High Hill · Fayette County
St. Mary’s at High Hill
A Gothic Revival landmark at High Hill whose richly decorated interior helped make the Schulenburg-area painted churches one of Texas’s best-known heritage drives.
Open church guideDecorative technique
Stenciling
Repeating painted patterns made with a cut template.
Quick answer
What is stenciling?
Stenciling uses a reusable template cut with a pattern. The template is placed against the wall or ceiling, paint is applied through the openings, and the template is removed to leave a crisp repeating design. Texas Painted Churches use stenciling for borders, ceiling fields and ornamental bands.
Process
How the technique works
- 1.A pattern is cut into heavy paper, metal or another durable template.
- 2.The template is positioned on the surface and paint is applied through the openings.
- 3.Multiple templates or colors can build a more complex repeating design.
Field guide
What to look for in a church
- Repeating flat-color motifs
- Regular borders around ceilings or wall panels
- Small variations caused by hand positioning of the stencil
Documented examples
Churches connected to this technique
Ammannsville · Fayette County
St. John the Baptist at Ammannsville
A celebrated Fayette County painted church known for an unexpectedly ornate interior behind a restrained rural exterior.
Open church guidePraha · Fayette County
St. Mary’s at Praha
Praha’s historic church pairs a Gothic Revival building with decorative painting that turns the nave and ceiling into one of the signature interiors on the painted-church route.
Open church guideDubina · Fayette County
Saints Cyril and Methodius at Dubina
A Czech-settled rural church whose painted interior, faux finishes and blue-toned ceiling make Dubina an essential stop on the Schulenburg painted-church drive.
Open church guideMoravia · Lavaca County
Ascension of Our Lord at Moravia
Moravia’s painted church extends the Schulenburg-area drive into Lavaca County with a richly decorated Late Gothic Revival sanctuary.
Open church guideWallis · Austin County
Guardian Angel at Wallis
A Gothic Revival church in Wallis whose decorative interior earned it a place in Texas’s formal National Register painted-interior group.
Open church guideLindsay · Cooke County
St. Peter’s at Lindsay
A Romanesque Revival church in Lindsay whose decorative interior places North Texas in the statewide painted-church story.
Open church guideFredericksburg · Gillespie County
St. Mary’s at Fredericksburg
A prominent Fredericksburg church whose painted and decorated interior connects the Hill Country’s German heritage to the statewide painted-church tradition.
Open church guideSweet Home · Lavaca County
Queen of Peace at Sweet Home
A Lavaca County church included in the National Register’s decorative-interior group and part of the broader Czech and German church-building landscape of South Central Texas.
Open church guideSerbin · Lee County
St. Paul at Serbin
A Wendish Lutheran landmark with a distinctive painted interior, balcony-level pulpit and deep ties to the 1854 Serbin settlement.
Open church guidePlantersville · Grimes County
St. Mary’s at Plantersville
A 1917 Gothic Revival church in Grimes County whose stained glass, painted ceiling and immigrant parish history place it firmly within the broader Painted Churches of Texas tradition.
Open church guideSource evidence
Why Texas Defined uses this definition
Technique definitions are grounded in a named decorative-painting source. Church relationships are a separate evidence claim and are withheld when a specific attribution is not strong enough.
Austin PBS — Decorative Painting TechniquesRelated techniques