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==History== [[image:Sybyl temple.jpg|left|thumb|Sibyl Temple]] Vestavia Hills is named for the {{convert|20|acre|ha|adj=on}} estate of former Birmingham [[List of mayors of Birmingham, Alabama|mayor]] [[George B. Ward]]. It was situated on the crest of Shades Mountain in what is now the northern edge of the city. Ward's mansion at the Vestavia estate became a landmark in the area as soon as it was completed in 1925. The {{frac|2|1|2}}-story house was patterned after the circular [[Temple of Vesta]] in [[Rome]], with dark pink sandstone walls encircled by 20 massive white [[Doric order|Doric]] columns surmounted by a carved entablature. The extensive gardens, populated by statuary and peacocks, surrounded a smaller domed gazebo patterned after the Temple of [[Tiburtine Sibyl|Sibyl]] in [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]]. After Ward's death, the house, something of a tourist stop near the highway between Birmingham and [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], was used as a tearoom and reception hall before being purchased by Vestavia Hills [[Baptist]] Church. The church met in the temple like structure for several years before demolishing a portion of the building in 1971 to make way for a larger building; a central portion of the original building remains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grubiak |first=Margaret M. |date=2021 |title=From Roman Temple to Baptist Church: Sin and Transformation in Southern Baptist Culture |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/813367 |journal=Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=45β70 |doi=10.5749/buildland.28.2.0045 |s2cid=244324464 |issn=1934-6832}}</ref> The local garden club moved the [[gazebo]] to a prominent outcropping closer to the highway, there to serve as a landmark gateway into the community. The development of Vestavia Hills as a residential suburb began in 1946, when developer Charles Byrd planned a subdivision for approximately 1,000 people on the southern flank of Shades Mountain. The suburb was incorporated as a separate city on November 8, 1950, and has since grown, by rapid development and annexation, into a thriving small city of over 39,000 by 2020.
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