The Ultimate Guide To Asheville and the Western North Carolina Mountains
The Ultimate Guide to Asheville & the Western North Carolina Mountains
The Online Version of the Best-selling Regional Guidebook
 

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To purchase a print of this drawing, or other Asheville area churches, by author/artist Lee Pantas,
 visit Cherry Orchard Studio

Asheville has over 300 religious institutions with the Baptist Church (100 churches) and Methodist Church (60 churches) being the two largest denominations. The Asheville phone book yellow pages are your best and most complete resource but there are also online directories as well. Here are some fairly comprehensive, but by all means not complete, online church  directories.
Church Angel   Super Yellow Pages  

Asheville's Historic Churches
Of special interest to visitors and residents alike are the beautiful historic churches in the Asheville area

. Basilica of St. Lawrence To the north of the Grove Arcade area is the Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, built in 1909. A Spanish Baroque Revival Roman Catholic Church built of red brick with polychrome glazed terra-cotta inserts and limestone trim, it was designed by world-famous architect/engineer Raphael Guastavino. The church employs his “cohesive construction” techniques in its large oval tile dome and Catalan-style vaulting in its two towers. The massive stone foundations and the solid brick superstructure give silent testimony to the architect’s desire to build an edifice that would endure for generations. There are no beams of wood or steel in the entire structure; all walls, floors, ceilings and pillars are of tile or other masonry materials. The dome is entirely self supporting, has a clear span of 58 x 82 feet and is reputed to be the largest unsupported dome in North America. The Crucifixion tableaux of the Basilica altar features a rare example of seventeenth century Spanish woodcarving. The windows are of German origin, and the Basilica has two chapels. Attached by an arcade is the 1929 Neo-Tuscan Renaissance brick rectory designed by Father Michael of Belmont Abbey. Self-guided tour brochures are available at the church, and guided tours are given after Sunday masses.

Cathedral of All Souls Originally known as All Souls Church, it was designated an Episcopal Cathedral in January 1995. The largest structure in Biltmore Village, it is an exquisite, lovely building of fine Romanesque style. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, this complex building combines pebbledash wall surfaces, brick and wood trim, and expansive tiles roofs. In spite of the complexity however, the church is a simple cruciform with a tall tower rising in the center which contains most of the interior space. The Parish House features the same materials but is considerably different in design.

The interior is relatively simple but no less elegant and features wonderful stained glass windows created for the Vanderbilts by Maitland Armstrong and his daughter Helen. They illuminate a variety of scenes from the Old and New Testaments. George Vanderbilt was one of the organizers of the congregation in 1896, financed the construction of the church and parish house and selected the furnishings. The church was consecrated on November 8, 1896.

Central United Methodist Church
Located on Church Street, south of Patton Avenue, this Gothic limestone-faced church was designed by R.H. Hunt of Chattanaooga, Tennessee. The church is noted for its fine stained and Art Glass windows and was built between 1902 and 1905.

Church of the Redeemer
This small, coursed-ashlar church was reportedly built in 1886 by a Dr. Willis, an immigrant from England. It features a cruciform plan, patterned slate roof and round arched windows with beautiful stained glass. An Episcopal Church, it still is in operation and visitors are welcome.
 

First Baptist Church Built in 1927, the First Baptist Church of Asheville was designed by noted architect Douglas Ellington from his sketches of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. Three major additions have been made to the building. The Children’s Wing was added in 1968, and the Sherman Family Center in 1980. This wonderfully elegant building is an unusual combination of an Early Italian Renaissance form and color scheme arranged in a beaux arts plan with Art Deco detailing. Of particular interest is the Art Deco copper lantern atop the dome and the subtle gradation of color in the roofing tiles. The walls are an effective combination of orange bricks, terra-cotta moldings and pink marble.

First Christian Church
Built between 1925 and 1926 in a traditional Late Gothic Style, the First Christian Church  is constructed of rock-faced grey granite masonry with smooth granite trim. Designed by the home office, it has an unusual feature in that the placement of the tower is at the intersection of the nave and transept.

First Church of Christ Scientist The First Church of Christ Scientist is of a refined Jeffersonian, Neo-Classical Revival style, constructed of orange brick. Built between 1909 and 1912, it was designed by S.S. Beaman of Chicago.

First Presbyterian Church of Asheville
This Gothic Revival church is home to one of Asheville’s oldest congregations and is one of the oldest church buildings in the city. Located on the corner of Church and Aston streets, the brick nave and steeple were constructed in 1884-85 and have deep, corbelled cornices, hood-molded windows and blind arcading at the eaves. The north chapel and the south building were added in 1968.

Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church  The Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church is a  three-tower red brick Late Victorian Gothic structure built in 1919. it has a tin-shingled roof that has ornamental sheet-metal finials. The large number of Art Glass windows that grace the church are another unusual feature. It was home to one of Asheville’s largest black congregations, organized in 1880 by the noted Reverend Rumley.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
St. Luke’s is a tiny historic country frame church located in the Chunns Cove section of Asheville. The building was consecrated on July 9th, 1898 and features triangular arched windows with simple geometric stained glass. The building is noteworthy for its simple, honest beauty.

 

St. Mary's Church in Grove Park Described in the year of her founding in 1914 as a “Wayside Shrine in the Mountains of Western North Carolina,” beautiful little St. Mary’s Church has attracted countless visitors over the years. Designed by Richard Sharp Smith and built in 1914, the church is English Gothic in style and cruciform in plan. Constructed out of red brick with steeply pitched gable roofs, the building is like those dotting the hilly landscape of County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria in northern England. The English cottage-style Rectory, also designed by Smith, was built and set in beautiful landscaped grounds. The landscape architect was the famous Frederick Law Olmsted, architect for Biltmore Estate and designer of New York’s Central Park. International attention was brought to St. Mary’s by the writer Gail Godwin when she immortalized the church in her novel Father Melancholy’s Daughter.

St. Matthias Church: Saint Matthias began as Trinity Chapel in 1867 on land donated by Captain Thomas Patton. It has the distinction of being Asheville’s first black congregation. In addition, a strong Sunday School and Day School flourished on the site and offered the only formal education at that time for the children of the black community. However, they soon outgrew the smaller structure and the present building was begun in 1894. It was completed two years later under the supervision of James Vester Miller, whose crew then went to begin work on Biltmore House. At this time it was renamed Saint Matthias to honor the 13th apostle and the first missionary to Africa. A handsome Gothic-brick structure, the building features elaborate interior woodwork.

Trinity Episcopal Church
Located on the opposite corner of Church and Aston Streets, the Trinity Episcopal Church is the third of the three churches in this Church Street neighborhood. Built in 1921, it is a Tudor Gothic Revival style brick with granite trim building and was designed by Bertram Goodhue of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, well-known church architects. This lovely building has a simple gable roofed sanctuary with transepts and a short gable-roofed blunt tower.