Three and a half years ago, old Pa Pitt visited this church to take pictures of the exterior. It was not in use then, although the grounds were maintained. Neighbors reported hearing a smoke detector’s low-battery signal for quite a while. Two days ago, a commenter alerted Father Pitt that a fire had seriously damaged the building.
We’ll put the rest of the large number of pictures we took today behind a link, so that the sad evidence of the conflagration will not be the dominant impression in visitors’ minds for the next week and a half. Furthermore, we promise to balance this article soon with some very cheerful news from the Hilltop neighborhoods.
The fire seems to have raged most ferociously in the education wing, which probably cannot be saved.
Religious readers may wish to say a prayer of thanks for the firefighters who hacked their way in and did what they could to contain the fire.
The main church building is not as severely damaged, and could probably be saved if someone were motivated to save it. It will be hard to summon up that motivation in Knoxville at the moment, but we can always hope.
The architects of the church were Craig, Hodgens & Burns,(1) who gave it an outsized corner tower with strong vertical channels to emphasize its height.
Fragments of stained glass with partly melted lead were laid in the grass across the street from the church.
Footnotes
- Philadelphia Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide, July 23, 1902, p. 488: “Craig Hodgen [sic] & Burns, Bissell Building, have awarded the contract for the Knoxville Presbyterian church to G. H. Schmunk.” (↩)
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