Lovely Lane Methodist Church
During the 18th century, Methodist congregations were found only in scattered groups around the country. In 1784, representatives of these groups came together for a conference at the Lovely Lane Meeting House where they organized the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States and ordained Reverend Francis Asbury as its first bishop. Later the Lovely Lane congregation moved and changed their name to the First Methodist Episcopal Church. They built a new church on the site in 1887 and changed the name of the church to Lovely Lane Methodist Church, "thus restoring and reclaiming her heritage and lineage of descent from the Mother Church of American Methodism."
The building took three years to construct. Designed by Stanford White, under the supervision of Reverend John F. Goucher, the Lovely Lane Methodist Church was built in the Romanesque style similar to early churches and basilicas in Ravenna, Italy. The most commanding feature of the exterior is the square bell tower, patterned after the campanile of the 12th-century church of Santa Maria, Abbey of Pomposa, near Ravenna.
Lovely Lane Methodist Church is located at 2200 St. Paul St. The church is open to the public between 9:00am and 4:00pm on weekdays, on Saturdays by appointment, and on Sundays after church services. For more information browse their webpage.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Baltimore, MD Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
