Church Bell Tower Conceals Cellular Telephone Site

The new 8' section
sits atop the church.

The fiberglass section
of the bell tower.

By Shawn E. Massey
BellSouth Mobility and
John G. Perry, P.E.
Buchart-Horn, Inc.

As more and more of us use cellular telephones to cope with the fast- paced mobile world of the '90s, cellular phone providers have to establish new antenna sites to handle increases in phone use and provide clear signals in all areas.

While customers expect quality service, people have opposed tower construction in some residential areas. So while city and county officials in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee understand the need for more cell antenna sites, they've challenged the local wireless providers to identify ways to minimize the aesthetic impact on neighborhoods as they invest in equipment to improve service.

After four and a half years of attempting to locate a site in the older, upscale, heavily-treed, East Memphis area near Walnut Grove and Mendenhall Roads, BellSouth Mobility and consulting engineers from Buchart-Horn's (B-H) Memphis office found a way to accommodate neighborhood concerns with an innovative design that improves cell-phone service and enhances the appearance of a local church at the same time.

An architectural and engineering analysis of the Mullins United Methodist Church led to a design to raise the bell tower eight feet using a special steel framework and architectural fiberglass that was fabricated and painted to look like the existing brick and limestone tower that has been a landmark in the area since 1957.

The project, engineered by Buchart- Horn, Inc., permitted BellSouth Mobility Inc to establish a new antenna site while satisfying neighborhood concerns over the aesthetics of a conventional steel tower.

The cellular phone antennas are behind panels that appear to be part of the original bell tower structure. Experts fabricated the architectural fiberglass after taking a mold of the original brick. The fiberglass panels were attached to a lightweight structural framework. The unit was then painted by a local artist so it is the identical color and texture of the original church.

After completion, the 8-foot tall, 15- foot square tower top was hoisted into place on top of the original 80-foot masonry tower.

The use of fiberglass solved architectural problems related to the availability of bricks manufactured 40 years ago and the changes in color from four decades of exposure to the weather. Fiberglass is also superior because a brick facade would impede the cellular radio signals preventing complete concealment that BellSouth wanted on the Mullins Church cellular site.

BellSouth Mobility is the leading wireless communications provider in the Memphis area. While the company needs to meet customer communication needs by constructing additional towers, it also wants to adapt its antenna sites to satisfy neighborhood concerns in residential areas.

By raising the bell tower, the East Memphis cellular site actually enhances the architectural appeal of a 40-year-old church while improving cellular service to the people who live in or travel through the upscale neighborhood. The project demonstrates how local governments can protect constituent interests and that the leading wireless communications company in the area wants to please neighbors and customers at the same time through innovative engineering.

The special antenna installation costs no more than a conventional steel tower antenna.