(no longer used as a house of worship), 11623 Lake Avenue, Cleveland; built circa 1927. Neoclassical.

 

Exterior: Birmingham Warmtone Buff sandstone (Berea Sandstone) quarried in Birmingham, Erie County, Ohio was used for this church. Most of the stone is set in courses. The most interesting use of stone is that around the upper portions of the windows. Here blocks of stone have been selected so that natural bedding features of the stone create a radiating pattern. The stone on the drum beneath the dome was poorly mortared and this portion of the church was painted over in a yellowish color in 1991.                                   

 

Overall view of north side of church. Part of this facade had been ripped away as of fall 1999.

 

 

 

 

Interior: The lobby has walls and pillars faced with Saint Genevieve Golden Vein marble (limestone from the Grand Tower Formation), quarried in Missouri, and flooring of pink Tennessee marble (limestone from the Holston Formation), quarried in eastern Tennessee. Floor trim, bases of pillars, and balusters are a black limestone with white streaks (veins and stylolites), possibly from Europe. The front (west) hallway has wainscoting of Saint Genevieve Golden Vein, with a border of black limestone along its base. The Saint Genevieve marble in both the lobby and the front hallway contains large corals, including horn corals several centimeters in diameter and colonial forms that are composed of groups of many smaller cylindrical individuals.

Remarks: This church has been featured in advertising literature (see, for example, Anonymous, 1928). The congregation left this church building in the late 1980s, and the building has subsequently been threatened with demolition (Litt, 1995). Part of the building was damaged in 1998 to facilitate the plugging of an abandoned gas well that was leaking beneath the church (O'Malley, 1998). There has been other damage as well.

References: Anonymous, 1926a; Litt, 1995.

Detail showing natural stratification of the sandstone.

 

 

 

 

 

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