Roanoke Times

& World-News

Extra: Sunday, February 16, 1997

• GOTHIC ROANOKE NAME: BITTLE HALL LOCATION: ROANOKE COLLEGE, SALEM WHEN BUILT: LATE 1870S ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS: NOAH HOCKMAN, AND J.C. DEYERLE OF SALEM AND H.W. HUNDLEY STYLE: EARLY GOTHIC REVIVAL LITTLE-KNOWN BUT FASCINATING DETAILS: BITTLE HALL WAS ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY DAVID BITTLE, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF ROANOKE COLLEGE, AS A COMBINATION MUSEUM, LIBRARY, 2,000-SEAT AUDITORIUM AND 90-FOOT SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION TOWER. IT ENDED UP BEING JUST A LIBRARY. IT HAS NEVER BEEN A CHAPEL OR A CHURCH, SCHOOL HISTORIANS SAY. ALTHOUGH ITS SIMPLE DESIGN HAS NONE OF THE ORNAMENTATION THAT MAKES ST. ANDREWS STAND OUT, IT HAS SOME CHARMING TOUCHES. NOTE THE WOODEN BORDERS AROUND THE GOTHIC ARCHES ABOVE THE DOOR AND THE WINDOWS, AND THE LITTLE PEAKED TOWERS (``FINIALS") TO EITHER SIDE. BITTLE HALL IS ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES. NAME: ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH LOCATION: JEFFERSON STREET AND ELM AVENUE S.W. WHEN BUILT: 1891-92 DOORS OPENED: DEC. 11, 1892 ARCHITECT: CHARLES M. BURNS, PHILADELPHIA, PA. COST: $35,000 STYLE: GOTHIC, OF A STYLE DERIVED FROM THE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH PARISH CHURCH. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: AMONG THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS IN THE ST. JOHN'S SANCTUARY IS AT LEAST ONE BY THE FAMOUS GLASS DESIGNER LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY. THE SANCTUARY ALSO INCLUDES AN INNOVATIVE WOOD SCULPTURE BY LOCAL ARTIST BILL RUTHERFOORD, ON THE IDEA OF THE JESSE TREE - THE GENEALOGICAL LINE OF BIBLICAL FIGURES THAT LEADS FROM JESSE TO JESUS. ST. JOHN'S IS CONSTRUCTED OF PEAK CREEK LIMESTONE AND SANDSTONE QUARRIED INPRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY. THE CHURCH GROUNDS INCLUDE AN ENCLOSED GRASSY CLOISTER OR "MEDITATION GARDEN" TO ONE SIDE OF THE SANCTUARY, WITH BENCHES AND STATUARY. ST. JOHN'S IS ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES. ITS OFFICIAL HISTORY - FROM WHICH MOST OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION WAS TAKEN - WAS WRITTEN BY CHURCH MEMBER AND UNOFFICIAL ROANOKE HISTORIAN CLARE WHITE. NAME: RALEIGH COURT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LOCATION: 1837 GRANDIN ROAD S.W. WHEN BUILT: OLD CHAPEL, 1925; CHURCH SANCTUARY, 1958 COST: $50,000 (CHAPEL), $350,000 (SANCTUARY) ARCHITECTS: EUBANK AND CALDWELL OF ROANOKE (CHAPEL), LOUIS P. SMITHEY OF ROANOKE (SANCTUARY) ODDS AND ENDS: THE OLD CHAPEL, PART OF THE CHURCH'S FIRST PERMANENT BUILDING, REPLACED A WOOD FRAME BUILDING KNOWN AS "THE LITTLE CHURCH." RALEIGH COURT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CURRENTLY IS UNDERGOING A $2.4 MILLION EXPANSION. NAME: GREENE MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH LOCATION: 402 SECOND STREET S.W. GROUND BROKEN: 1891 (BY LUTHERANS) COMPLETED: 1902 (BY METHODISTS - SEE BELOW) COST: $60,000 PLUS ARCHITECT: UNKNOWN STYLE: GOTHIC DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: ITS SINGLE TALL TOWER, WHOSE BELLS NOTE EACH QUARTER HOUR AND SOMETIMES CHIME OUT WHOLE TUNES. LITTLE-KNOWN BUT FASCINATING DETAILS: GREENE MEMORIAL BEGAN LIFE AS ST. MARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH - BUT THE LUTHERAN CONGREGATION SOON DISCOVERED IT HAD GOTTEN IN OVER ITS HEAD. THREATENED WITH FORECLOSURE, THE LUTHERANS SWAPPED CHURCHES WITH THE METHODISTS, WHO WERE LOOKING FOR MORE SPACE (AND PRESUMABLY COULD AFFORD THE PAYMENTS). THE BUILDING UNDERWENT SOME ALTERATIONS WHEN THE METHODISTS CAME - ENOUGH, INDEED, THAT IT DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES, WHICH REQUIRES THAT THE ORIGINAL MASS AND SETBACK OF A BUILDING BE MAINTAINED. THE LUTHERANS, MEANWHILE, OCCUPIED THE OLD METHODIST CHURCH AT THE CORNER OF CAMPBELL AVENUE AND THIRD STREET - WHERE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS NOW - FOR DECADES. THEY NOW HAVE THEIR OWN BRICK GOTHIC REVIVAL CHURCH ON FRANKLIN ROAD. (ABOVE INFORMATION IS FROM ST. MARK'S HISTORIAN GEORGE KEGLEY AND AN ESSAY ON GREENE MEMORIAL BY KATHRYN REYNOLDS WILLIS). NAME: ST. ANDREWS CATHOLIC CHURCH LOCATION: 631 N. JEFFERSON GROUND BROKEN: DEC. 2, 1900 DEDICATED: NOV. 30, 1902 COST: $108,000 ARCHITECT: WILLIAM P. GINTHER OF OHIO BUILDER: JOHN GARRY OF ROANOKE STYLE: HIGH VICTORIAN GOTHIC DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: TWIN TOWERS IN MEDIEVAL FRENCH GOTHIC STYLE; ROSE WINDOW OF ST. CECILIA; ITALIAN-MADE MARBLE STATUE OF ST. ANDREW ABOVE FRONT DOORS. LITTLE-KNOWN BUT FASCINATING DETAIL: PRIOR TO THE BUILDING OF ST. ANDREWS, ROANOKE'S CATHOLIC CHURCH SERVICES ALTERNATED BETWEEN THE TOWN HALL AND A SHENANDOAH VALLEY RAILROAD CAR, KNOWN AS COACH NO. 6. OTHER LITTLE-KNOWN BUT FASCINATING DETAIL: ST. ANDREW'S 1,000-POUND BELL WAS FORGED AT THE ROANOKE MACHINE WORKS, ITS SOUND SWEETENED WITH NICKELS AND DIMES AND QUARTERS THROWN IN BY THE WORKERS. BECAUSE IT IS TOO HEAVY TO BE MOUNTED ATOP THE CHURCH, IT SITS IN A WOODEN BELFRY ON THE GROUND. IT RANG FORTHE FIRST TIME ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1895 (BEFORE THE CURRENT CHURCH WAS BUILT). ST. ANDREWS CATHOLIC CHURCH IS INCLUDED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES.
• FROM IMMIGRANT CHURCH TO MOST FAMOUS LANDMARK
• GOTHIC: GOD'S PRESENCE IN LIGHT
• THE HIP KNOW BASSIST CHARLIE HADEN
• INTERNET `TROUBLE' DIDN'T KILL THIS WOMAN; HER HUSBAND DID
• GOTHIC ROANOKE - SOME 800 YEARS AFTER IT BEGAN AND A CENTURY AFTER IT HELPED SHAPE ROANOKE, GOTHIC SEEMS TO BE MAKING A COMEBACK. ARE WE IN FOR A NEW REVIVAL?
• ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS PASS PREGNANCY TEST IN CANADIAN STUDY
• IS LENT MERELY AN EXCUSE FOR MARDI GRAS?
• ART SHOW APPLICATIONS
• `CRIMES OF THE HEART' AT E&H
• THE HORMONES IN QUESTION
• LITTLE STILL IS KNOWN ABOUT EFFECTS OF TAKING MOST HORMONES
• CELEBRATIONS - ANNIVERSARIES
• CELEBRATIONS - BIRTHDAYS
• CELEBRATIONS - ENGAGEMENTS
• CELEBRATIONS - WEDDINGS
• CELEBRATIONS - BIRTHS