The small church was designed by the Trumbauer firm and built out the native volcanic stone as a prototype of the Gothic West Campus. The Manufacturers’ Record (Aug. 26, 1926) reported that the congregation was to build a $35,000 church of stone from the “Duke University quarry,” from plans by Trumbauer, the architect for the university. The congregation was founded in 1836 and worshiped for years in a log church funded by founder William Duke, elder brother of Washington Duke.