Riviera Chapel & Community Center

Location: Riviera, Texas

On March 27, 1910, three years after the town of Riviera, Texas was established, the Reverend C. W. Perkins organized a congregation of 31 charter members to form the Riviera Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The fellowship met in a one-room schoolhouse until 1912 when they moved into a new church building on the corner of Cypress and 8thStreets.  The one-room wood church followed a template common to churches of the time with a sloped floor, raised dias, vaulted ceiling, exposed shiplap sheathing on the interior, wood siding on the exterior, and double-hung stained glass windows.  Unique to the church were the offset bell tower, narthex and side aisle vestibule.  In 2023 the Erma Foundation purchased the church building with the intent to restore as a chapel venue for the Erma Center to host weddings, funerals, and other community events.

The church was virtually untouched since a 1960’s renovation which covered the interior shiplap with acoustic paneling and covered the wood siding with asbestos siding.  The structure had incurred drastic settlement, and leaks were rampant at the bell tower roof and north and south window walls.

The restoration included moving the church, replacing the foundation, moving the church back onto the new foundation, leveling and straightening the structure, structural repair of water and termite damage, restoration of the interior wood shiplap, restoration of the stained glass windows, hardening of the structure and fenestrations to provide resiliency against hurricanes, restoration of original pews, restoration of the original piano, restoration of original furnishings including the pulpit podium, new flooring, new HVAC, new lighting, exterior cementitious siding, and refurbishment of the church bell.

On the west side of the church property an ancillary building was constructed of masonry block, concrete, and cementitious siding.  This building holds restrooms, a lobby, a multi-purpose space, a large storage area, and a garage and is used for support of functions in the chapel and the Erma Center campus.

Restoration was completed in 2025, 42 years after the church was established as a state historic landmark in 1983.