Lovely Lane Methodist Church

	Lovely Lane United Methodist Church
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Baltimore City Landmark
	First Methodist Episcopal Church (Lovely Lane United Methodist Church), 1895.
Location	2200 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates	39°18′52″N 76°36′57″W / 39.31444°N 76.61583°W
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1884
Architect	Stanford White
Architectural style	Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	73002189
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 25, 1973
Designated BCL	1971

Lovely Lane United Methodist Church (formerly known as First Methodist Episcopal Church and Lovely Lane Chapel) is a historic United Methodist church at 2200 St. Paul Street in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

The building was designed by renowned New York City architect Stanford White in the Romanesque Revival style and completed in 1884 as the "Centennial Monument of American Methodism". It is patterned after the early churches and basilicas in Ravenna, Italy. The exterior is constructed of a gray ashlar granite with limited ornamentation. It features a square bell tower patterned after the campanile of the 12th century church of Santa Maria, Abbey of Pomposa, near Ravenna. The pulpit is a reproduction of the one at St. Apollinaris, in Ravenna.

Locally influential architect Charles L. Carson was supervising architect for the McKim, Mead & White firm during construction of the church.^[2] Lovely Lane Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.^[1]

The pipe organ in the church was built in 1930 by the Austin Organ Company as its Opus 1738. The case remains from the original organ of 1887, Hilborne L. Roosevelt’s Opus 336, which had been enlarged by Adam Stein (1844–1922) in 1914. The Austin instrument incorporates a few of the Roosevelt and Stein pipes. This organ was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024. ^[3] The Sunday School Chapel houses an historic pipe organ built by Hilborne L. Roosevelt, in 1885 (Opus 239). It was restored by Richard Howell (1985) and the Reservoir was releathered by David Storey (2008). This Roosevelt pipe organ was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024. ^[4]

Lovely Lane Chapel

The congregation is known as the "Mother Church of American Methodism."^[5] The original Lovely Lane Chapel or Meeting House was the scene of the December 1784 "Christmas Conference", at which the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was founded and Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke were ordained as its first bishops.

The plain original chapel on Lovely Lane, off German (now Redwood) Street, between South Calvert Street and South Street in the city's waterfront district, was abandoned in 1786 and demolished. It was replaced (first) by an elaborate beaux-arts structure of the Merchants Club, and now the building contains a restaurant as well as offices and teaching space used by Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

Gallery

Exterior in 2012
Interior of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, now Lovely Lane United Methodist Church on St. Paul Street.
The Ordination of Bishop Francis Asbury at the December 1784 "Christmas Conference".

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ Dorsey, John; Dilts, James D. (1997). A Guide to the Architecture of Baltimore (3rd ed.). Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. pp. 396–397. ISBN 0-87033-477-8.
^ The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 52
^ The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 52
^ Joyce Mcclay and Catharine Black (August 1972). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Lovely Lane Methodist Church" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

External links

Lovely Lane Methodist Church, Baltimore City, including photo from 2004, at Maryland Historical Trust
Lovely Lane United Methodist Church website
Lovely Lane United Methodist Church – Explore Baltimore Heritage

This article about a Registered Historic Place in Baltimore is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about a church or other Christian place of worship in Maryland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[dorsey1-2] Dorsey, John; Dilts, James D. (1997). A Guide to the Architecture of Baltimore (3rd ed.). Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. pp. 396–397. ISBN 0-87033-477-8.

[3] The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 52

[4] The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 52

[mht_ihp-5] Joyce Mcclay and Catharine Black (August 1972). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Lovely Lane Methodist Church" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester
Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	United States