The church is a spare, modernist interpretation of Gothic architecture. Soaring verticality is achieved through the pair of tall masonry columns that ascend uninterrupted to the wafer-thin gabled roof at the main west entrance. Vertical emphasis is further accentuated by buttresses and narrow fenestration on the church’s two side walls. The high volume of the nave is anchored by the major cross-axis of the rear chapel, stepping down to the gables that flank the entrance on South Street. Architect and Longview native B. W. Crain was a partner in the Houston firm of Wilson, Morris and Crain prior to and after moving back to Longview in 1948.
You are here
First Baptist Church
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.