Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
328 Meeting Street (Citadel Square Baptist Church) |
Scope & Content |
Constructed 1855-56; steeple restored 1990-91. Formed in 1854 by twelve members from First Baptist Church who were eventually joined by members of the Wentworth Street Baptist Church in Ansonborough and the Morris Street Baptist Church in Radcliffeborough, this amalgamated congregation began construction within a few months on a new church building. Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee apparently designed the new Baptist church with a style referred to in the Charleston Courier as "pure Norman," following the Romanesque structures found particularly in France. Jones and Lee's design predates the more famous work in this style by Henry Hobson Richardson. On the exterior a massive gable roof fronts Meeting Street with arched entries surmounted by elaborate Romanesque windows, the central one supporting a rose window. The 224-foot spire was toppled by the hurricane of 1885. Its replacement, a shorter, late Victorian version of the earlier steeple, was in turn replaced following damage in Hurricane Hugo. In 1990 the congregation raised funds to restore the steeple to its original height, with some concessions on the design to incorporate the post-1885 work. In the interior, ribbed vaulting and plaster bosses decorate the ceilings and the pulpit area where an alcove was originally wainscoted in oak. The interior was formerly painted in an imitation of stone. File contains building history from Architectural Guide to Charleston (by Simons & Thomas); newspaper articles about new spire (1990), termite damage (2012), renovation (2015); captioned newspaper photograph showing view looking across Marion square towards Citadel Square Baptist Church (1984). |
Subjects |
Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston Church buildings--South Carolina--Charleston Citadel Square Church (Charleston, S.C.) |
Search Terms |
Meeting Street Mazyckborough and Wraggborough Churches/Synagogues/Houses of Worship |
Physical Description |
1 File Folder |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
MEETING.328.1 |