Kings Highway Christian Church

• Designed by: Samuel G. Wiener Sr. of Jones, Roessle, Olschner, and Wiener
• Design year: 1925
• Expanded in 1951 by Julian Sokoloski following Wiener’s campus plan

In 1925, Samuel G. Wiener Sr. of Jones, Roessle, Olschner and Wiener was selected as the architect for the Kings Highway Christian Church campus at the corner of Kings Highway and Line Ave. Wiener was well-traveled and frequented European destinations making him well-equipped to execute the Italian Romanesque imagery he proposed. Wiener designed the facility so it could be phased; only the first phase was built in the mid 20’s.  Julian Sokoloski completed the campus in 1951 using a less decorated approach than did Wiener.

The exterior has an intricate combination of polychromatic brick work, a variety of marbles, tiles, and stone work.  Most arches on the first floor are striped (or banded) with arch voussoirs alternating from brick to stone in typical Romanesque fashion.  The walls are given a textural quality by projecting brick headers or brick stretchers in sawtooth configuration every sixth brick course.  The top of the wall transitions to the Spanish pantile roof with a brick arched corbel table which was a common Romanesque top-of-wall motif.

The church is configured with a Latin cross plan and has two mammoth striped (banded) arches defining the crossing. The interior is less decorated (more austere) than the exterior inverting the custom used on most religious buildings. The roof is structured with exposed wood king post trusses, wood purlins and tongue and groove wood decking. The iconography of the exposed wood structure suggests an inverted “ship to heaven.”