Crescent Hill Baptist Church

New Sanctuary - 2000

Notes on Some of the Architecture of CHBC

Mock...Rackle....Grisanti.....Penna

The Architects of the Early Buildings

1910 building

Architect: Brinton B. Davis
cornerstone ceremony:.........July 30 1910
dedication ceremony: ..........January 15, 1911
cost:.....................................est. $17,000.......................actual. $24,036

Notes on the building: Samuel Thomas, in Crescent Hill Revisited, notes that "the Classical Revival styling and scale...was an obvious reflection of the Branch Public Library [built across Birchwood in 1907] and that "even though this structure...was by far the most impressive in Crescent Hill, thoughts of a better equipped church to be constructed on Kennedy Court surfaced in the early 1920's." From 60 charter members the church grew to a membership of 394 by 1918. This building's seating capactiy was only 400, with no restrooms or furnace.

1926 building

Architect: Otto Davis Mock
cornerstone ceremony:..........August 22, 1926
dedication ceremony:............May 1, 1927
cost:......................................est. $263,928..................actual. $346,438
membership in 1927:.............668

Notes on the architect:Otto D. Mock (1888-1958) was born in Hardin Co, Ky and became interested in the construction trade. As a self taught architect he and his son, Kenneth (d. 1996), were the last licensed architects in Ky not to have been formally trained in a school of architecture. [Kenneth was the architect for Highview Baptist Church.] Otto was a member of the Ky. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He lived in Parkland on Dumesnil St while building the 1926 CHBC structure and was 38 years old at the time. In 1927 he published, Modern Church Design, in which he featured several sketches of Crescent Hill. He discussed how the classroom wings under the towers were designed as a sound buffer for the sanctuary, from the noise of street cars on Frankfort Ave, and how the basement floor should be no more than five feet deep to allow adequate light and ventillation, etc.

Among other structures Mr. Mock designed were Freedom Hall, part of the Gold Vault at Fort Knox, a Lutheran Church which is now Emmanuel Baptist Church, and Carlisle Baptist Church. He often attended the churches he was engaged in building, and, thus may have visited CHBC on many occasions. Another son of Otto's, George W. Mock "Goucho" (1915-1983) worked as a printer at the Courier-Journal for 43 yrs. George's son, Otto, is a fire prevention officer for the Camp Taylor Fire Dept and member of the Board of Trustees for Highview Baptist Church.

Exterior Molded Concrete Embellishments

Rackle Artstone
The Geo. Rackle & Sons Co.
Cleveland, Ohio
established 1870

Advertisement notes from the 1927, Otto Mock book (pg. 51):
"Rackle Artstone...for building Churches. There has never been a time in fifty-seven years of his history when there were so many church organizations using Rackle Artstone for their buildings as right now. This fact speaks more than volumes of argument in favor of this beautiful, economical, everlasting material.
"Louisville Churches trimmed with Rackle Artstone include the Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church [now the Emmanuel Baptist Church at 39th & Broadway] and the Crescent Hill Baptist Church both designed by Mr. Otto D. Mock, architect."

Rackle concrete moldings make up the decorative panels of angels around the two tower wings as well as the Corinthian columns and decorative musician angels and open Bible which adorn the pediment. It's possible that the floors and ceiling were also made of Rackle pre-cast concrete.

History:

George Rackle graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany where he and his brother William learned to be sculptors. At the age of 20 he immigrated to Galveston, Texas during the period of America's Civil War. Initially he worked as a granite cutter, but during his years at the Royal Academy, he learned how to use cement in the making of concrete, and, rather than pursuing his stone cutting career, "found it far more practical and accurate to create a glue mold impression of his models, and then cast them in concrete."

In 1870, he found the heat of Galveston unbearable, and set out to get as far North as he could, eventually settling in Cleveland. He established his artstone company and in the late 1920's perfected the technique of making pre-stressed concrete beams and related products. George Sr. died about 1925, and ownership of the company passed to son George II, and then to George P. Rackle III whose widow now lives on Hilton Head Is, S.C. In 1955 the company employed 150 workers in Cleveland and another 100 in Houston. The Rackle Co was sold in 1971 to Texas Industries of Dallas.

Several sections of concrete moldings form the panel of musician angels in the pediment of the church building. According to William Penna, whose family made the windows, these panels were already in place when the decision was made to "de nude" the ladies. Scaffolding was erected with canvas enshrouding the workers until the job was completed.

Interior Plaster Relief Ornaments

Grisanti Statuary Company
304-308 S. Campbell St.
Louisville, KY.

Advertisement notes from the 1927, Otto Mock book (pg. 48):
"Manufacturers of Plastic Relief Ornaments for Interior and Exterior Decorations"

The "ornaments" are plaster of Paris moldings which form the Corinthian column heads and ornamental moldings as well as the burial urns atop the columns on each side of the baptistry and the ornamental grill work above the choir loft and other relief structures in the sanctuary.

History:

Zeffiro Grisanti grew up in the Italian town of Gromignana, Lucca, Tuscany where he learned the art of making plaster of Paris moldings. His family had produced these for churches and other buildings for over a thousand years. A declining economy in Italy caused him to answer the solicitation of builders in Louisville to immigrate to the Falls of the Ohio and set up a shop here. His sister and her husband Joboconi Mattae, also in the same trade, had previously settled in New York City in 1892 and spoke well of the opportunities in America. Thus, in 1905 Zeffiro moved to Louisville and established the Grisanti Statuary Company.

Grisanti brought with him his cousin Ricardo Casani, a sculptor who did many of the models from which the molds were made. It could be that the old photo in the basement of the Crescent Hill Public Library of an "Italian statuary molder" is of one of these early artisans. The sculptor created a clay model which was shellaced and then covered with gelatin. Once the gelatin dried it was peeled off the model and used as mold to create the Plaster of Paris figures. Decorative beams on the sanctuary ceiling were done on site.

Dominico Mattae, a grandson of the earlier Mattae noted above, worked in the Grasanti Statuary Company before forming his own business, the Mattae Novelty Company. Mr. Mattae's company recently completed most of the interior plastic relief work for the newly renovated Cathedral of the Assumption and Brown Theater. In September, 1998, Dominico visited Gromignana where a 1000 year-old church contains his family's work.

Zeffiro's brother, Pacifico Grisanti, assisted him with the work until the business closed in 1959, and Pacifico's son, Ferd Grisanti, turned the former statuary studio into Grisanti's Restaurant which operated in a distinguished manner for many years on East Liberty. Ferd's son, Paul Grisanti, now operates Ferd Grisanti's Restaurant.

Stain Glass Windows

Louisville Art Glass Co.
Edwin Penna
123 South Twelfth St.
Louisville, KY.

Advertisement notes from the 1927, Otto Mock book (pg. 43):

caption: Window in Main Auditorium Crescent Hill Baptist Church.
"For years we have had the distinction of serving the Baptist Churches in Louisville and the surrounding territory, doing practically 100 per cent of all their Art Glass work."

History:

Edwin Penna founded the Louisville Art Glass Company about 1900. He was the son of William Penna, a farmer from Land's End, County Cornwall, England, who immigrated to New Brunswick, Canada in 1879 bringing sixteen year old Edwin with him. Edwin decided against farming as a career and moved to Chicago in the 1880's to learn the art of making stained art glass. He subsequently moved to St. Louis, MO, Ft.Wayne, IN, and then Anderson, IN trying unsuccessfully to set up a glass making business. He moved to Louisville about 1900 and set up shop at 12th and Market.

He obtained his glass from Kokomo, IN, and the lead for the framing from the National Lead Co. of Cincinnati. In the height of the art glass business before the Depression there were 25 employees, and during the period of 1926-27 they constructed and installed the stain glass windows of Crescent Hill Baptist Church.

Following the Depression of the 1930's, the number of employees was cut to as few as four including Edwin's son, Edwin, Jr. who later took over the operation. The business continued in the family when Edwin Penna III and his brother, William began working there. William Penna and his wife Beverly Crosslyns attended Crescent Hill for awhile and were the second couple whom Dr. Rollin S. Burhans married.

Today the company is called Architectural Glass Art, Inc. and is owned and operated by Edwin Penna III's son-in-law, Kenny Von Roenn.

In addition to the 1927 Crescent Hill Baptist Church building, Edwin Penna's company supplied art glass for the Crescent Hill Methodist and Christian (now Korean) Churches as well as many other Methodist churches around the South and Washington, D.C. Architectural Glass Art, Inc. has recently supplied the art glass for the Marine Memorial at Paris Island, S.C.

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CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425

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