Broad Street United Methodist Church - Columbus, OH
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N 39° 57.820 W 082° 59.230
17S E 330280 N 4425615
The Broad Street United Methodist Church was built in 1884-1885 in the High Victorian Gothic Style. It is located in downtown Columbus, Ohio, USA, and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Waymark Code: WMAH3G
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 01/15/2011
Views: 4
"Joseph Warren Yost, a well-known Columbus architect, was chosen to develop plans for a structure that would accommodate the growing congregation for decades to come. Yost chose the Akron Plan for the interior of the new building. This design was consistent with the Protestant emphases of the late 19th century - Strong Proclamation or Preaching and the rise of the Sunday School Movement. The Akron Plan features an auditorium style sanctuary with a sloping floor. This provided good sight lines and brought the congregation closer to the speaker. The Akron Plan also featured two levels of classrooms arranged roughly in a semi-circle around a Sunday School auditorium. Folding doors allowed each classroom to participate in “opening exercises," then close the doors for class time.
For the exterior, Yost chose the High Victorian Gothic style - a style widely employed for churches and other public buildings in the 1870's and 1880's. Elements of this style which can be seen in the present structure are the use of polychromatic masonry materials with contrasting textures, pointed-arch bays, asymmetric massing, and complex gable roofs with gablets, dormers, and towers. The distinguishing feature of the exterior is the use of green serpentine stone as the facing on the brick walls. Columbus limestone was used in the base course and steps, and Berea sandstone was used in the five lower courses of the walls and as trim around the windows and doors.
Ground was broken for the new building in April, 1884. Services were held in the new chapel on Easter Sunday, 1885. The church building was dedicated at a festive service in the new sanctuary on July 5, 1885, ten years to the month from the dedication of the original building. In 1885, it was truly a “state-of-the-art” church.
Just three weeks later, on July 26, 1885, Broad Street's mother church, Wesley Church, dedicated a new church building on the NE corner of Broad and Fourth Streets - just five blocks west. This building replaced the original one which had burned in May 1884. Wesley Chapel, which had merged with Third Street M. E. Church in 1913 and was renamed Central Methodist Episcopal Church, closed in 1935 and many of its members united with Broad Street Church.
The art glass windows in the west wall of the Broad Street sanctuary were originally in Central Church. These panels were reconfigured and installed at Broad Street in 1936 thus perpetuating the heritage of the Wesley Chapel, Third Street and Central congregations. The art glass windows in the east wall of the sanctuary were designed and installed in 1908 by the Von Gerichten Studios of Columbus. These windows are a memorial to Mrs. David S. (Eugenia) Gray, a member of one of Broad Street’s founding families. There are also other art glass windows which are original to the building.
The pipe organ, a Felgemaker, was originally installed in 1906. It was expanded and rebuilt to the present configuration of four manuals and 56 ranks by the Bunn=Minnick Company of Columbus in 1981."
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