First Baptist Church of Augusta, Augusta Georgia

Former Church Building in Augusta GA Fighting Demolition

Date added: April 06, 2025

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The First Baptist Church of Augusta is one of many monumental buildings on Greene Street, a landscaped parkway through the historic downtown area. Designed by Atlanta-based architect Willis Franklin Denny, the building is the major Augusta example of Beaux-Arts "Classicism, an architectural style which dominated monumental American architecture in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. A major feature of the building is its collection of stained glass windows, two of which bear the inscription "Tiffany Studios, New York." The site has been the location of Augusta's First Baptist Church since 1820 and in 1845 was the birthplace of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The origin of the church goes back even further to March 15^th, 1817, when 18 Augusta citizens organized the Baptist Praying Society. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the church's history occurred when delegates from Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and the District of Columbia met at the church. From this meeting evolved the Southern Baptist Convention, an important influence in religious life in the South today.

The original Classical Revival style church was demolished in 1902 to make way for the present structure. Relatively little is known of the architect Willis Franklin Denny (1872-1905) but from his building designs we can be certain that he had formal training in the architectural styles of the period. Dying at age 33, still he designed a number of major buildings in Georgia, some of which survive. His known designs follow two distinct architectural veins. In Atlanta, three buildings which still stand (St. Mark's Church, 1902; First Methodist Church, 1903; Rhodes Memorial Hall, 1903) reflect the Richardsonian Romanesque style with its emphasis on mass and medievalist character. Denny's designs in Beaux-Arts Classicism are represented by Atlanta's Piedmont Hotel (now demolished) and the First Baptist Church of Augusta, completed in 1903. The architectural features of First Baptist unmistakably distinguish it as a fine example of Beaux-Arts Classicism. The massiveness of the entire structure is climaxed by an imposing dome; arched and linteled openings are featured together on the main facade; varied textures highlight the many planes, from the motif of the pediment, to the Corinthian columns, to the masonry, to the stained glass windows. These windows are of cathedral proportions and further emphasize the monumentality of the church. The two inscribed "Tiffany Studios, New York" are noteworthy in their own right. (Louis Comfort Tiffany established his firm Tiffany Studios in 1900 only three years before the completion of the church.)

When the original Classical Revival style church was replaced by the present monumentally classical building, no expense was spared in erecting a structure that would appropriately express the significance of the site. Designed in the latest academic style of the day by an accomplished young Atlanta architect and decorated with the widely popular work of New York's Tiffany Studios, the First Baptist Church of Augusta was indeed an impressive addition to Augusta's park-like Greene Street. To see such an important site in Southern Baptist history discarded along with this building which continues such a proud architectural tradition is unthinkable.

The congregation moved to a new building several years ago, and several other small churches used the building. The building has been vacant for many years now, and was purchased in 2020 with plans to rehabilitate it, which have never materialized. With years of neglect and code violations, it is now at risk of demolition.

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Building Description

Rising on park-like Greene Street, the First Baptist Church of Augusta remains today essentially as designed and completed in the first decade of the 20^th century. It replaces the original classical revival church erected on the site in 1820. In the Beaux-Arts school of eclectic classicism, the "overall character of the structure is one of massiveness, symmetry and restrained Baroque monumentality.

The exterior features a heroic pedimented portico with six modified Corinthian columns. A Palladian window is centered in the tympanum which is also ornamented with festoons in relief. The stone end piers form a pilaster of quoin work with a cartouche at the top of the pier visually giving support to the denticulated and modillioned entablature which runs around the entire facade. Above the entablature on a series of bases rises a low Palladian dome. Especially noteworthy is the intricate geometry of high quality stained glass windows over the triple doors. The window patterns here are continued on the sides. Educational buildings at the rear and side of the church were added before 1920 and in 1940 respectively.