Hapeville Georgia is where the airport is and the Ford plant was. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy was raised here, and graduated from Hapeville High School.
Hapeville, Decatur, East Point, and College Park retain their small town identity inside the perimeter.
On the way home from delivering Daughter #1 to the airport, I took a brief architecture tour of downtown Hapevile.
I found a 1929 Heinz, Adler, & Schutze.
It's the Hapeville United Methodist Church originally designed in 1909 by minister-architect Charles Edward Choate. I'd never heard of Choate.
I don't know how much is Choate and how much is Shutze but doesn' t this rusticated stair ring a bell? Update 1954 picture showing different columns and capitals at Hapeville First United Methodist
First Methodist faces into it's park-like front yard. It's amazingly peaceful just half a mile from the runways.
From First Methodist's portico, you can see the "old stone church" built from Stone Mountain granite in 1923, the first Sanctuary of Hapeville First Baptist Church.
It's been re-purposed but I find it as irresistible as a ruin. Where are the windows and portico now? Update: picture with the portico of the Hapeville Baptist Church's "old stone church.
This is the 1964 sanctuary, a white ground-level beauty.
It's crisp and clean...
...and accessible.
The education building blends old and new, stone and brick, with a bit of classical detailing.
Well I've run out of space. More about this window in the next post.
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Hello:
ReplyDeleteA fascinating post, and blog, and one which appeals to us enormously not least on account of the 'architectural' content. Although, that said, we enjoy the eclectism of a variety of topics and so are signing as Followers.
The fate of the First Baptist Church is very sad. Increasingly this appears to be what is happening as more and more churches become redundant; new uses for these buildings are hard to find.
Surely not the original columns on the United Methodist church? They look as if they are metal replacements and the capitals were reused.
ReplyDeleteThe First Baptist church is a beauty and because the base of the spire is pierced with windows the effect is much lighter.
Ever wondered how odd it is to have a spire on what is essentially a Greek temple form? St. Martin's in the Fields, London, may have been the first of such a combination though I might be totally wrong and am misremembering.
Good series of posts, Terry.
Blue, The 1st Methodist columns are metal and don't look like they were built in a high budget. I'm glad you mentions St. Martin's in the Fields. I don't know but I've been guessing it's the model for 1000's of churches in that style. P.S. I've just found a picture of the old stone church's portico, it's copyrighted so I'll post a link.
ReplyDeleteAnother good reporting job, Terry. The photo showing the 1929 columns is exactly as expected. It is too bad that money was spent to replace rather than maintain them. I am guessing that the brickwork and this version of the stairs date from 1929 as well. The "old stone church" stone portico pillars are a surprise however, but there is no denying what they were.
ReplyDeletefascinating post!
ReplyDeleteThe 1954 picture shows the much more appropriate columns and capitals. My father's aunt attended Hapeville First Methodit and I remember the original columns. This was a very active church until half of Hapeville was erased in the '70's for the airport expansion.
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