 Home > Context > Institutional Architecture> > Description > Religious Structures Description (2.3.1)Religious Structures (2.3.1.2)Churches are important examples of public architecture, and over a dozen examples constructed before 1943 remain in Elizabeth City to provide an unusually full look at local religious architecture. Architectural styles include Gothic Revival, Carpenter Gothic, Victorian Gothic, Victorian Romanesque, and Colonial Revival. The designs of local churches embody the prevailing styles of their period. Christ Episcopal Church (200 South McMorrine Street, 1856-1857) designed by J. Crawford Nelson, architect of Baltimore, is Elizabeth City's only antebellum church building. The impressive Gothic Revival brick edifice features a three-story bell tower crowned by a boldly proportioned crenelated parapet. Arched windows and a frieze of pendant corbels and brownstone drops further enliven the façade. St. Phillip's Episcopal Church (512 South Martin Street, 1893) is a simple three-bay board-and-batten example of the Carpenter Gothic style. A diminutive belfry mimics the gable roof of church and vestibule, with subtle Gothic detail supplied by a continuous band of arches that connect the battens just below the eaves. The St. James Baptist Church (1326 Southern Avenue, 1910s), erected in frame but now brick-veneered, is even simpler in its Gothic Revival character, having arched windows and asymmetrical corner towers flanking a traditional gable-front form.
The churches erected during the late nineteenth display the period's wide and eclectic variations of style. The earliest is First Baptist Church (300 West Main Street, 1889), erected with elements of the Victorian Gothic style which focus on an impressive three-story tower crowned by a broached octagonal spire. City Road United Methodist Church (511 North Road Street, 1900-1902) and the nearby Blackwell Memorial Baptist Church (700 North Road Street, 1902-1904) were both built in the Victorian Romanesque style, each brick structure having round-arched windows, decorative corbel brickwork, and three-story corner towers. The large brick structure of Mount Lebanon African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (320 Culpepper Street, 1905) combines Victorian Gothic arches with Victorian Romanesque proportions and tower into an imposing building. The central bell tower of the frame Antioch Presbyterian Church (518 Shepard Street, ca. 1896) is sheathed with beaded tongue-and-groove boards laid in different directions to create arious textural patterns. This typical Victorian finish is repeated on an exterior skirt that accents the front and side elevations. The enduring popularity of the Gothic Revival is seen in the design of Cann Memorial Presbyterian Church (311 West Main Street, 1940-I942), by Norfolk architect W. V. Cooke, in which Gothic elements are blended in a design that evokes the inherent charm of the modest English parish church. The Colonial Revival styie First United-Methodist Church (205 South Road Street, 1919-1922) is the only large church in Elizabeth City built along classical lines. Its Roman inspiration is seen in the large dome that rises at the juncture of the cross-gable roof. An imposing portico of monumental Ionic columns dominates the façade and complements the modillion cornice and intricate cast concrete moldings. All of these elements are typical of tile work of J. M. McMichael, the Charlotte architect who designed this and dozens of other churches across the state.
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