Alabama's First Gothic Revival Church

Alabama's First Gothic Revival Church. . , St. Luke's Episcopal Church, completed in 1854, was very different from the other churches in Cahaba. Its Gothic Revival style stood in stark contrast to the fairly standard Greek Revival form used by the Methodists and Baptists. , Alabama's Episcopalians, led by Bishop Nicholas Hammer Cobbs, were looking back in history, beyond the Reformation, for expressions of their newly revised Anglican identity. They favored High Church traditions that emphasized ceremony, vestments and sacraments, so they used soaring proportions, placed the altar in the center of their church, and installed stained glass windows to create a dark and mystical atmosphere. Meanwhile, the other congregations in Cahaba were caught up in an evangelical movement sweeping across the nation that emphasized the "word of God," so the pulpit was in the center of their churches, and large clear glass windows admitted much light. , St. Luke's was the first of many Episcopal churches built in Alabama based on plans published in 1852 by the famous New York architect Richard Upjohn. His pattern book enabled Episcopalians in newly settled areas to build this new kind of church. , The Missing Church Tower , This Church with its tall spire orginally sat in the center of town near the Alabama River where all the passengers in passing steamboats could admire it. When Cahaba was abandoned, St. Luke's was disassembled, moved 15 miles away, and reassembled in the small community of Martin's Station. The tower with its tall spire was lost in this move. St. Luke's was brought back to Cahaba in 2007 with the help of the Cahawba Advisory Committee and the Rural Studio, a student-centered Design/Build program in Auburn University's College of Architecture, Design, and Construction. The church's original location is prone to flooding, so it was placed here on higher ground., [Captions] , [Center] St. Lukes Episcopal Church, built in 1854, Alabama Department of Archives and History , [Top right] Cahaba's Methodist Church, built in 1849, Alabama Department of Achives and History , [Bottom right] Cahaba's Baptist Church, built in 1840, Alabama Department of Archives and History