First Baptist Church

Harry Weese

1965

First Baptist Church crowns a gentle hill with two steeply pitched slate A-frame roofs, one pierced by a circular bell opening. Entry is across a bridge over a sunken light well, leading from a low narthex into the soaring sanctuary. The interior is largely windowless, with vertical skylights illuminating a pierced brick screen wall that conceals the choir and baptistry. A suspended wooden cross provides the focal point, reinforcing the building’s identity as both austere and dramatic. The church has been designated as a National Histoic Landmark by the US Department of the Interior.