Historic Quinn Chapel AME Church building to get new life

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A historic church building in Louisville is about to get new life.

Built in the 1860s, the walls of the old Quinn Chapel AME Church once shook with the voices of preachers such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, its bricks are falling; its paint is peeling; and its old stained-glass windows are boarded up.

"It's sad," said Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville NAACP.

For Cunningham and countless others, the church was a focal point in the civil rights movement for more than a century.

"In 1961, when we were demonstrating for public accommodations, Quinn Chapel opened its doors to students, and we met there every day during the demonstrations," Cunningham said.

Old Quinn Chapel AME Church — The old Quinn Chapel AME Church building in Louisville, Ky. (WDRB photo)

The church relocated 20 years ago, and the building has been mostly vacant since. Now, it is about to be resurrected brick by brick.

"I have never worked on a building that means so much to so many people," said Savannah Darr of Metro Planning and Design Services.

Phase 1 of the project starts May 17, when Darr said crews will begin restoring the building's once-ornate façade.

"We will have to take some of the decorative elements off, fix the underneath brick and then put the decorative elements back on," Darr said.

The project, which totals $1.5 million, was mostly paid for by an African American Civil Rights Grant from the National Park Service.

"The National Park Service said, ‘Yes, this building is actually part of the national civil rights movement.' That's huge," Darr said. "We have a nationally significant building right here."

Phase 2 begins in 2022 and involves removing the graffiti and shoring up the side walls. For now, the work will just be on the exterior.

"There are still leaks and water getting into the building," Darr said. "Once we do that, then we can go on the inside."

The ultimate goal is to return Quinn Chapel to the community.

"To see it restored to its glory and to be used by the entire community," Cunningham said.

The building is now owned by the YMCA. There will be public meetings to get community input before decisions are made about how the icon from the past is used in the future.