First Presbyterian Church is a historic church in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, USA. It is located at 609

Brickell Avenue Brickell Avenue is a north–south road that was formerly part of U.S. Route 1, in Miami, Florida, just south of the Miami River. North of the Brickell Avenue Bridge, U.S. Route 1 is known as Biscayne Boulevard. Brickell Avenue is the main road ...

Greater Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It i ...

. Built in 1949, it was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1989 (submitted in 1988), and designated historic by the City of Miami in 2003. The congregation dates back as far as the city of Miami, 1896, with the original building on another property being funded by

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...

in 1900. The architect of the current building was Lester Geisler. The building represents a late example of the

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

architecture, popular in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

earlier in the century. The building sits on a three-acre property surrounded by high-rises. Built for a congregation of over 1,000, church membership dwindled from 1400 to less than 150 by the early aughts. In 2018, under the leadership of Pastor Christopher Atwood, the church incurred a $7.1 million tax bill by the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. This is due to claims that the church leased the property to for-profit entities such as a school and food trucks thus violating the religious exception rule.

References

{{coord, 25.767676, -80.189577, display=title Presbyterian churches in Florida 1949 establishments in Florida Churches completed in 1949