Days Gone By - Buildings

Pictures from the Lexington Presbyterian "Museum Room"

Commentary from
Lexington Presbyterian Church 1789 - 1989
Robert F. Hunter

1835 - 1906

In mid-1835 "the church purchased for $300 a lot near the center of town for the purpose of constructing 'a Sunday School and public lecture room.'"

This small building, with only 33 feet of frontage on Main Street, was the first step toward the relocating of the church itself from its original location in what is today the northwest corner of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. (No drawing or photograph of that building is known.)

This facility was constructed on a lot purchased by "The Ladies Working Society of the Presbyterian Church of Lexington" for $2000 payable over 4 years.

The architect of the building, which was started in 1844 and completed in 1845, was Thomas U. Walter of Philadelphia who later designed the dome and extension wings of the U.S. Capitol building.

The sandstone blocks, shown in this picture, were covered by stucco shortly after this picture was taken.

The Lecture Room can be seen to the right of the church.

Lexington Presbyterian Manse
(undated photo)

The manse was constructed in 1848 of materials salvaged from the original church facility at the south of town. It is in the style known as "Cottage Gothic."

In 1970 an extensive restoration of the manse was completed and it is still in use today.

Constructed 1906 on the site of the old Lecture Room and the adjacent house.

This building was gutted and reconstructed as Murray Hall in the 1950s.