herr2ck: Season of the Witch

January 2026.

Pay no attention to the date in red above…let’s pretend that it’s a cloudy, slightly chilly fall day, in order to appreciate this highly picturesque church’s architecture. Glen Echo United Presbyterian is a little church building tucked away in the northeast end of Old North. I particularly enjoyed its uneven massing and follies all around.

Glen Echo United Presbyterian Church is located at 220 Cliffside Drive in the Old North Columbus neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Glen Echo Creek to the north, Cliffside Drive to the south, houses to the east, and Calumet Street and Dominion Middle School to the west.

History

Unsurprisingly, there is not much information available online about this little-known historic church. I found a digitized Ohio Historic Inventory form that paints most of the picture, but that’s about it.

Glen Echo United Presbyterian was built in 1930. It has always been located at this site, and the congregation was the builder and original owner of the church building. A Gothic Revival building (the OHI form specifies “Early English”), it was designed by architect Ralph Orr. According to the 1921-1961 Sanborn map, the church has a brick structure with a stone veneer.

As of 1975, it was deemed ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places or as part of a larger historic district, which was likely due to its age being under 50 at the time. However, the form preparer noted that preservation work was underway on the building. It remains in excellent condition today and is still in use by the congregation it was built for.

Photos

The gray weather and skeletal trees suited this church excellently, but I wished it was autumn so that the polychrome roof matched the nearby foliage:

Seriously, this church looks straight out of a Currier & Ives print. It is an excellent example of the picturesque tendencies of the Gothic Revival style, which encouraged the uneven forms and unique details seen on the building.

East facade:

The walls use an unevenly laid bond of ashlar, which has obtained a wonderful aged quality through its soot staining and the different shades of stone used. Although part of me wishes that historically significant buildings could just be sealed up in a glass bottle and left alone to appear as they were built, there is also something to be said about the effect that some achieve through age.

The broad roof plane is pierced by a small cross gable, which has a circular rose window in the middle:

I also noticed these little colored glass windows in the foundation, which undoubtedly belong to the basement Sunday school rooms or something similar:

Here is one of the church’s picturesque follies--a small wall with a pointed archway and corner pinnacle/buttress that extends outward from the end of the building:

The church has an uneven plan that differs from conventional Gothic architecture, but I guess this would still be considered the crossing:

The gable is very broad and takes up most of the wall. Three lancet windows are centered on this area, which have stained glass (it’s tough to see because of the cloudy acrylic covering them).

Buttresses and stained-glass windows of the nave:

This roof is excellent and one of the church’s most memorable features. Compared to the gray, earthy tones of the walls, the polychrome roof adds a pop of pastel primary color. I believe it is tile, which is corroborated by the Sanborn map.

The entrance is rather diminutive compared to the rest of the church, but it is nonetheless emphasized via the flights of stairs up to the doors and the belfry:

The entrance has two bright red doors and a relief of a ship in the tympanum. I’m unsure why the latter is there, as the church is far from a body of water (except Glen Echo Creek, I guess?):

Maybe the architect was looking at New England churches as precedent. Now that I think about it, the surroundings kind of remind me of the Museum of Witchcraft in Fallout 4.

The belfry is very shallow and open to the air, which is known as an “open belfry.” These are common on humbler Gothic Revival designs and those informed by early Gothic churches, both of which are true of Glen Echo United Presbyterian.