Idlewild Presbyterian Church stands as one of the architectural masterpieces of Memphis, a soaring granite monument visible for miles. Designed by well-known Memphis architect George Awsumb, the church was erected on Union Avenue in 1926-27.
The authors of Memphis: An Architectural Guide note that the edifice "looks like a part of Rhodes College that has strayed off campus" and indeed the original building used granite from the Arkansas quarry that has furnished material for Rhodes' similar-style Gothic Revival buildings.
The church complex is quite beautiful, and anyone who looks closely may find some surprises. Among them: the carved faces of two children mounted high above a doorway leading into the church from a courtyard.
No, they are not gargoyles.
These represent the architect's two children, Richard and Georgianna Awsumb. Another son, Wells, is supposedly memorialized on a church Awsumb designed in Montgomery, Alabama.
Awsumb managed to put his own likeness on the bell tower, but you'd need binoculars to find it. At the top corners of the tower are four carvings representing the saints: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Between these are 16 other figures depicting various professions, and sure enough, one of them is an architect. With his long face and eyeglasses, holding a model of Idlewild Presbyterian Church, this is indeed George Awsumb himself.
