The B.D. Phillips Memorial Building

The B.D. Phillips Memorial Building houses all the activities of Emmanuel School of Religion. Funds for this 58,000 square foot building were provided by the late B.D. Phillips of Butler, Pennsylvania. Ground was broken May 28, 1971, and the school first held classes in the building in the fall of 1973. The $2.5 million building was dedicated May 24, 1974.

The B.D. Phillips Charitable Trust asked that the building be built and furnished with the highest quality of materials, which would reflect the quality of a graduate theological education that would take place within its walls. It is built with Etowah pink marble from northern Georgia and trimmed with Indiana limestone. The roof is made of slate with copper eaves four to five feet wide. The Celtic cross of St. Martin sits atop the B.D. Phillips Memorial building. This cross is found on the island of Iona in Scotland, where the oldest type of Christianity among Anglo-Saxon peoples existed and resembled New Testament Christianity much more closely than did Roman Christianity. The cross is made of cast bronze and is 18 feet tall.

The entrance to the building is made of Italian marble finished in high quality oak. The walls of the interior building are all plaster, three coats, with no gypsum or building board. The B.D. Phillips Memorial Room and the President’s Office are paneled with oak and all ceilings are finished with ceiling tile.

The Emmanuel campus overlooks Milligan College, Buffalo Valley, and Buffalo Mountain, which is a setting conducive to teaching, study, and spiritual growth. The parking lot has curbs constructed of granite, which are set two feet in the ground. The house at the far end of the campus is the home once owned by Josephus Hopwood, president of Milligan College (1875–1903). It has been remodeled and is occupied by the Superintendent of Building and Grounds.