619 Lauderdale Street
Saturday, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
The Pitts-Ellwanger-Weerts (PEW) House was a popular style in the early 1900s, and is sometimes described as “Free Classic.” The combination detailing is essentially classical – in this case vigorously denticulated cornices running along the eaves of both the porch and the main roof, the Tuscan-style porch columns, the classical entry, and the oval window in the high front gable. But these details are grafted onto a basic form that remains Victorian underneath, with little regard for symmetry. The spacious porch terminates in a peak-roofed, octagonal sitting area that is definitely Victorian and must have been a wonderful place to relax on warm spring afternoons.
The house was built around 1900 by Alexander and Juliet Pitts. Alexander Pitts was a lawyer and younger brother of the probate judge by the same name. They lived here until Alexander’s death. The house moved through several hands including the county tax assessor until it was bought in 1945 by Walter Ellwanger, a Lutheran pastor in charge of black missions in the South. He and his wife Jesse lived here until the early 1970s.
Dr. Ellwanger oversaw all the Lutheran churches and schools (over 30) in the Black belt region in the
1940s-50s and later became president of what is now Concordia College, the only historically black Lutheran college in the United States. The library on campus is named for him.
The home was then owned by several people until the Weerts’s bought it from People’s Bank in 2000. The current owners have named this the PEW House because it has been owned by Pitts, Ellwangers and Weerts families and for a while served as a house church in the 1950s. It also was a temporary respite for Rosa Young, a black woman who brought Lutheranism to Central Alabama in the 1920s and for Civil Rights martyr Jonathan Daniels. A son of the Ellwangers led the only white organized Civil Rights march in Selma in 1965 as pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Birmingham.
The owners have done all the restoration work themselves, except for the shingles and exterior painting, in bringing the house back from foreclosure. Their efforts included gutting and rebuilding all three bathrooms, the kitchen and the back porch turned sunroom. In restoring the home, Luke and Tina Weerts “raised the roof” in the back, creating space for a Lionel train room. In front, they designed and built a turret over the circular portion of the front porch, restoring the formerly flat roof to its probable original splendor. Fourteen Tuscan columns were restored and three missing ones added.
Also of interest are the windows, both stained glass and leaded glass. The leaded glass windows in the front entryway are in the shape of fish, an early Christian symbol. The homeowners, both lifelong 
Lutherans and descendants of missionaries, collect religious icons and folk art and have nativity sets from several countries on display. Visitors will also enjoy viewing the outside mural from the sunroom. A local artist painted a southern river scene complete with herons.
David Ellwanger, center, poses with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Walter Ellwanger, in front of their house (The PEW House) around 1948.
The Rev. Joseph Ellwanger in front of historic Brown Chapel.
