New Rising Star Baptist Church: history and property description

              VII. Description
New Rising Star Baptist Church is an unassuming church build ing set within a working class domestic environment in the
Collegeville neighborhood of north Birmingham. The church is a small, low-eaved gable-front building with frame walls,
covered with a varitone red brick veneer with a modern squiggle finish. It has an asphalt shingle roof and concrete
foundation as well as an exterior brick baptismal font on its south elevation .
The east facade is defined by a central double-door entry with metal-frame commercial type doors, installed for security c .
1980. Above the doors is a plywood panel that rises to the gable peak; directly above the doorway letters spelling out New
Rising Star has been glued onto the plywood. There is a shallow brick stoop leading to the entrance, which is also under a
shed metal awning, installed c. 1980. A small cross surmounts a wigwam stick frame at the roofbeam .
The north elevation has seven bays, with the sixth bay being an side entrance with a brick stoop; the door is a s ix-panel
metal door installed c . 1980. The windows vary in size but are generally symmetrical in their arrangement. Two small
casement windows light the vestibule, while three larger metal-frame two-over-two double hung slag glass painted greeen
windows light the sanctuary. Another single two-over-two double-hung window lights the rear of the building . Also visible on
this elevation is the gabled rear addition, c. 1980, which rises slightly above the main roofline and also extends slightly to
both sides, creating small ells toward the rear. The addition is faced with lapped composition board on a b lock foundation . A
s ide entrance door of metal, with a concrete stoop, provides access to the addition on this elevation.
The south elevation is similar, except at the southeast corner, where an exterior baptistry, an open brick tank with a plywood
cover, projects out from the wall under the vestibule windows . -i'
The west (rear) elevation is the rear wall of the c. 1980 addition . It is frame, covered with composition board on a concrete
block foundation. At the northwest corner is another six-panel entrance door, with a wooden stoop. North of the center of the
e levation is a metal frame one-over-one double-hung window, that now contains an air conditioning unit in the bottom half.
The vestibule is a small space with restrooms on either side of the open space . Original wooden double doors lead into the
sanctuary. The walls are covered by original faux wood paneling. The floor is hardwood, covered with carpet in the aisles.
The room has a semi-barreled low ceiling in which fans with light kits have been installed, c. 1980. A central carpeted aisle
leads to the communion table; the dais and central pulpit are on a raised platform, with choir seats located behind. The dais
area is narrower than the sanctuary due to the presence of an enclosed room on the north side (to the north from the pulpit).
This serves as the pastor's office. There is a partition on the south separating the chancel area from another door to the
rear. The walls at the front of the room are plastered rather than paneled. ,
New Rising Star Baptist Church meets the registration requirements for church buildings as listed in the Birmingham's Civil
Rights Movement, 1933-1979 MPS. It retains a high degree of integrity in setting, location, exterior materials, interior
materials, workmanship , and association . The addition of the unadorned education building to the rear of the sanctuary does
not lessen the building's sense of time and place, since its mass, style, and materials do not overwhelm or detract from the
older building . The interior spaces of the church remain much like they were in 1958; the major changes being the fellowship
hall addition and the creation of an office for Rev. Pruitt, who is a significant individual in this nomination.