36th Annual Walking Tour Archive – Danville Historical Society

Historic Designation: Education Annex, Main Street United Methodist Church
Address: 769 Main Street, Danville, VA
2008 Owners: Danville Education, Arts & Cultural Center
Description:


Located near downtown Danville’s historic heart, the Danville Education, Arts & Cultural Center (DEACC) also is next door to the area's recently-designated Main Street Preservation Center, housed in the landmark former Main Street United Methodist Church.  Not only is the DEACC facility the rehearsal hall for the Danville Symphony Orchestra, it also offers other groups board and meeting rooms for luncheons, business meetings and small gatherings.  A beautiful ballroom, available for weddings, special events, birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions, has been adapted from a portion of this historic building.  Additional arts venues, as well as spaces for theatre and concerts remain in the works.  This renaissance at 769 Main Street is the brainchild of Dr. Daniel Addis.  His enthusiasm for reclaiming historic spaces is a family affair; his wife Nami has adapted the historic Dr. Beadles House at 1050 Main Street as Yene’s Restaurant.  Their commitment to preservation now is transforming volumes of space used for decades for religious education at 769 Main – adapting 1920s rooms for myriad new community uses.

Designed by the architect J. Bryant Heard to complement the early 1890s Romanesque Revival facade conceived by William Poindexter for the landmark Main Street Methodist narthex and four-story bell tower, the church's Sunday School annex echoes the massing and Romanesque arched brickwork and windows of the church edifice.

In 2006, some months before its congregation decided last year to disband, Main Street Church members "downsized," conveying their under-used annex to help fulfill a visionary doctor's dream of breathing renewed life into a building that once had teemed with activity.  Since then, Dr. Addis – a native of Ethiopia – has embarked on a systematic program of resurrecting the 85-year-old building, room by room, bringing purpose and energy to a place dear to the hearts and memories of generations of Danvillians.

36th Annual Walking Tour Index