2023 Membership Tour – Allen Chapel

Built in 1914 using the perpendicular Tudor Gothic Revival style and designed by William Sidney Pittman, Allen Chapel is the oldest African-American church in Fort Worth. William Pittman attended the Tuskegee Institute and Drexel Institute and married Portia Washington, the daughter of Booker T. Washington.  Mr. Pittman was the first African-American architect to practice in Texas. He designed several churches in Texas, the south, and beyond.  He also designed the only library for Blacks in Houston, the Colored Carnegie Library.

Allen Chapel was originally an African-Methodist-Episcopal church.  It was named after Richard Allen, a former slave who became a bishop; however, the church was organized in 1870 by Rev. Moody, a pioneer circuit rider. Today, it is the oldest African American Church in Texas.

Allen Chapel was designated as a recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1983 and it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The National Register listing is at the national level of significance (vs. the state level or the local level of significance.)   In 2011, lightning struck Allen Chapel’s bell tower and it had to be removed. Unfortunately, it has not, yet, been replaced.  In 2022, the Texas Society of Architects featured Allen Chapel in its production for KERA, The Shape of Texas.

This important African American resource is endangered because of deferred maintenance caused by lack of resources.