5 Gelbe Street
City Directories and History: MT. ZION A.M.E. CHURCH
Constructed circa 1847-48; repaired after fire damage 1938-39
Edward C. Jones, architect
“Originally built as the Glebe Street Presbyterian Church, this building served a new congregation spawned from the Second Presbyterian Church. Unique among Charleston ecclesiastical buildings, Jones’s design exhibits the influence of the late, simplified classicism of Sir John Soane, who died a decade before. Albert Simons, an F. A. I. A. Charleston architectural historian, likened the rusticated base and square piers on the central bay of the Glebe Street church to the tower of St. Johns Church in Bethnel Green, London. He also noted the influence of Soane’s Dulwich Picture Gallery in explaining the sarcophagus terminus of the central tower, as well as Soane’s design for the windows of the waiting-room court loggia of the Bank of England as the inspiration for the central window beneath. In 1888 the building was sold to the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church. A new congregation formed from the Emanuel A.M.E. Church on Calhoun Street. Despite a 1938 fire, the original exterior and most of the simple interior have been preserved in their original form.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston – Author, for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61 and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917 The HCF may also have additional data at: Past Perfect and further research can be uncovered at: Charleston 1861 Census Schedule or The Charleston City Guide of 1872
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