Pythian Temple
The Pythian Temple is a six-story brick office building located at 310 18th Street North in what is now Birmingham's Civil Rights District. The building was constructed in 1913 by the black-owned Windham Construction for the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, which was relocating from their 1890 building a block south.
Some have identified the style of the Pythian Temple with the work of African American architect Wallace Rayfield, who kept an office in the building under both owners for a time. The bank did provide financing for many of the homes that Rayfield designed for Birmingham's black professionals.
When the Penny Savings Bank folded in 1915, the building was purchased by the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias which rechristened it the Pythian Temple.
In 1980, the Pythian Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
References
- Jefferson County Historical Commission. (1998) Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama Images of America Series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN0752413465