HomeConnectCity Manager's OfficeCity's 150th AnniversaryBull Run Unitarian Universalists Church

 
(left) a drawing of the church by architect Albert Speiden (right) a ca. 1930s post card of the Grace Methodist Church

What is now the home of the Bull Run Unitarian Universalists was originally built in 1928 as the home of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The congregation of Grace moved into their new church at the corner of Main and Church Streets just before Christmas 1928. The December 20, 1928 edition of the Manassas Journal raved about the “handsome and spacious house of worship" and added that "when the congregation gathers in the new building on Sunday morning it will see some of the results of the several years work on the church, which when completed will be a lasting monument to Manassas, and represent an investment in a church property that will be adequate for all modern work."

Grace Methodist began meeting in 1867, and later built a simple structure on Center and Zebedee Streets that still stands. The congregation moved to its Wellington Road church in 1994  while the Main Street structure has been used by the Bull Run Unitarian Universalists since 2000.

The Church is described as best example of early 20th-century Gothic Revival architecture in Manassas by the National Register of Historic Places in its Historic District nomination. The brick structure has a corner bell tower with open belfry and crenellated parapet, contrasting white stone lintels, coping, and trim; pointed-arched openings, and an attached educational building added in 1957. The cornerstone was laid in 1926 and the church was officially dedicated in 1931. 

 
The church was designed by Albert Speiden (left) a local resident and renowned architect in the Washington area who designed many local historic buildings including the first Town Hall (Voter Registration on Center St.); the Nicol/Post Office building (at the corner of Battle and Center Streets); the Hopkins Candy Factory (now the ARTfactory); Hibbs and Giddings Store (now the Freedom Museum); People’s National Bank (the former Okra's); and designed additions for several local churches.