First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian Church at 1100 1st Avenue in Columbus is a Romanesque church of stucco over brick with a slate gable roof. Its facade has two square bell towers flanking a three-bay central entrance with rounded arch doorways and windows, a corbelled gable, and buttressing. The sanctuary is a square space with pews arranged in a semicircle around the pulpit and choir loft, a rear balcony, white plaster walls and dark wood roof beams. The building was dedicated on February 2, 1862, at a cost of over $30,000, for a congregation about 150 years old that had used two earlier sanctuaries. A fire on November 29, 1891, caused serious damage, and the church reopened fully restored in February 1893. An entrance porch was added on the south side, and the well-known City Clock was placed on the main bell tower after the fire. Later additions include a 1952 chapel and a 1969 renovation. The church was listed for serving the city's oldest and most influential Presbyterian congregation and for its Lombardy Romanesque design, regarded as one of the outstanding downtown churches.