STEEPED IN TRADITION
Lou Martin looks forward to the red lights, particularly the light at the corner of Walnut Grove and Mendenhall. That’s where she can see Mullins United Methodist Church and one of the city’s most interesting and visible bell towers.
“When I see the tower on that church, I always say a prayer of thanks,” said Martin, a Christian counselor and East Memphian. “I feel a peace come over me. I feel that from several churches around the city.”
Martin’s daily treks up and down Walnut Grove have inspired her to begin gathering photographs and histories of Memphis’ church steeples and towers in hopes of publishing her own “coffee table” photo book of these local icons.
Martin, a Licensed Professional Counselor at Christian Psychological Center, became interested in her steeples project while working on her doctorate in education at the University of Memphis. She was focusing her graduate work on the educational components of churches and became fascinated with church architecture, particularly steeples and church towers.
“I found more than 1,400 churches listed in the Memphis Yellow Pages,” said Martin, who sent a letter to each one. She plans do hire photographers and include aerial photos.
Steeples aren’t as common as they once were, not even in the heavily steepled south.
Larry Lydick, director of marketing and sales for Fiberglass Specialties, a Henderson, Texas-based manufacturer of church steeples, said his company builds and sells about 200 steeples a year, ranging from 10 to 50 feet high and from $800 for a “steeple in a box” to $25,000 for a steeple that can withstand winds up to 120 mph.
“But we used to sell a lot more.” About 20 percent more. The 2008 recession sent the steeple business reeling, Lydick said, adding that the ever-changing economic landscape has brought about changes in church design. Congregational leaders begin with the idea of eventually growing out of their building into larger ones. Many prospective buyers want to use the buildings for something other than a church.
“They believe a church with a steeple is harder to sell than one that doesn’t have a steeple,” he said. “It might hurt the resale value of the property.”
Church designs also are changing steeple designs and functions.
Lee Askew, a founder of the Memphis architectural firm Askew Nixon Ferguson (ANF), says today’s new churches are being shaped to reflect changes within society as well as denominations. Once places of mysticism and mystery, churches now are more modern, open and transparent.
“In recent years, we’ve seen churches go from the standard one-row-ofpews-behind-another and facing forward to stadiumstyle seating where the congregation faces the minister, priest or pastor in a 270 degree semicircle,” said Askew, whose company has worked with several Memphis churches such as St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, St. Brigid Catholic Church in Southeast Memphis, and Christ the King Catholic Church in Southaven.
“Churches are always looking for different ways to interact with today’s congregations. Churches are also ‘ theater’ and they’re built with new sound systems, innovative lighting, and interactive media in mind. Churches are evolving.”
As architecture changes, steeples and towers do as well. Askew’s firm uses steeples as lighting sources. In the late 1990s, Mullins United Methodist Church installed cellular phone antennas inside their bell tower.
“We’re seeing more and more churches wanting to put cellphone towers in their steeples,” said Fiberglass Specialties’ Lydick.
But the basic mission of a steeple remains unchanged.
“I’ve always thought steeples were all about signaling people, saying ‘we are here’,” Askew said. “They once were the tallest structures in a community, giant signs, if you will. You can’t see a church from a distance but you can probably see its steeple. People respond to imagery and height.”
Martin agrees. She believes church steeples and towers can fill a spiritual need today just as they did a thousand years ago, even the structures with cellular phone antennas and electronic church bells.
“Freud said that steeples were symbols of dominance, but I don’t believe that,” Martin said. “Steeples and church towers point to the heavens. They pull your attention upward to God. I think we all should look up more often. That’s how a spiritual journey begins.”
If you’re interested in including your church’s steeple in Martin’s book, contact her at LMartin@ cpcmemphis.net.