notice a pattern imprinted on the façade.
Move closer still and you’ll see the exterior of the main part of the church is made from stamped steel plates set in a metal frame.
A closer look at the steel plates that form the church walls.
Step inside and you’ll see the other side of those steel sheets are supported by a metal framework that arches up over a simple rectangular nave and sanctuary.
The interior is a single open space with an arch above.
The metal framework and patterned steel cladding is exposed above, while the metal on the lower section has been covered over with wood. I don’t know if the wood was original, or a later addition.
However, the colored glass windows along the aisles and above the altar apparently were part of the original structure.
Windows above the altar depict the magi visiting the infant Jesus and the women surrounding Jesus on the cross.
From inside, you also get a good look at the metal frame that supports the bell tower/steeple at just inside the entrance. Here the exposed supports rise up on either side and above the doorway and continue through the ceiling/roof.
The support for the bell tower is just another element of the church’s architecture.
The framework is probably iron, since iron buildings were a thing at the time because it was relatively light and strong. (Steel frame structures became a thing a little later.) And iron is what Eiffel was using in his soon-to-be-famous tower about the at the time the church was designed. (Sources vary in their description of the exact materials used, but stamped steel with an iron frame seems to be what it is.)
As seen in the early photo above, the extension on each side of the church was originally open on the sides. At some point it was enclosed to create usable interior space.
The sides were enclosed at some point, which required removing some stained glass windows and restricted the light that reached others.
A number of the original windows were also removed as part of this project.
Why would Eiffel – or anyone – design a metal church?
It’s actually not hard to imagine why Eiffel (or any other architect in France or Belgium) might have designed and built a prototype of a metal church.
The story says that this protype was designed to ship to Africa, but metal buildings designed to be assembled on-site were being shipped to all over the world in the 19th century.
Colonization was a still a big source of European wealth when this church was designed. And colonization also meant ensuring everyone in those far-away colonies was Christian. Of course, all those Christians (both local residents and their European overseers) needed proper churches. But European-style churches built with local materials took time and skill to build. . . which required money that foreign companies might rather spend on things that more directly served their bottom line.
But what if you could build a European-style church using virtually indestructible materials that were also relatively lightweight and easy to ship? Materials using materials like iron and stamped steel?
And what if you designed it so the whole thing could be mass-produced in Europe, loaded on a ship, and assembled on location like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle?
All the pre-fabricated components of Santa Rosalia’s church could be easily shipped and assembled on site.
It seems it might have been possible for an architect to make good money doing that. Or, at least it might be worth giving it a try.
Who really designed Santa Rosalia’s metal church?
To be clear, no one has yet found any record of this church prior to its discovery in a warehouse in Belgium. (And it’s not even clear that its discovery in Belgium is actually documented anywhere either.)
The lack of documentation doesn’t mean the church wasn’t designed by Gustave Eiffel. It could have been and records of its existence were lost over time. On the other hand, while it’s claimed the church won an award in the Paris exposition in 1889, the lack of records proving it was even exhibited (let alone received an award) at that high-profile (and relatively well-documented) event make that particular part of the story highly unlikely.
So, it makes sense to look beyond the stories to see how this church fits with the work and business activities of Eiffel and other architects of the period.
The case for Gustave Eiffel
It’s unclear when Eiffel’s name became associated with the church in Santa Rosalia. None of the pre-1910 images I’ve seen reference Eiffel in any way. It’s just identified as the Church of Santa Barabara in Santa Rosalia. That could indicate it wasn’t designed by Eiffel and that attribution came later. Or it could be that nobody cared – it just wasn’t seen as a big deal at the time.
Maybe the Boleo Mining Company knew it was designed and built by Eiffel. Or maybe they just thought it was. Maybe they knew it wasn’t. Or, perhaps they just thought it was a building that would cheaply suit their needs and didn’t know or care who designed or built it.
But Gustave Eiffel gained world-wide fame through his tower for the Paris exposition in 1889. And, as time went by, claiming to have a building designed by the famed architect was something to brag about.
And the church could have been designed and built by Eiffel, even if the story about it being exhibited at the Paris Exposition isn’t true.
By 1884 Eiffel was getting involved in the project that would lead to the Eiffel Tower. Prior to that, he’d designed and built iron bridges and industrial facilities. He’d also created a number of public buildings with an interior iron framework. . . . And he’d created Saint Mark’s Cathedral (Catedral de San Marcos) in Arica, Peru (now part of Chile).
Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Arica, Peru, is said to be the work of Gustave Eiffel. (Photo by ValeriaGarridoRamos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)
Originally intended for another location, most sources say the church was commissioned by the President of Peru from Eiffel’s workshops around 1870. It arrived in Arica in 1875 and was assembled by a team from France to replace an important church destroyed in an earlier earthquake.
Although much more elaborate and built on a far grander scale, the cathedral’s construction is similar to that of the Church of Santa Barbara. Both are prefabricated metal structures made of iron supports and covered with metal plates.
And at least one researcher claims this church came from the United States and, thus, was not by Eiffel either. So, who knows.
The case for Bibiano Duclos
But, of course, other architects in both France and Belgium were also working with metal buildings at the time.
Of these, Brazilian architect Bibiano Duclos not only graduated from the same academy as Eiffel, but patented designs for pre-fabricated buildings. And his prefabricated metal “Iron House” apparently served as the ticket office at the 1889 Paris Exposition. (There’s nothing about it winning any prizes though.)
In France, credit for the Santa Barbara church is (apparently) given to Duclos, even though there’s no documented evidence that he designed Rosalia’s metal church. However, given his documented work with prefabricated metal buildings and pictures of the Iron House in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, France, Duclos is a likely candidate.
The Iron House created by Bibiano Duclos. (Photo by Henry Salome, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)
Because of the many similarities between the Iron House and the church in Santa Rosalia, the story about the church being exhibited in the Paris exposition where Duclos’ metal house apparently served as a ticket booth, and Duclos’ documented work designing prefabricated metal buildings to ship overseas; I suspect he was actually the architect that created the Church of Santa Barbara. However, as is the case with Eiffel, there are no records to definitively prove it one way or the other.
(Duclos’ Iron House was restored in 1986 and serves as a hiking lodge in the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional natural park.)
Other possibilities
The researcher who claimed the church in Arica was shipped from and likely built in the United States doesn’t offer any clues as to how he determined that and who he thinks designed and built it. Just that it couldn’t have been Eiffel.
Others looking into the history of Rosalia’s metal church have suggested it could have been the work of architects in Belgium. However, having dug myself this deep into the rabbit hole of “was Eiffel’s metal church in Santa Rosalia actually created by Eiffel,” I’ll leave further investigation to others.
Plan your visit to Santa Rosalia’s metal church
Santa Rosalia is located along the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) in Mexico’s Baja California Sur. It’s at the very southeastern end of the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve. It’s about a 3-hour drive south from Guerrero Negro or north from Loreto. Bus service is available between both towns.
A paved airstrip known as the Palo Verde or Chivato Bay airport south of Santa Rosalia (in San Bruno) offers a few flights from other parts of Mexico.
Lodging is available in Santa Rosalia or in other (more touristy) beach communities all along the coast. (We had lunch nearby in the pretty town of Mulegé, which seemed to have a lot more lodging and other tourist options.)
Other things to do in Santa Rosalia
I did not actually spend much time in Santa Rosalia. My tour gave us a drive-by of the church without stopping on our way through town as we headed south. After many demands to do so, we did stop on our return trip north to see the church, grab some snacks at a famed bakery Panaderia El Boleo, and explore a few blocks right around the church.
Santa Rosalia was long known as a dusty mining town with French-inspired architecture. That’s because the original town was built by the French Boleo Mining Company in the 1880s. When the mines closed in the 1950s, the town lost its most important source of jobs and income. I’m guessing those were tough times for the city, but today Santa Rosalia and other towns along the coast draw tourists to seeking the stunning beaches along the Gulf of California.
And Santa Rosalia’s odd mix of French colonial architecture, abandoned industrial facilities, and a tropical vibe has an odd appeal. It’s not the picture-perfect taste of Mexico you get in Loretto (which I adored), but I would like to go back and explore some more.
