The parish of St. John’s Episcopal Church traces its origins to the 1830s when the Rev. Nicholas Hamner Cobbs of Bedford began ministering in the Roanoke Valley. With Roanoke’s rapid urbanization at the end of the 19th century, St. John’s became the largest Episcopal parish in Southwest Virginia. In 1891-92 the congregation erected the present church, designed by Charles M. Burns of Philadelphia with William C. Noland as resident architect. The rugged stone building is one of the region’s most literate works of the Late Gothic Revival and displays the scholarship and craftsmanship inherent in this architectural movement. The cynosure of the lofty interior is the rhythmic timberwork of the hammer-beam ceiling, aisles, and clerestory. Stained-glass windows by the Tiffany and Lamb studios also highlight the space. In 1919, St. John’s became the headquarters of the newly created Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. It is located in Roanoke’s Southwest Historic District.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia