Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, Louisville Kentucky
The Calvary Evangelical Church dates back to 1919. Reverend Clayton A. Robertson was the head of the church during that time. In 1941, he is listed in the Directory of Churches, Missions, and Religious Institutions of Tennessee as the head of the Kentucky-Tennessee Synod, and living at the parsonage address. He served the church through 1963 when on July 14th, 1963 the Courier-Journal reported that Rev. Richard W. Howard was to be installed as the new Reverend.
In 1919 The Lutheran Men's League of Louisville presented Calvary with a lot at Bardstown Road and Roanoke Ave., and in 1919 the laymen and pastors of the city erected a frame chapel there in just one day. (Encyclopedia of Louisville, p 579). This structure is noted as a "temporary church" on the 1927 construction drawings. By 1927, the house immediately west along Roanoke is identified as "The Parsonage" and the design for the existing sanctuary was complete. The construction of the 1927 building demolished a portion of the Temporary Church but the drawings give no indication as to its use after this phase of construction was complete. By 1950, a new rear addition was designed. The drawings for the addition make no reference to a temporary church building. The addition of an educational building was constructed in 1950 with the exterior remaining unchanged through today. The addition housed classrooms for various ages for the church's growing population. The interior of the 1950s addition has been reconfigured throughout its history to meet the needs of the church. The interior partitions do not follow the interior wall patterns shown in the 1950s drawings.
In the next 60 years, the addition served its primary purpose. However, attendance to the church and to Sunday School classes could not be sustained at the levels that they had reached which prompted the construction of the addition to the church building. By 2012, the parish dissolved, and its property began to be sold off, marking the end of the era which the church stands as witness to.
In 2012, the parsonage was parceled off and sold to another party, today it is used for a commercial use. By 2015 the church building was sold to the Indiana-Kentucky Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and subsequently sold to the current owner in March, 2016.
Building Description
The Calvary Episcopal Lutheran Church is located on a corner lot, west of Bardstown Road and South of Roanoke Avenue, in Louisville, Jefferson County's seat and Kentucky's largest city. The church has exterior stone walls in ashlar pattern and in the Gothic Revival style. It was built in 1927, and in 1950 an educational building addition was added to its rear (southeast) side.
Louisville during the late 1800s and early 1900s began to see an extension of suburban housing to the southeast of downtown. The Bardstown Road-Baxter Avenue corridor became the spine of the Highlands neighborhood.
The neighborhood is a virtual catalog of architectural types for a period of over eighty years, dramatizing on a local level, the national trends from year to year, subdivision to subdivision. The neighborhood is significant to Louisville due to its architectural cohesiveness, quality and quantity. The commercial corridor is an archaeological study of the evolution of commercial types, retaining its early twentieth-century character better than any such strip development in Louisville. The neighborhood also represents some of Louisville's earliest planned subdivisions, many containing landscape architectural influences from the adjacent Olmsted Park System, and many adopting the architectural philosophy of the day. The development of the Highlands neighborhood spans a building period of over eighty years, but its history lies in the very roots of the city's development.
The neighborhood was originally occupied by estates, which dotted the Highlands. Today a handful of them remain in place. Over time, each large estate was given over to subdivision into multi-lot residential development. As the city grew and demand for housing away from the city's core increased, the Highlands became one of the most attractive areas in which to live.
With the rising number of residents in the area, commercial and ecclesiastical structures arose to serve the residents. The Highlands neighborhood included 9 major church buildings, six of which were identified as Gothic Revival style. These structures include: Concordia Lutheran (1939), Trinity Lutheran Church (1895), Highland Church of Christ (1899), Edenside Christian Church (1910), Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church (1912) and St. Paul United Methodist Church (1927).
Building's Exterior
The northwest facade of the church provides the main entry to the building, with a flight of concrete exterior stairs leading to the narthex (called "Vestibule" on the 1927 drawings). This facade is defined by smooth limestone surround at the 8-foot double entry doors. The slightly recessed front doors are detailed with a corbeled stone flattened gothic arch that dies into the smooth stone facade on either side of the door. The smooth limestone continues up and surrounds the stained glass windows above. The stained glass window is, much like the entry portal doors, slightly recessed and detailed with a corbeled stone flattened gothic arch that dies into the smooth stone facade on either side. This smooth stone section of the facade defines the entry and is set off from the remainder of the elevation by the contrast in texture of the rough ashlar stone and the stone pillars on either side of the portal. The rough stone walls rise to a peak in the center, creating a parapet wall with a smooth stone cap. These wall lines follow the slope of the roof beyond. The original design for the building shows brick in place of the rough stone.
The northeast facade is defined by two additional entries along Bardstown Road. The northernmost entry projects out from the building, clearly defining it as a secondary main entrance. Internally the entry connects into the rear of the nave, close to the narthex entry. This entry projects approximately 13' from the main building, allowing for an internal stair. The 3rd entry, located approximately in the middle of the building, is more flush with this elevation and provided access to the Sunday School classrooms in the basement and rear of the building. This 3rd entrance was differentiated from the others by the squared-off parapet, thus showing it was not a primary entry.
The northeast elevation is primarily composed of rough ashlar stone with smooth quoined stone detailing at the windows. A stone belt wraps the structure at the 1st floor line, approximately 5 feet above grade level. The three stained glass windows into the sanctuary are raised an additional 4 feet above the stone belt, and rise approximately 14 feet to a flattened gothic arch. Between each sanctuary window is a 2' x 2' rough stone pillar with a smooth sloped stone cap. These pillars were undoubtedly intended to reference a traditional Gothic flying buttress. Both of the secondary entries on this east side were part of the 1927 construction.
The roof is a steep sloped roof and is currently sheathed in asphalt shingles. The original 1927 drawings indicate "red shingle tile roof", this could be interpreted as a clay tile roof. Historic photographs provide no conclusive evidence of the original roofing material.
The southwest facade of the building is detailed as a secondary facade. The first bay from Roanoke Avenue (north) is completely rough stone with a smooth stone belt and door trim. After the first bay, the remainder of the facade is brick with no stone trim around the windows. There are four gothic arched windows into the sanctuary which are symmetrical from the interior as the northeast facade. These windows do not have any stone exterior trim however, just simple rectangular stone sills. The pilasters (south of the first bay) are brick with a smooth stone cap and belt. The 1950 addition's roof is flat with a slight pitch to this elevation. The gutter caps this elevation and downspouts are located toward the rear of this elevation. The windows on the 1950 addition are double-hung one-over-one wood-sash windows covered with a metal exterior security screen. Several window sashes are completely deteriorated.
The south facade of the 1927 building was designed as brick with stone detailing around the windows, coping, and belting at the first floor. The drawings also indicate decorative wood-framed windows with leaded glass. However, the two windows that are still visible at the 3rd floor level do not have a stone surround or any indication of a decorative wood frame. The present windows, which appear original or at least 1950s vintage, are simple one-over-one double-hung wood-sash windows. The windows were arranged in a symmetrical pattern, four at the first and second level and two at the third level. The currently visible portion of this wall which rises to follow the high pitch roof is red brick with a stone coping. A long rectangular vent is located above the third-floor windows for attic venting.
In 1950, an educational building was added on the rear (southeast) of the building. This addition was designed by Louisville Architects Walter Wagner and Joseph Potts. The structure was added to increase the number of classrooms for the growing population of the area. The use of the space was for break out classrooms for various ages. It included a basement and 2 floors. This addition directly referenced the existing structure, with near exact detailing in elevation. The increased footprint of the building is approximately 33' x 51'. The roof of the addition is a flat roof with condensing units above, with a low parapet on the east elevation. The walls are stone-faced on the northeast and northwest elevations and brick-faced on the southeast and southwest, making it very compatible with the original structure.
The building uses steel and wood framing as wall support. The two phases of construction are separated by a masonry wall that originally had windows. The dividing wall runs perpendicular (east and west) to the Bardstown Road facade.
The building interior was used for various church functions, primarily worship in the sanctuary, small class studies in the classrooms and informal gatherings and preparation work in the basement. The major defining character of the building is the wood-clad truss structures and gothic arched windows in the sanctuary.
The sanctuary interior has a classic Gothic Revival design. The space is divided into 5 equal bays in a north-south direction. Each bay is accented with exposed wood trusses and wood ceilings throughout the space. The trusses are decorative wood encasements of a steel structure. The steel truss is composed of bent and straight angles bearing on corbelled brick walls. The encasement mimics the traditional heavy timber trusses typical of Gothic structures. The wood casing is accented with tracery throughout, which both accents the mass of the wood encasements while also emphasizing the verticality of the space.
The narthex is entered from the northeast elevation by the original 8-foot-wide double door opening via an exterior monumental staircase. The narthex was originally divided into three rooms: a Vestibule, Mother's Room and Choir Room. Today the narthex is primarily one large Vestibule space. The Vestibule occupies the first bay of the Sanctuary structural grid, with the Balcony covering it. Double three-foot-wide doors lead the visitor into the Sanctuary. The vestibule has a plaster ceiling, vinyl replacement flooring, and wood trim. The wood trim appears to match the original construction.
The walls in the sanctuary are plaster and painted white. The trim around the windows is visible on the interior, accenting the gothic arched tops. Ornamental radiator covers are located at the floor level in each bay of the sanctuary. The radiator covers are noted as Tuttle & Bailey Co, Design 371. Tuttle & Bailey is a register and grill company originally founded in 1846 and is still in business today.
The altar, located at the southern end of the Sanctuary, is located in a full-height archway framed by three layered columns with decorative corners and which rise to a Gothic arch at the top. Originally the organ pipes were located on either side of the altar in recesses elevated to approximately 10 feet above the altar floor. A new organ was installed in 1980 in the balcony. There are no signs of the original organ or the recesses they were located in.
The finishes in the classroom and basement are not significant parts of the structure and have changed throughout the history of the building. The interior walls in these areas have been reconfigured from their original design.
Northwest (front) of church (2016)
Northeast side of church (2016)
Southeast (back) side of church (2016)
Southwest side of church (2016)
Interior of sanctuary (2016)
Interior stair tower, looking down from the choir loft (2016)
Classroom space in 1950 addition, second floor (2016)
