Little Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church

Little Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
41°1′58″N 73°37′51″W / 41.03278°N 73.63083°W / 41.03278; -73.63083
Area	0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built	1921 (1921)
Architect	Meilinggaard, A.N.
Architectural style	Late Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	10000831[1]
Added to NRHP	October 12, 2010

The Little Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic church building and congregation at 44 Lake Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1882, the congregation was Greenwich's first African-American congregation of any denomination, and remains a center of African-American society in the town. Its current church, built in 1921 on the site of its first church, is a good example^{[peacock prose]} of Late Gothic Revival architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.^[1]

Architecture and history

The Bethel AME Church is located north of downtown Greenwich, on the south side of Lake Street opposite the Greenwich Hospital campus. It is a single-story structure, with a gabled roof and stucco exterior. A square tower projects from the front left corner, capped by a pyramidal roof with flared eaves. The main entrance is in the base of the tower, sheltered by a gabled portico. Windows on the tower and building facade are lancet-arched in the Gothic style.

The church congregation was founded in 1882, forming what was then the first major focal point for African-American society in the town. The church eventually outgrew its first edifice, built on this site in 1883, and the present church was built in 1921.^[2] The congregation continues to be affiliated with the larger African Methodist Episcopal Church.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Greenwich, Connecticut

References