herr2ck: Sanctum Sanctorum

March 2026.

The Sanctuary on Neil, formerly the Neil Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, is an event venue in Victorian Village. Once a diminutive residential church, its context has been drastically altered with the urban renewal project Thurber Village to the west and I-670 to the south.

The Sanctuary on Neil is located at 618 Neil Avenue in the Victorian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by houses to the north, Goodale Street and I-670 to the south, Hunter Avenue to the east, and Neil Avenue to the west.

History

Predictably, there isn’t much information about this historic church online, as is usually the case with lesser-known neighborhood houses of worship. Most of what I know comes from the Sanctuary on Neil’s own website, which I can’t cross-check with other sources.

Snippet of the 1901 Sanborn map depicting the church’s original footprint. Note the blacksmith shop nearby. (Library of Congress)

It seems that the congregation that built this church was founded as the Neil Chapel prior to 1870, and their original home was in what is now Thurber Village. The Neil Chapel moved to the present site in 1872. They commissioned architect Joseph W. Yost to design a larger Gothic Revival structure for the congregation, which was completed in 1890. Based on the Sanborn map above, it appears that the church was constructed with a slightly thinner tower that stood 60 feet high. (The current tower has a larger footprint and is half that height.)

A 1915 photo of the exterior, which includes Stribling & Lum’s addition to the south. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Local architects Stribling & Lum designed an addition onto the rear onto Neil Avenue M.E., which was completed in 1914. It was used for housing by the church’s clergy and nuns. At some point, purely speculatively around this time, the church’s Wurlitzer organ was installed, which was relocated from the Grand Theatre in Circleville.

By 1980, the church had been renamed to the Neil Avenue United Methodist Church, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places that year as part of the Near Northside Historic District. In 1984, Neil Avenue U.M. suffered a fire, which damaged wooden interior features such as the pews, floors, and the altar. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church purchased the church in 1996 and used it for the following decades. I’m not sure if this is the same congregation that now uses the former Broad Street Christian Church.

In 2021, the former church was purchased by its present owner (Cameron Mitchell) and converted to a wedding venue. This involved restoration to the interior and contextually appropriate renovation work. It is now known as the Sanctuary on Neil.

Photos

Here is the exterior as it appears today:

Stribling & Lum’s addition is very much in character with the original and adds a nice rhythm to the facade. I think the gabled roof signals its use, in a way.

Neil Avenue elevation:

It has the classic asymmetrical, picturesque design that was very common on Gothic Revival designs of this vintage. The tower is off-center, and the two entrances are at different heights.

Looking up at the main tower:

The rotunda isn’t too out of character, but to me it seems more at home on one of Yost’s Richardsonian Romanesque designs (without the pointed windows, of course):