Lowell Heights-Olivet National Register Nomination and site plans

Home Browse Search

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Lowell Heights-Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church St. Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 7 shingles (centered over the porch). The bay is supported by five wood corbels and it has a pair of small 1/1 wood windows centered in its front wall. While the double-gabled projecting bay on the south façade lacks windows in its east-facing wall, the bay on the north façade features a row of three 1/1 wood windows in the first and second story of its east-facing wall. The windows have stone sills and lintels of soldier brick. The second story window features a shed dormer roof. There are two wood windows divided into nine panes in the basement of the east-facing wall. The west (back) façade is divided into four bays (left side of photo 0003). The southernmost bay features a row of three 1/1 wood windows in the first and second story. The windows have stone sills and lintel of soldier brick on the first story. The bay has two basement windows; one is divided into nine panes and the other is new and features a single pane. The northern two bays feature two 1/1 windows in their first and second stories. The windows have stone sills and the first story windows feature lintels of solider brick. Each bay features two wood basement windows divided into nine panes; the northernmost bay’s basement windows are slightly taller. The remaining bay features a tall gable (extension of the nave) and has no windows on the first and second story. It has a narrow slit wood window in the top of the gable and four basement windows. The basement windows are wood and divided into twelve panes; the middle two windows are paired together and are casements. Two square shafts of brick form chimneys flanking the gable near the ridge of the cross gables extending south and north. The chimneys are capped with concrete. Interior The interior is arranged with a vestibule, or narthex, in the east end which is flanked by staircases on the south, which leads to a grade-level entry (south side of building), basement, and balcony, and on the north, which leads to the balcony. See photo 0006 for narthex. A toilet room is also on the north side of the narthex. A pair of doors flanked by pairs of art glass windows separate the narthex from the nave on its west side (see photo 0007 of the nave). The nave is arranged with a central aisle that leads west to a raised platform, altar, and choir loft (photo 0008, 0012). A large Gothic arch centered in the west wall forms a deeply-recessed bay for the choir loft and pipe organ. The nave’s roof is supported by a steeply-pitched modified scissor trusses with open framing. Transepts flank the raised platform at the west end of the nave. These have balconies overlooking the nave on the second story. Doorways lead to staircases in the northwest and southwest corners of the nave (one doorway off the west wall of the north transept). The north staircase leads to a formal grade-level entry on the north side of the church as well as the basement and second story. The south staircase leads to a grade-level entry on the south side of the church, as well as the basement and second story. The pastor’s office is off the first story landing in the southwest corner of the church. It has an historic safe tucked into the northeast corner of the room (right side of photo 0010). An adult classroom is off the first story landing in the northwest corner of the church (photo 0009). It has a fireplace centered in its south wall and a closet tucked into the southeast corner of the room.