Heaven on Earth?

“Very Versace,” remarked one recent visitor as he toured the ornate, frescoed interior of the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s international headquarters. For sheer vividness, that description may never be equaled. Still, the building’s exterior, which recently gained a small neon “OPEN” sign on its freeway-facing facade, is no less remarkable. We asked selected locals, “What architectural statement do you think the TBN builders were trying to make?”

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“It’s a classical architecture model, and the hope is that it will remind people of the building of the Christian church during the first century during the life of the apostles, and that it will return people to their first love of God and his saving message.”

--Designer Doug Marsh, who worked with TBN architects on the exterior design

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“Yeccch. My first thought was that it was like a cake with icing. I don’t think it was an architectural statement at all. I wouldn’t even describe it as architecture. It’s just so kitsch. It’s beyond Las Vegas.”

--Barbara Helton-Berg, vice president of the Orange County chapter of the American Institute of Architects

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“When you first look at it, you think, ‘My God, those are the Pearly Gates.’ And maybe that’s the image they want to portray--that there is a heaven on Earth for all those that need some validation.”

--Robert N. Helgeson Jr., co-owner of Salon Ecco, Costa Mesa

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“It’s a pretty grande kind of structure, so it sure invokes curiosity. I drive by it every day, and I wondered what it was until I saw the sign go up. Once you see the sign, it makes sense.”

--Lynn Langit, manager of the Container Store in Metro Pointe shopping center, across the freeway

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“I feel it’s another example of gross architectural excess, typical of the religious monuments to man’s self. It’s such a combination of different styles, I’m not sure what it is. Roman, Greek. It’s just way too much. It could have looked a whole lot better at half the cost, and the money they saved could have helped homeless people.”

--Mike Clements, architect at Nadel Architects in Costa Mesa, whose fifth-floor office overlooks the building

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“It looks like a big sore thumb. It’s a little much for the architecture around there, so it sticks out like a sore thumb. But that’s [TBN founder] Paul Crouch’s whole intention. He likes to be noticed.”

--Manager of an Orange County Christian bookstore who requested anonymity