Salem United Methodist Church - Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, New York New York

Date added: December 24, 2024

Southeast and southwest elevations (2016)

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Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, now Salem United Methodist Church, is associated with two of Harlem's largest Methodist congregations and the changing character of the population of the neighborhood. After the residential development of Harlem into an upper-middle-class neighborhood in the late nineteenth century, residents funded the construction of magnificent Protestant church buildings. Calvary Methodist Episcopal, one of the fastest-growing congregations in the new neighborhood, built the largest church in the city in two building campaigns, beginning in 1887 and expanding in 1890. The purchase of the church from its original white, Methodist Episcopal congregation by an African-American Methodist Episcopal congregation in 1924 illustrates the social transformation that took place in Harlem in the early decades of the twentieth century. Salem United Methodist thrived in the new space, and survived the demolition of the buildings around it for the St. Nicholas Houses Project during the early 1950s, and built a community center in 1967 to hold its expanded services and congregation. The architect of the building, John Rochester Thomas, was an important figure in New York City and built over one hundred fifty buildings of various types. The building underwent renovations from 1949-1953.

Governor Peter Stuyvesant established Harlem, the first permanent non-native settlement in Manhattan's northern region, in 1658. Harlem takes its name from the Dutch city of Haarlem. The land was a broad, arable plain with thickly forested hills along its western boundary. Most of the land was divided into farms in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with a small village established on the banks of the Harlem River. In the 1820s, a mere ninety-one families resided there.

A modestly populated and rural community, Harlem remained relatively untouched by urban development until the mid-nineteenth century. Economic decline in the 1830s and loss of land productivity led to the failure of many of the farms. This led the area to be sought after by those desiring cheap property and housing. Even though the New York and Harlem Railroad completed a horse-drawn railway along Fourth Avenue in 1837, poor service kept the growth of Harlem at a slow pace.

As the population of New York City continued to grow in the post-Civil War period, development pressures, which had pushed residential neighborhoods further northward, began to affect Harlem. In 1867, low-density development predominated above West 110^th Street from Fifth Avenue to St. Nicholas Avenue; many blocks remained completely unbuilt. Clusters of development concentrated around West 125^th Street and Mount Morris Square. Harlem was primed for increased residential development by 1881 when three lines of elevated railroads on Second, Third, and Eighth Avenues facilitated travel to the area. Harlem's accessibility increased in 1885 when electric cable car services were introduced on Amsterdam Avenue and along 125^th Street. In response to these improvements in infrastructure, Harlem rapidly developed into an affluent middle- and upper-class community; soon after families moved into newly built rowhouses and formed new congregations, impressive Protestant churches began springing up to serve them. By 1897, the blocks between West 120^th Street and West 135^th Street and across from St. Nicholas Avenue to Fifth Avenue densified, becoming mostly three- or four-story brick and stone row houses. Located on block corners and occupying several lots, large churches acted as anchors in the neighborhood; these included the Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church on the southwest corner of Lenox Avenue and West 122^nd Street and the New York Presbyterian Church, on the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and West 128^th Street, just across the street from the future site of Calvary.

Unlike other Protestant churches which moved from Lower Manhattan to Harlem to follow their congregations, Calvary started and expanded in Harlem, gradually occupying larger and more accommodating spaces. Both types of churches, those started in Harlem and those that migrated, were built for prestigious congregations, whose memberships numbered in the thousands.

The congregation that eventually built Calvary occupied several other structures in Harlem from the 1840s to the mid-1880s. As their membership grew, they outgrew their places of worship, culminating with constructing "one of Harlem's most imposing churches … the broad, towering, and ruddy Romanesque sanctuary at 211 West 129^th Street." They first began holding services in a hired room in the Boulevard (now Broadway) near West 125^th Street in 1843. Steadily gaining membership, the congregation moved in 1851 to a small frame church on 131^st Street, capable of accommodating about two hundred people. Another move in the 1860s brought them to 125^th Street near Sixth Avenue, where they stayed until 1881, disbanding because the lease could not be renewed. After this incident, the congregation created a new enterprise, the first Manhattanville Mission. The search for a new meeting place continued and by 1883 the congregation was able to move into a newly built hall on 125^th Street near Eighth Avenue; they leased the building for two and a half years. Under Rev. F. Mason North, the congregation membership increased to a point that a new building was needed. In response, a site on the northwest corner of 129" Street and Seventh Avenue was secured for $40,000. For the design, the contract included the construction of a church, chapel, and parsonage to be designed by John Rochester Thomas. Rev. J.M. Reid laid the cornerstone on October 14^th, 1886 and after an address by Rev. J. M. Buckley on October 23^rd, 1887, the church was opened for worship. The building was described as "an admirable one, capable of seating more than one thousand, with a chapel which can accommodate a school of nine hundred, and with pleasant church parlors, and library and reading rooms." The congregation once again outgrew its accommodations leading to the enlargement of Calvary in 1890, also designed by Thomas. By 1898, the congregation, among the largest in New York City, had grown to 1,784 communicants, 4,182 baptized persons, and 875 Sunday school members.

Born in Rochester, New York, John Rochester Thomas was a prolific New York architect who designed over 150 churches, academic buildings, residential buildings, prisons, and civic buildings. Described as a "prominent architect of New York," he was responsible for several important church designs. After dropping out of the Rochester Public School system in order to help his family, Thomas apprenticed under the Rochester architect Merwin Austin. Thomas continued his education at the University of Rochester and traveled throughout Europe studying architecture. He entered professional practice and opened his first office in Rochester in 1868 at the age of twenty. Once he had established himself, he moved to New York in 1882. Thomas's work was concentrated in New York City and along the East Coast. A recognized leader in prison and church designs, he read a paper on "Church Architecture" in 1891 and another paper on the "History of Prison Architecture" in 1893. His notable projects in New York City include the New York Presbyterian Church, now Metropolitan Baptist Church at 151 West 128^th Street, across the street from Calvary (18842) and the New York City Hall of Records (1899). Although he designed in many different styles, his churches in New York shared features such as stone or brick facades, asymmetrical massings, and a rising tower with or without a spire. Thomas died in 1901 due to heart failure.

Calvary Methodist is an excellent example of Romanesque Revival architecture. Beginning in the 1840s, the Romanesque Revival was widely adopted for churches throughout the country by both architects and local builders. Many Protestant denominations in America rejected the Gothic, due to its associations with the Roman Catholic and Episcopal denominations, in favor of designs based on Romanesque precedents. The style was associated with the great European monasteries, churches, and castles of the Middle Ages and was adapted for various building types including railroad stations, civic buildings, schools, armories, commercial buildings, and factories.

Henry Hobson Richardson created another phase of Romanesque Revival, referred to as Richardsonian Romanesque in the 1870s. Inspired by the round-arched Romanesque architecture of southern France, Richardson appropriated the style towards a range of building types during the late nineteenth century. After Richardson demonstrated the style's universal use, other architects began using it more frequently. The construction of Calvary aligns with the peak popularity and professional admiration of the style. The key features of the Romanesque Revival style are: round-arches, recessed openings, cylindrical towers, heavy masonry walls, clusters of short columns, bold massings, and corbelled brickwork. Calvary employs all the characteristics of the style in great number and scale. These include: the round-arch windows on its gables, compound arches above its entries, bold asymmetrical massing, distinctive corner tower, corbelled brickwork at the peak of several sections, and recessed entries on both facades.

A proposed subway route to Harlem in the late 1890s initiated a new round of real estate speculation, which led to highly inflated market values. During this period, many new residential buildings were constructed, but excessive vacancies overburdened the market and it collapsed before the subway was completed. Philip Payton, an African-American realtor seizing on this market, created an opportunity to attract more African-Americans to Harlem. Promoting easy access to Harlem via the new Lenox Avenue subway to 145^th Street, Payton negotiated leases on white-owned properties and rented them to African Americans. Many in New York's African-American community took his offer and appreciated the opportunity for decent new comfortable housing. Plentiful and affordable housing attracted African-American immigrants from the Caribbean and the south to migrate to Harlem. African-American churches began flourishing throughout Harlem. Thomas Nail, another African-American realtor, encouraged religious institutions not only to establish themselves in Harlem, but also to buy existing improved properties. By the mid-1920s, most of the major African-American churches, including St. Philip's Protestant Episcopal Church (1911), Abyssinian Baptist Church (1922), and Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1925), which were once located in Lower Manhattan and Midtown, had moved to Harlem alongside their congregations. In addition, New York City's African-American population reached over a quarter-million by 1925; most lived in Harlem. By the end of the 1920s, there were more than 140 churches in Harlem, in addition to dozens of basement and storefront operations. Changes in the racial landscape were exemplified by church attendance. While white churches failed to stay open because of the flight of their congregants, many African-American churches were holding five Sunday services.

One of Harlem's early storefront missions was the genesis of Salem Methodist Church. Jonathan Gill states, "the best known of these storefront missions was perhaps the Rev. Frederick Asbury Cullen's Salem Memorial Mission, which started with only three people in a Harlem cellar but soon became the Salem Methodist Church, taking over the all-white Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, then the largest Protestant institution in the city." Cullen would lead Salem for forty years and eventually became the President of the Harlem Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. Born in Somerset County, Maryland, Cullen credited his Sunday School attendance and the minister who served as his Normal School teacher as early spiritual influences. After attending the church of Reverend Charles Tindley and with Tindley's encouragement, Cullen went to Morgan College to study theology. He became an ordained elder in 1900 and, while still a student, was sent to Catlin, Maryland where he served at Boyer's Chapel and Willis' Chapel concurrently. After two years of service in Catlin, Cullen was appointed to Siloam Church in Chester, Pennsylvania. However, when he arrived in Germantown, Pennsylvania for a meeting of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Merril asked Cullen to go to New York to assist Reverend Brooks at St. Marks Methodist Episcopal Church. Reverend Cullen was transferred to the New York Annual Conference and became the Pastor of Salem Mission on April 18^th, 1902. Salem United Methodist Church began in 1902 as a mission of St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal Church. The congregation occupied the first floor of 232 West 124^th Street. The Salem mission continued to expand and in 1908 broke away from St. Mark's and became an independent congregation. By 1911, the organization's rapid growth required substantially more space. That year, Salem purchased eight brownstone houses on 133 Street to provide an improved worship center with accompanying meeting rooms.

In 1923, when Calvary Methodist Episcopal approved the sale of the church building to Salem Methodist Episcopal, the transfer became a physical marker of the transformation of the neighborhood. The New York Times relayed that "The white people have moved away to such an extent that it is difficult now to continue the most limited church activities or finances, and the attendance is now ridiculously small considering the size of the structure. The church is in danger of losing the balance of its membership in the very near future if it continues in the present location." Salem purchased the church building in 1924 for $258,000. Likely due in part to their shared denomination, the Board of Calvary Church invited the Salem congregation to join them on Calvary's closing service on the Sunday evening of September 28^th, 1924. The sanctuary was overflowing with people and the service represented both churches, embodying a sense of unification between the two groups. The opening service of Salem was held on the following Sunday, October 5th. Continuous services were held from eleven in the morning to eleven at night.

From the beginning, Salem hosted numerous and diverse events that reflected the ideas and experiences of the African-American community and the influences of the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement. These included lectures by prominent leaders, film showings, social clubs for youth, an athletic club, and other support groups. For its thirty-fifth anniversary (1937), the church was "renovated and repaired for the occasion … [and painted in] soft buff and brown color" on the interior. In 1938, funeral services were held for James Weldon Johnson, an author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist; notably, he was the first African-American to serve as executive secretary of the NAACP and the first African-American professor hired by New York University. The Salem Athletic Crescent Club, started in 1911 on West 133^th Street, moved to the basement of the church soon after the congregation did. The club established itself as the premier amateur boxing club with "Sugar" Ray Robinson at the helm, arguably the greatest boxer of all time. In 1941, the boxing club had only two worn punching bags, and the space was so condensed in the basement that "you can't move 20 feet in any direction without running into a post that supports the first floor of the church." Although the club lacked appropriate equipment, it taught 250 boys how to box in the basement of the church. After 1967, the club moved its events and programs to the adjacent Community Center building.

Countee Cullen (1903-1946) was a seminal poet of the Harlem Renaissance, emerging as one of the most famous African-American writers in America in the 1920s. He was adopted by Rev. Cullen in 1918, and once Salem moved to the former Calvary church, he resided in Salem's parsonage with Rev. Cullen. Inspired by European sonnet form, works of classical antiquity, and Biblical imagery he sought to create poetry that transcended the boundaries of race as evidenced in his first collection of poems "Color."

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) heralded as one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century, was a member of the Salem congregation. A contralto, Anderson sang abroad and throughout the United States during her lengthy career. In 1926, Anderson performed a concert at the church, opening with Italian arias. Anderson also sang at multiple presidential inaugurations, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Once the mortgage was paid in full, church leaders began making plans to renovate the entire building. Under the leadership of Rev. Charles Trigg (1942-1955), the church had added over two thousand members so renovations were much needed. In addition to organizing special rallies, benefits, and programs, Trigg had re-instituted Women's and Men's Day from the Cullen era; these events recognized individuals who gave dedicated service to the church. He also established the Young Adult Fellowship, which offered young adults of the church an organized religious growth experience, and at the annual banquet presented the Frederick A. Cullen Achievement Award to such notable members of the African American community as Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall.

The church hired Joseph Judge to be the architect for the renovations in 1949; they were completed between 1949 and 1953. Necessary maintenance included stabilizing the stained-glass windows and repairing the exterior brickwork which was in poor condition. The repairs commenced in the summer of 1949; all mortar joints were repointed, old paint was removed, the exterior was stained with a waterproof compound, the windows were reinforced with steel, the woodwork was restored, and the stained glass was removed and sent to New Jersey for restoration. Interior changes included demolishing the deteriorated kitchen in order to create space for the new restrooms, installing new floors throughout the first floor, new pews, new electric wiring, and new heating pipes. For the chancel, the space near the altar for the clergy and choir, the new design created a straight chancel with a five-foot penetration into the court. Bishop Oxnam and Mr. A. Hensel Fink collaborated on the chancel design as consultants.

During the early 1950s, the church survived a vast neighborhood transformation when the buildings to its north and west were demolished to make way for the St. Nicholas Houses Project. In an effort to provide improved, affordable housing and public services and to remove "slums" from the city, Robert Moses began planning a series of new projects in 1945. By early 1948, Moses demolitions were underway throughout Harlem; the New York Housing Authority made a bid for funding for the St. Nicholas project the following year. Constructed under the low-income Taft-Ellender-Wagner Housing Act of 1949, the St. Nicholas Houses Project resulted in the removal of all the buildings between West 127^th Street and West 131^st Street except for the Salem United Methodist Church; its value, both as a piece of architecture and a stable community institution, likely saved it from demolition. The St. Nicholas Houses Project was estimated at a cost of $21,372,000 for fifteen buildings holding a total of 1,523 apartments for a population of 5,928 people. Base rents, which included gas and electricity, ranged from $26 for three rooms to $32 for six rooms a month. Two-person families had to have an income no higher than $2,400 a year, while families of five or more had to be below $3,000. The buildings were completed in 1954.

On April 12^th, 1953, the sanctuary was re-consecrated in a service offered by Bishop Newell and three manual organs were dedicated, all installed by M.P. Molier Company of Baltimore. Salem continued to expand its activities for the community, which now included the new housing project, and by 1958 the facilities included a gym and social hall that could accommodate four hundred to five hundred people. However, this remained insufficient and the congregation began to discuss plans for a new center that could hold up to 1500 people. They planned for the facility to include a kitchen and 500-person dining room, a 500-person theater, a first aid room, elevator, special ladies parlor, men's lounge, area for choir rehearsal and dressing, library with reading room, small chapel, teenage canteen, and handicraft workrooms. Sugar Ray Robinson called for contributions to the fund raising drive in 1958, stating "they have outgrown their facilities and have asked me to help raise funds to build a better and larger center." In eighteen months, the Community House Building Committee, chaired by Rev. Clifton E. Gatewood, the associate pastor, raised about $20,000 from proceeds of rallies and dinners sponsored by some of the 37 clubs at Salem.

Dr. Joshua O. Williams, the pastor of Salem from 1955-1963, was noted as the driving force behind the new facility. Born in Smithland, Texas, he attended Wiley College in Marshall, receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1931 and then went on to Boston University, earning his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Sacred Theology degrees in 1934. He received his doctorate of divinity from Wiley College in 1956. His first pastorate was at Morgan Church of All Nations in Boston, then several Methodist churches in Washington, Oxon Hill, Maryland, Parkersburg, West Virginia, and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before coming to Salem, he was minister of Sharpe Street Methodist Church in Baltimore. By the end of his tenure, Salem church had a congregation of 4,500 people.

In 1963, the church had raised $196,192 towards the construction of the community center, including funding provided by the Grant Foundation, The New York Society of the Methodist Church, and Mrs. Gloria Simpson. The task started by Dr. Williams in 1955 was completed by Rev. Roy Nichols, who took it up in 1964. Ifill, Johnson and Hanchard Architects designed the building. They designed many buildings in Harlem, including the New York State Office Building on 125^th Street. Trans Urban Construction Co., Inc, a Harlem based African American firm, built the center. Their repertoire of projects includes: the Freedom National Banks and Union Methodist Church. Constructed to meet the federal and city requirements for educational and recreational programs, 28 different classes were held in the building soon after it opened. The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Centers operated in the space from 1971-1987. Its members write plays, books, and screenplays and it offered free workshops in creative writing, poetry, television writing, photography, theatre workshops, dance, music, film editing, and journalism. Fred Hudson, director of the center, wrote the screenplay for the movie "The Education of Sonny Carson." In 1987, the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center moved to 169 W. 46^th Street.

During the civil rights movement, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the church on September 19^th, 1962 for the first of five freedom rallies at churches spread across the boroughs. He presented a progress report on the civil rights campaign in Albany, GA. In that same year; the church awarded Dr. King with the Frederick A. Cullen Achievement Award.

Under the leadership of Rev. Roy C. Nichols in 1964-1968, the parsonage was converted into offices and meeting rooms, as it performs today. Although the church was proud of its adjacent parsonage, the change was made to accommodate the growing services and needs of the church. The renovated spaces were made into meeting facilities, reception and secretarial area. Offices for the assistant and student ministers were located on the second floor. This conversion to offices meant that different living quarters for the minister were required; the church purchased a co-op apartment in the Bronx, NY.

Bishop F. Herbert Skeete, now Pastor Emeritus, was Pastor of the church from 1968-1980. He attended Brooklyn College, receiving a B.A. He served South Ozone Park Church of the New York Conference as he worked for an M. Div. at Drew University Theological School. He received an S.T.M. from New York Theological Seminary and a D. Min., from Drew University. One of the hallmarks of his leadership was the incorporation of the Salem Community Service Council in 1969, which sponsored services for children, youth and senior citizens. Educational services were improved as the Salem Learning Center was established to assist young people in preparation for their high school equivalency diploma and an after school program. In addition, family programs were expanded as the Family Day Care Program provided care for children from 6 months to 9 years of age in 35 provider homes in the Central Harlem Community and the Home Attendant Program was started in 1979 to provide home care for the aged and handicapped persons in their home environments. In total the programs provided employment for over 250 people. During his tenure, Rev. Skeete initiated a renovation of the church and community center. The renovation involved painting the sanctuary and refinishing the pews, installing tonal additions and festival trumpets to the organ, and a new roof on the community center.

First Lady Rosalynn Carter and Vice President Mondale came to the church in 1979 to speak at the meeting of the Ministerial Interfaith Association of Harlem. They were met with audible "booing," allegedly due to the fact that the forum was not programmed to the needs of the Harlem community. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Salem continued its social outreach mission by holding a community services fair, to which invited attorneys, physicians, nurses, social workers, public school and college teachers, and nutritionists offered free information and advice on legal matters, healthcare, educational counseling, housing complaint information, unemployment compensation benefit, social security, and health and safety on the job. In 1983, the church was noted as Harlem's largest. Gospel and contemporary music concerts were held in the sanctuary. In 1990, the church hosted the First Annual National African-American Read-In, to stimulate reading in the African-American community. Hosted by the Literary Society and conceived by members of the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English, more than three hundred people read silently for an hour. Clarice Taylor, noted stage, film and television actress, recited an interpretation of Paul Laurence Dunbar's "When Malindy Sings." Raymond Patterson, the gifted poet, recited blues poetry and Gloria Naylor, novelist and professor, read from the research and wit of Zora Neale Hurston. To close the read-in, John A. Williams, author, journalist, and academic read several pages from "Captain Blackman."

Rev. Dr. Thomas P. Grissom Jr. served as Pastor from 1980-1990, overseeing the completion of the renovation initiated by Rev. Skeete. He previously served as the Senior Minister of First United Methodist Church in Sacramento, CA and District Superintendent for the San Jose District. Known for his presence in the pulpit, he was a robust orator and a noted singing voice. He introduced the system of rotating officers, which enabled all members to have an opportunity to serve in various capacities and organizations. Expanding community relations, Rev. Grissom allowed community leaders, dignitaries, and celebrities to participate in the Sunday morning service. This outreach included the re-institution of the Radio Ministry, as donations were made specifically for this effort. Through his endorsement of the Sacred Concert Series, funds were raised to feed almost 1000 people annually for Thanksgiving dinner. Rev. John E. Brandon, the former Commissioner of Human Rights for the City of New York, became Pastor of the church in 1990. His undergraduate study was at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and seminary and graduate study at Boston University, where he also earned the Doctorate Degree in Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics. The congregation felt the renewed spirit in the church as the administrative operations of the church were revitalized.

The current Senior Pastor of Salem is Reverend Dr. Marvin Anthony Moss. Dr. Moss graduated from Hampton University and the Naval Chaplains Reserve Officers School. He earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Gammon Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Drew University. Under his leadership, the church remains active within the community and in caring for its buildings. A new program started in 2011, the "Word and Lunch" feeds approximately 500 people each month as the church members evangelize. The Building Restoration Committee set the goal of raising two million dollars to replace the roof and renovate the entire exterior and interior, including the pipe organ.

Building Description

Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church is located on the northwest corner of West 129^th Street and Adam Clayton, Jr. Boulevard (originally Seventh Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York County, New York. The church has a frontage of one-hundred twenty-five feet on West 129^th Street and eighty feet on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The church is located in a mixed use area of mostly housing. It is surrounded on three sides, the south, west, and north, by the St. Nicholas Houses Project. To the north of the church, on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, is St. Nicholas Playground North. To the south of the church, across 129^th Street, is the Saint Nicholas Houses Project. The church's community center, built in 1967, is connected to the church on the west. Further west of the church, on West 129^th Street, are more towers of the Saint Nicholas Houses Project and the HCZ Promise Academy I Public Charter School. To the east of the church, across Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, on West 129" Street, is a block of mixed use development with commercial ground floors and housing above.

Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church is a rectangular, brick Romanesque-style building resting on a stone foundation. The robust massing of the church is characterized by the tower at the southern corner, which rises above all other portions of the building. From this corner, emanating to the east and west a series of gabled massings and pyramidal massings create a rhythm of varying heights and roofline shapes; due to the differences in the lengths of the frontages on each elevation, the two elevations rhyme but are not symmetrical. These massings are further articulated by deep, recessed windows and stone trim accents. There are four of these bays on the east and west facades. The roof is composed of several intersecting gables with unequal ridge heights, rising above the walls. Ventilators mark the highest points. The majority of the roof is covered in asphalt shingles with several weathered copper caps.

The red brick with flush off-white mortar church is anchored at its southern corner by a tall tower rising above the rest of the massing. The brick is laid in a running bond composed of stretchers offset by a half brick per course. The tower is flanked by two large gabled masses punctuated by large round-arch windows. A series of smaller towered and gabled sections complete the building. After the tower, the tallest part of the building is the roof at the center that marks the auditorium. The entire building sits on a rock-face stone base that has been painted, with a gray band of stone separating the base from the red brick of the main mass of the building. The entrance, composed of three sets of double doors, is located within the tower. The doors are on both sides of the tower, with one set of doors as the main entrance on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard (east elevation) and a secondary entrance of two sets of double doors on West 129^th Street (west elevation). All three sets of doors are elevated several feet above grade and their wooden panel doors are set within compound brick arches with stone trim. Above each set is a stone gable that is slightly wider than the arch below. A round window set within a compound brick arch is directly above the east tower entrance. A slender arched window above the round window is offset to the left towards the corner. Above this is a circle of decorative brickwork and then a band of decorative circles below a stone beltcourse that forms the base for a pair of arched windows at the top of the tower.

The corner of the tower has a bartizan that extends from the top of the gable to the upper third of the tower. It is supported on corbeled brickwork. There are four small arched windows vertically aligned on the bartizan. From the bartizan upward, the east and west facades of the tower are identical. Above the bartizan, is a series of seven circles of decorative brickwork on each facade, which are topped with a white stone band. This stone band initiates a rectilinear extrusion of the tower, which is punctuated by four vertical windows, two on each side, which are topped with stout circular arches. This rectilinear portion is capped by an inset brick cylinder with four pinnacles at the corners and a pattern of recessed brick squares.

On the west elevation (West 129^th Street), the corner tower has a very similar organization and window arrangement to the boulevard side except for the entry. Instead of a single entry there are two entrances, each with a wooden door, elevated several feet above grade with accompanying arches. There is a smaller stone pediment above the door further away from the corner. Above the door on the corner is an operable arched window.

The eastern elevation (Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard) is characterized by two volumes: a central gabled portion and a narrower pavilion, the former parsonage, with its own tower. The central gabled section has five adjacent arched windows at the bottom. These windows sit on a stone sill and they are topped by stone arches. A large round-arch window spans the majority of this section. Wheel tracery rendered in thin mullions divides the circle into twelve sections. At the base of the window are two stone dwarf columns that support a compound brick arch that enframes the window. To either side of the brick arch are two small rosettes. The window is filled with translucent glass and radial mullions. A large I-beam, installed in 1949 for stability, splits the window in two. Several feet above the window are two small arched windows. A stone band extends from these windows to the edges of the gable. The gabled roof is topped with a decorative crocket.

The northern pavilion on the boulevard holds the church offices. The massing is two, three-story volumes joined by an entry. These two volumes correlate to interior offices linked by a central hallway and stair. At the first story, there is a recessed elevated entrance underneath a Romanesque arch. A handrail divides the entry. There are three levels of windows, marking the three floors. The ground floor has an arched window to the east of the entry. Above this window, on the second floor, are two double-hung windows with stone sills. Near the top of the gable is a group of three round-arch windows with the middle one slightly taller than those to either side. In the narrow section of this pavilion are single stacked windows, rectangular on the second floor and round arched on the third floor. The portion to the west of the entry is the widest. There are two identical windows at the middle with arched, brick enframements. Above these windows are three arched windows separated by thin colonettes. At the top of this section is a pyramidal hip roof with a weathered copper cap. However, the roof over the middle and eastern sections is flat.

The western facade (West 129^th Street) has an asymmetrical massing with two wide gabled sections, and two thin rectilinear sections. The massing and design of the eastern gabled section on 129^th Street is identical to that on the boulevard side. Adjoining it, to the west, is a slender, two-story section that is recessed. It is the shortest portion of the facade. It has a central elevated round-arch entrance with two large arched wooden doors. A segmental arch is offset a couple feet from the round-arch of the entrance. A stone band separates the arch from a pair of arched windows above. The sill of the windows aligns with the stone band. Another stone band crosses the windows at the spring line of the arch. These windows are set within a series of blind arches including an outer stone arch.

The tower-like section to the west is the thinnest of the facade. It is articulated by a thin, tall window with a stone sill that does not align with any other window of the facade. Far above this window, a pair of arched windows share a stone sill. Several feet above these windows the massing starts to corbel outwards. Four pinnacles, now wrapped in sheet metal, rise from the corners and a steep pyramidal roof completes the massing.

The final section of this facade is front-gabled and similar to the sections that flank the tower. It has a round-arch entrance to the west that is elevated several feet above grade. There are three arched windows to the east of the door. These windows are leaded stained glass covered by metal screens. They share a stone sill. A large round-arch window spans the majority of this massing. At the base of the window is a stone sill. The window is filled in with translucent glass and radial mullions forming round arches and a wheel. A large I-beam (installed in 1949) splits the window in two. Brick arches enframe the whole window. There is a molding that runs across the facade, arching in the center, echoing the window below.

The interior of the church retains its integrity to a high degree. The interior is divided, from the center outward, primarily into a sanctuary, enclosed hallways, and church offices. The church's primary entrance is near the corner within the tower, at the top of several steps, marked by double doors that lead into a vestibule. Inside the vestibule, the interior set of doors are wood with a central glass panel and metal kick plates. There is also a metal push plate for access. From this vestibule, interior doors lead into hallways that run parallel to the lot lines of the site. These hallways have central openings that terminate in the double-height sanctuary. Within these hallways are also three sets of stairs that lead to the balcony level, two oriented along Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and one oriented along West 129^th Street.

These plastered hallways are thin and tall with a window wall separating the hall from the sanctuary. This window wall is divided into three sections with the upper two glazed and the bottom on filled in with a wood panel. The top panel has operable hardware; however, it has been painted shut. In addition to artificial lighting, the hallways are lit by the exterior stained glass windows. The ceiling of these hallways is the paneled underside of the balcony, which is canted away from the street. Double wood paneled and glass doors mark the entrance to the sanctuary. Each hallway has a set of these doors and they are all located at the center.

The sanctuary is a curved triple-height space that is interrupted by a balcony, which lies about eight feet above the finished floor. The sanctuary is based on the Akron Plan and is rectangular in shape with a semi-circular seating arrangement with the chancel at the north end. The pews are radially arranged to maximize views of the pulpit. At the front, on the left and right of the sanctuary, there are two identical sloped choir sections that flank the pulpit, all atop a low platform forming the chancel. This raised platform has several steps which lead to a smaller platform. The platform consists of several podiums adorned with purple veils. The center portion contains two identical sets of three engaged columns in the colors of pink, green, and yellow. The columns are Scaglioli, the work of highly specialized craftsmen and all the woodwork is oak and designed by the renovation architects in 1949-1953. Above the column capitals, a compound arch unifies the columns. The walls have alternating painted stripes of beige and light brown. There are two arch-shaped recessions, one on each side of the column sets, with a mural of a blue arch with brown trim.

The additional seating in the balcony is accessible by two narrow sets of wooden stairs with handrails. Sloped tiered seating fills the majority of the space. The slope rises towards the property lines or away from the chancel. At the front of the balcony, there is a low wall capped with a metal handrail that runs the entire edge.

At the balcony level, three large, round, floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows illuminate the space. They directly correspond to the three large gabled sections of the building; two windows are on the western elevation and one window is on the eastern elevation. These windows are multicolored and multi-paneled, creating yellow, blue, red, purple, and pink hues of light and reflections. Here, the details not visible on the outside are revealed, such as complicated wheel tracery.

Above the balcony space, the ceiling of the sanctuary is composed of large wooden beams in a grid pattern, spaced ten feet apart. Wood panels with angled slats fill the space between the beams. Where the beams meet the walls, large curved brackets come down, breaking through the crown molding. There are no curved brackets where the stained-glass windows interrupt the spacing of the beams. There are recessed lights within the panels as well as hanging lights.

Underneath the sanctuary in the basement are several additional spaces: the kitchen, electrical room, restrooms, classrooms, a large room with a stage, and several storage rooms. These rooms have concrete masonry unit walls with tile floors and occasionally drop panel ceilings.

In 1951, alterations were undertaken on the Sanctuary which included revamping the chancel, new floors, new organ, new pews, new choir furniture, new electric wiring, new heating pipes, and new plaster. These alterations were done in the spirit of historic rejuvenation, in order to keep the historic fabric functional. Joseph Judge enlisted his associate Samuel Snodgrass to undertake this work; both also designed the Greater Calvary Baptist Church at 55 West 124^th Street in 1951. The final design of the central motif above the altar was a glass mosaic imported from Italy.

At the northern end of the hallway parallel to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard there is the former parsonage space. Inside this space the rooms are arranged on a double-loaded corridor for three levels. This space currently contains the pastor's and secretary's offices on the first floor, the meeting room and assistant pastor's office on the second floor, and more offices on the third floor. Below the first floor, an intermediary level has the finance office and the basement contains more office space. These spaces do not retain historic fabric. The hallway along West 129^th Street terminates on the western end at the adjacent Community Center building.

The Salem Church Community Center, which was built in 1967, is located at 211 West 129^th Street, on the north side of the street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. The center is adjoining to the church on the west facade.

The Community Center is four stories tall, composed of yellow and brown brick, and flat-roofed. It is a rectangular building that occupies the majority of its lot. On the southern facade, bands of yellow brick run to the edge and wrap around the western corner. The brick is laid in a running bond composed of stretchers offset by a half brick per course. These bands are located below and above the windows of each floor, comprising four in total. A metal roll-up gate marks the elevated service entrance on the southern facade, to which a ramp and set of stairs connect to the ground. The windows are arranged in sets of five per floor. They are subdivided into three panels each, with the middle panel the largest and the upper panel the smallest. There is a granite cornerstone that states "Salem Methodist Church Community Center" and "June 18^th, 1967 A.D." indicating the completion of construction. The community center is adjoined to the church by two corridors, one at the basement level and one on the main floor.

The Community Center building is rectangular in plan with two stairwells, one at each corner of the south facade. There is also an elevator on the west facade adjacent to the stairwell. All interior spaces have a paneled drop ceiling, white concrete masonry unit walls, and a blue tile floor. The basement contains a gymnasium and the first floor contains the administrative spaces. Floors two through four contain classrooms, oriented along the north-south axis, with a central corridor. This corridor stems from a lobby space on each floor that allows for circulation into the stairwells. The second floor also has staff and teacher offices at the south facade. The building contains all the after school for children and adults. Programs include music, dance, cooking, and karate. As a Harlem Children's Zone site, the building is targeted towards high schoolers from the St. Nicholas and Lincoln public housing developments.