THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503240654
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Until the early 20th century, the downtown Norfolk, Portsmouth and Berkley skylines were punctuated with heaven-pointing church steeples that Horace Walpole, the English arbiter of taste, made fashionable when he launched the Gothic Revival architectural style during the 18th century.
No more. With the advent of what passes locally as skyscrapers, those that remain have been relegated to historical curiosities. Even so, the notable ones that still peep out from between the present-day office towers are worthy of notice.
In Portsmouth, the spire of St. Paul's Catholic Church at High and Washington streets is the area's tallest. Its verdigris-covered copper surface, topped with an enormous cross, has been a local landmark since the church was completed in 1905. Other old Portsmouth churches that retain their original steeples are Monumental United Methodist Church at Dinwiddie and Queen streets (dating from 1876) and the First Presbyterian Church on Court Street (dedicated in 1877).
In Norfolk's Berkley section, the only historic church building to retain its steeple is the former Berkley Avenue Baptist Church, dating from 1885. Designed by L.B. Volk, a New York architect, the handsome brick edifice served its original congregation (now Indian River Baptist Church) from 1885 to 1959. It is now home of the Tabernacle of God Holiness Church of Divine Healing.
Of particular steeplewise importance in Norfolk is the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception at Holt and Chapel streets. Long famous for its stained glass windows and richly ornate interior, the church was consecrated in 1858. Later, it was praised by Ralph Adams Cram, the famous American architect and medievalist, for being ``the best ante-bellum Gothic workmanship in the South.'' Like St. Paul's in Portsmouth, St. Mary's spire is also crowned with a massive cross.
Last but not least of the old Norfolk steepled places of worship is Freemason Street Baptist Church at Freemason and Bank streets. Designed by Thomas U. Walter, the Philadelphia architect who later designed the massive dome of the Capitol in Washington, the church was dedicated in 1850.
Its tall steeple holds aloft the only one left of the dozens of plain and fancy old weather vanes that formerly indicated the direction of the wind in downtown Norfolk. Created by some long-forgotten 19th century tinsmith, the vane is an imaginative copy of Gabriel's trumpet. It was placed on top of the original spire (a much taller one than the present one) when the church was built. According to tradition, a prominent Presbyterian who lived opposite the church objected to the original steeple because he was afraid it might topple in a high wind and crash on his house. He was finally talked out of his objection by a Baptist acquaintance who assured him that ``the devil would hardly look for a good Presbyterian under a Baptist steeple.''
The first Freemason Street steeple was the tallest structure in Norfolk from 1850 until it was blown down in a great windstorm that hit Norfolk on Aug. 18, 1879. When it was over, half of the houses in the city were roofless, and hundreds of trees had been uprooted. At the height of the storm, a reporter from The Norfolk Virginian, who was out checking the damage, heard a woman give a terrified shriek. When he asked what was wrong, she screamed, ``My God, the Baptist steeple has blown down on all those houses.'' Fortunately, she was wrong. The steeple fell into Freemason Street instead. When the debris was cleared, the weather vane was found thrust upright in the ground a considerable distance from the church.
At that time, many of those who were familiar with its appearance high in the air flocked to inspect it at closer range. It was so large that a tall man could stand upright in the larger end of the horn. But the Freemason Street Baptists had to have their steeple and weather vane, and when it was replaced with the present one, the trumpet was again placed on its top, where it continues to revolve with every passing breeze. by CNB