First Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, VA, 1909

About this postcard

The First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, fills the view: a tan stone Romanesque Revival building with a tall square tower, pyramidal roof, and finial, a rose window above an arcaded entrance porch. In the left foreground a uniformed soldier statue stands on a pedestal, with a columned building partly visible behind it. The heavy stone, round arches, and corner tower were common in American church architecture of the late nineteenth century, when congregations often rebuilt downtown sanctuaries in monumental styles. The soldier monument places the church in a civic setting typical of Southern downtowns, where churches and memorials shared public space.