Who designed and constructed the brick Little Rock AME Zion Church?
Rejecting the standard church designs available from the A.M.E. Zion offices, the congregation secured the talents of Charlotte’s leading church architect, James Mackson McMichael (1870-1944). McMichael, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., moved to Charlotte in 1901, where he flourished as an architect for over forty years, specializing in churches, built both in Charlotte and throughout the southeastern United States. McMichael’s design of the Little Rock AME Zion Church reflects a strong Neoclassical influence, different from the Gothic style that had dominated local church architecture before McMichael began practice. A white portico with Ionic columns dominates the front facade of the then two-story brick structure. A pair of belfries flank the entrance, each topped by a dome, the McMichael trademark.
