UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

From the National Regsiter nomination:

Constructed in 1860, this front-gabled Greek Revival-style church is four bays deep with a three-stage entrance tower topped by a steeple centered on the façade. The building is of brick construction with a wide cornice and flush sheathing and a modillion cornice on the pediment. The entrance tower has paired four-panel doors with paired four-over-four wood-sash windows above and fixed eighteen-light windows at the top weatherboard-covered tier of the tower. The octagonal wood-shingled steeple is topped by a weathervane. Brick pilasters define the windowless bays on each side of the tower as well as the bays of the side elevations, which contain sixteen-over-sixteen wood-sash windows and eight-over-eight windows below, at the basement level. A two-story, hip-roofed education wing at the rear projects beyond the left (west) and right (east) elevations. It has a brick veneer, six-over-six wood-sash windows, and paired six-panel doors on the south elevation, each with a six-light transom and pedimented surround. A one-story gabled wing at the rear (north) is connected to the education wing by a low gabled hyphen. It has a brick veneer, vinyl windows, board-and-batten in the gables, and a covered breezeway that extends the full width of the west elevation and extends to the parking lot at the west.

The Hillsborough Methodist Church was constructed about 1859 on land purchased by the trustees of the church in 1859. Designed and built by John Berry, the molded surrounds on the side elevations recall the windows of the Orange County Courthouse built by Berry earlier. The Civil War interrupted completion of the church, and the new building was not fully paid for until 1874. It is believed that the entrance tower and steeple were added later. In the 1940s, an educational wing was built to the rear, and in 1985 another addition and breezeway were built. The interior retains its original pews and an early pulpit with fluted columns.

NCSU Historic Architecture survey - 1965

NCSU Historic Architecture survey - 1965

If trying to find a parking place Sunday morning on West Tryon to take pictures is any indication, it is still an active congregation as of 2016.

08.14.2016 (G. Kueber)