John Wesley United Methodist
Historic Property
Alternate Name:
John Wesley United Methodist
Street Address:
100 Court Street, Greenville, South Carolina (Greenville County)
Site Number:
67 (59-6-3)
Date Surveyed:
circa 1981
Category:
Building
Construction Date:
circa 1900
Historic Use:
Religion
Current Use:
Religion
Number of Stories:
2
Exterior Walls Materials:
Brick
Foundation Materials:
Stone
Roof Shape:
Gable
Signficant Architectural Features:
Gothic arched windows with brick relief molding, square bell tower with pinnacles. ;2 story structure of brick laid in standard bond, a vernacular version of the Gothic style of church architecture. The building is basically cruciform in shape, with four large gable ends, the NE corner being filled with a two story extension under a smaller gable (the gable facing the east), and the northwest corner being filled with a four story square tower. The tower was a high pyramidal roof, punctuated by a small gable on each side and a pyramidal pinnacle at each corner. The tower has on the fourth level large pointed arch (lancet) openings on three sides, the east side opening being louvered, and the north and west side openings having wooden screens, louvered at the bottom and boarded at the top with applied wooden ornaments. The tower has small lancet windows on the second and third levels. The building has paired, square headed, double-hung windows with one-light sashes on the basement level and pointed arch windows, double hung, with stained glass, on the upper levels; the larger stained glass windows have Gothic tracery. Pointed arch windows have brick voussoirs and drip courses of molded brick. The roof line is trimmed with a plain fascia supported by exposed rafter ends. The front or north facade consists of a wide central portion under a broad gable, flanked by the northeast corner extension and the corner extension and the NW corner tower. The front facade has the main entrance located in the tower at the top of a high, wide flight of concrete steps. The wide, square-headed doorway is set in a large pointed arch opening, the upper part of the opening filled with board and batten siding. The entrance is shaded by a modern metal awning.
Historical Information:
After the War Between the States ended in 1865, the Meth. Epis. Church sent preachers and teachers to work among freedmen in the South. At a meeting in Charleston, it was decided to establish a congregation in Greenville, and in 1866 John Wesley's congregation was organized by the Rev. J.R. Rosemond under the name of Silver Hill Meth. Epis. Church North rather than the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the congregation acquired a log building on Ann Street. That structure, now demolished, was called Hopkins turnout. Alexander McBee, son of one of Greenville's founders, subsequently donated a lot at Choice and Cleveland Street where a structure was built and occupied by the congregation until 1900. The foundations of the present structure, at East Court and Falls Streets, were laid in 1899 and the sanctuary was dedicated in 1903, as John Wesley's Methodist Episcopal Church. It is the congregation's third building.
Survey:
The Historic Resources of Greenville, SC (1981)
Archives Location:
Box 6, Series 108042, Survey of historic resources (county by county data on surface properties), circa 1971-2014
