Two monumental Gothic Revival churches in the West End add significantly to the dignified character of the neighborhood. The grandest of these is Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church (111), one of the most outstanding Gothic Revival structures in the region. Magnificently sited on one of the highest elevations in the city, it was designed by the distinguished ecclesiastical architect, Ralph Adams Cram of Boston, with Harold Macklin assisting as local architect. The 1928-1929 church is a granite structure with sandstone trim modeled after thirteenth century Gothic architecture, complete with lancet stained glass windows, lancet portals, buttresses, and a tower which rises ninety-three feet above the transept crossing. The fully-developed Gothic interior is characterized by bold simplicity and excellent craftsmanship. The slightly earlier Augsburg Lutheran Church (168) was designed by architect Hall Crews in 1926. This fortress-like structure with twin towers flanking the arched portal, a steeply pitched gable roof, side buttresses, and stained glass windows is built of stone from the Bald Mountain Quarry, now covered by High Rock Lake.
While most of the buildings in the West End are residential structures, there are others which make a positive contribution to the architectural fabric of the district. In addition to the churches already described, there are several commercial buildings of particular merit, along with several outbuildings significant apart from their houses which no longer stand. Joyner’s West End Grocery (145), one of the oldest buildings in the district, is a two-story brick, flat-iron shaped structure with a parapeted roofline and a heavy bracketed cornice along the Fourth Street facade. Across Burke Street from Joyner’s is the well-preserved ca. 1915 Drugstore (427) attached to the west end of the row of four brick townhouses (423-426) of the same date. The two-story brick Drugstore has an angled facade and a modillioned wood cornice. At the northwest edge of the West End, the 1928 Summit Street Pharmacy (99) is one of the most architecturally unusual buildings in the district. The two-story structure of vaguely Mediterranean style influence is characterized by a rough stucco facade with applied slate blocks, an arcaded first story, and an engaged porch across the second story facade with a red and yellow tile shed roof.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination (1987)