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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » North Central Texas » Stamford to Ballinger » Abilene (Taylor County) » First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church

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1954, Hughes and Olds. 1333 N. 3rd St.

A cluster of substantial churches marks the western border of downtown and the transition to residential areas. Notable is the First Baptist Church. Replacing an 1881 building, the present steel-framed church has a buff brick and limestone veneer articulated with Lombard Romanesque details. A colossal arch motif rising the full height of the facade contains a triple-arched entrance and a stone-framed rose window. The tall square tower is elaborated with arched openings, corner pilasters, and finials, and the top stage is octagonal. Although much simplified, the tower bears a resemblance to the twelfth-century Giralda, the bell tower of Seville Cathedral, Spain.

Hughes and Olds also designed St. Paul United Methodist Church (1953) a few blocks away at 525 Beech Street. It is similar to First Baptist with its facade arch motif, but less monumental and more Gothic in its features and details.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Horace O. Wooten House
Cape and Son (U.S. Weather Bureau Building)
West Central Texas Municipal Water District Building (Bluebonnet Savings and Loan)
Elks Art Center (Elks Building)
The Hotel Wooten (Wooten Hotel)

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "First Baptist Church", [Abilene, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-SB27.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 308-308.

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