hosanna fellowship church
Gretna, Louisiana
Hosanna Fellowship Church is a mid-century modern single story building constructed with brick and CMU on a concrete slab. The heavily textured running bond buff brick facade, added between 1964 and 1972, extends well beyond the sanctuary building's interior space. This asymmetrical feature maximizes the church's presence on Weidman Street and also acts as a sign, advertising the building's importance to the neighborhood. The foyer behind the brick facade is topped with a low, flat roof, emphasizing horizontal lines. Behind the front flat roof, an asphalt shingled cross-gabled pitched roof covers most of the building's usable space. The Weidman Street main entry doors split the brick facade and provide a storefront presence, welcoming the congregation into the sanctuary through the foyer. The rear of the building, which houses Fellowship Hall, also has a flat roof and appears to have been added between 1964 and 1972, as well. In addition to the Fellowship Hall, the interior of the building consists of a foyer, bookstore, administrative offices, and sanctuary. Most of these spaces were renovated c. 2005, following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These spaces have relatively modest and contemporary finishes, typical of an institutional building.
Hosanna Fellowship Church is one of McDonoghville's three contributing churches as listed in the forthcoming 2020 National Register Historic District nomination. The construction of Hosanna Fellowship Church can be directly tied to the quadrupling of the Westbank population in the two decades leading up to 1960. Relatively unchanged in appearance, Hosanna Fellowship Church stands as a testament to a period of rapid development, driven by the expanding population of historic McDonoghville. Since 1960, the church has provided congregants with a space to worship and gather in friendship, reinforcing the neighborhood's sense of community.