First Baptist Church (Detroit, Michigan)
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The former First Baptist Church is a historic
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
church building located at 8601
Woodward Avenue A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...
in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. Built in 1909, it was designed by architect Guy J. Vinton in the
Late Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style. It is now the Peoples Community Church. The building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on August 3, 1982.


History

The First Baptist Church of Detroit was founded on October 20, 1827.First Baptist Church of Detroit
from City of Detroit Planning and Development Department. The first church constructed by the congregation, a small frame structure, was built at the corner of Fort and Griswold Streets in 1831. The frame structure was replaced with a spacious brick church in 1835. The congregation built larger structures in 1859-63 and 1871-75. As members of the congregation moved outwards from downtown Detroit, the church followed, and in 1909 the church hired Guy J. Vinton to design and construct this church on Woodward. However, after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, membership decreased, and in 1957 the congregation sold the building to the Peoples Community Church. The First Baptist congregation moved on to Southfield and constructed a new church in 1965.


Description

The former First Baptist Church of Detroit is a rockfaced, limestone, Gothic-style church measuring 120 feet long by 110 feet wide. The front facade has a massive, Gothic-arched traceried window balanced with a large square flat-roofed corner tower containing the entryway. An educational wing is adjacent to the tower of similar design to the main church. The exterior of the church is notable for its lack of ornamentation, relying on its massive proportions for visual impact. The interior of the church conforms to the Akron plan, with a large, square, barrel-vaulted central auditorium containing wooden pews arranged in a semi-circle. Notably, a broad, curving balcony panelled with a Gothic arch motif completely encompasses the auditorium. The portion of the balcony over the sanctuary contains the choir loft and organ pipes. The transepts on both the main floor and balcony level are constructed to be used as either classrooms or, by opening partitions, overflow seating space.


References


Further reading

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External links


First Baptist Church of Detroit

People's Community Church
{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Baptist churches in Detroit Churches completed in 1909 20th-century Baptist churches in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Detroit