57 Pitt Street
City Directories and History: See link this page to architect: John D. Newcomer.
Bethel Methodist Church (built 1853-1854), located on the site of Charleston’s first Methodist church building, is an exceptional example of antebellum Greek Revival ecclesiastical architecture. Except for the rather steeply pitched roof, the church is one of the better examples of Greek Doric temple architecture in the state. Of stuccoed brick painted white, the building has a massive, giant-order hexastyle Doric portico with a
simple Doric pediment and entablature. Designed by a Mr. Curtis, Bethel Church has pilastered walls, and there is one tier of large windows on each side of the structure; the building has a gabled roof and a main entrance which is pedimented with consoles. The roof is more steeply pitched than is usual in a Doric temple to allow rainwater to drain more quickly, thus helping to eliminate the possibility of leaks. The portico withstood the 1886 earthquake intact and stands today unaltered. The auditorium-plan interior has a cove ceiling. The church has a cemetery with crepe myrtles on the north side. Listed in the National Register November 20, 1974. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH
Constructed 1852-53; Ephraim Curtis, architect; Reb and Busby, contractors
“The congregation of the Blue Meeting House on Cumberland Street bought this site for a church and cemetery in 1793. A wooden meetinghouse constructed in 1797 was moved to the western side of the lot to make way for the present Greek Revival building and was eventually moved across Calhoun Street to become Old Bethel Methodist Church. The (new) Bethel Methodist Church is a simple temple-form building with six large fluted Doric columns supporting a pedimented portico. On the interior, a late nineteenth century stenciled paint scheme has been restored and the pressed metal ceiling panels in the cove ceiling have been preserved. An antebellum cast and wrought-iron fence encloses the front of the property, while masonry piers and wooden fencing surround the graveyard. A large, columned Sunday school building once serving as host to one of Charleston’s most thriving congregations was removed several decades ago, and an earlier Italianate structure built for the same purpose was demolished in 1994. A large monument in the graveyard marks the burial site of the phosphate tycoon Francis J. Pelzer.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
Access information on numerous Charleston County and South Carolina churches, by clicking the highlighted S.C. Digital Library name.
Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect
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