Central Presbyterian Church

The story

Behind the sketch.

Central Presbyterian's history reaches back to Huntsville's Cumberland Presbyterians in 1812. Its first building on this Randolph Avenue site was a Greek Revival church designed by George Gilliam Steele in 1845. By the end of the century, it was too small, so the congregation replaced classical restraint with a considerable quantity of Romanesque Revival brick. Chattanooga architect, Reuben Harrison Hunt, began the present church in 1899, giving it broad arches, a weighty corner tower, and enough asymmetry to keep the eye moving. The congregation became Central Presbyterian after a denominational union in 1906. Its name changed, its earlier sanctuary disappeared, and Huntsville grew around it, but the church has remained anchored to this site since 1845 with increasing architectural confidence.

Neighborhood

Twickenham

Book location

Page 64