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Eastminster Presbyterian Church

Site ID: FAL-731

Religious Institution
 
Fayette
Palmer Engineering
Unless specified, we cannot provide site location information.

Summary

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Consultants working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet worked to survey the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in 2025. These investigations documented the Eastminster Presbyterian 
Church at 1161 Liberty Road in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. The front gable brick veneer church designed in the Colonial Revival style by N. Warfield Gratz (the elder) was built in 1949.  Gratz (1886-1967) was well-known for the use of Colonial Revival in his designs with classical detailing manifested here in the quoins, modillions and the broken cornice door surround on the façade (see detail).  The classroom wing, also veneered in brick, can be seen to the left of the sanctuary.





Findings

Consultation with Kentucky Heritage Council staff determined that the Eastminster Presbyterian Church is Eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C.  Under Criterion C, the resource was found to be significant as an example of suburban ecclesiastical architecture designed by locally prominent architect, N. Warfield Gratz.  

The church was designed for a capacity of 250 with Sunday School rooms in the basement and the classroom wing to be added later.  The one-bay wings to either side, seen in the original rendering below, were not built exactly as designed but instead pushed back toward the rear of the sanctuary.  The elevations on either side of the nave feature four stained glass windows with a round, stained glass window on the north elevation, where it likely illuminates the pulpit.  That is very much in keeping with Presbyterianism with its emphasis on the pulpit of the church.  A temporary church on the same parcel was utilized during construction of the new church building.





What's Cool?

​While Presbyterian churches notably display a variety of revival styles and in some cases, modern design, the selection of Colonial Revival for this church is likely personally connected to the architect selected for this commission.  With its three-bay façade and extreme symmetricality, the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Lexington immediately reminds one of the Old North Church in Boston, whose congregation is Episcopal in denomination.  The Lexington church being at a much smaller scale with more ornate detailing than the one in Boston.  Keeping in mind that Lexington, Kentucky was named after Lexington, Massachusetts following the victory at the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution in 1775, the design style may be deliberate in that sense recalling the well-known edifice in Massachusetts.  The church is also located on Liberty Road, perhaps, evincing a further allusion to the American Revolution and its outcome.​


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