Granville's St. Luke’s Episcopal Church featured in state-wide event of historic landmarks

The historic St. Luke’s Episcopal Church will open its doors to visitors from noon to 2 p.m. on Sept. 12, as part of the Ohio History Connection Ohio Open Doors event. The event is free and open to the public.

Ohio Open Doors is state-wide biennial event during which buildings and landmarks open their doors to the public for special tours and programs, according to the Ohio History Connection website .

Constructed in 1837, St. Luke’s Church is considered by many authorities to be one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the first Granville structure to be so honored.

Benjamin Morgan, a Welshman who had studied and trained in England, was the architect and builder of St. Luke’s and of the Avery-Downer House/Robbins Hunter Museum. He collaborated with Minard Lafever, a noted architect of New York, on the design of the interior.

The church has been lovingly maintained. Worshipers today sit in the original hand-hewn wooden box pews, and enjoy musical offerings from a magnificent organ and a Steinway grand piano on which Helen Keller experienced music by placing her hands and fingers on the strings.

Other historic items of note include Lafever’s ceiling centerpiece of molded plaster called the “Lafever Rose,” featuring acanthus leaves and other motifs, and a bronze chandelier, a Sinumbra Font design, believed to be one of two still in existence.

Information submitted by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Granville's St. Luke’s Episcopal Church featured in state-wide event of historic landmarks