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(Photograph by Mark Mones) -
(HABS; Photograph by Richard Cheek) -
(Photograph by Mark Mones)
According to an account published when the church was built, its unnamed architects “failed to follow, fully, any of the recognized orders in architectural science.” The failure was corrected in 1893 when “a massive and imposing facade in the Romanesque style,” executed in hard-pressed red brick, was added. In 1940 the building was removed from its original location on Church Street and reerected here. The pastor, George W. Ports, who thought up the undertaking, discussed it in his cleverly titled book, The Church Goes Down and Out (1945). At the time, the First Baptist Church (BD45) was being remodeled, and the organ, pulpit furniture, and chandelier from that building were reused here. Unfortunately, this stretch of Memorial Avenue became a tawdry commercial strip in subsequent years, and one almost wishes the church was on its original site.