First Baptist Church is located in a suburban area of single family residences, developed in the 1960s and 70s. The property is bounded on the east and north by Fairlawn Drive, on the south by Kennedy Drive, and on the west by Beech Drive. To the north is the city-owned Par 3 Golf Course and Clubhouse (1972). To the east is Richards Elementary School (1965).

The site comprises approximately seven acres. It is mostly flat, but there is a natural hillock to the northeast. The building is held close to the base of this hill. An entrance drive arcs to the building’s main entrance, which faces northeast. The building is a two-story brick structure. It is composed of several distinct sections built around a central courtyard: narthex, sanctuary, office wing, fellowship hall, and chapel. Walls are a medium red, pressed brick, which is slightly mottled with a sand finish. Windows are galvanized steel sash, either fixed or casement units.

On the main level, the sanctuary is on the southeast; the narthex and chapel are on the northeast; meeting rooms are on the northwest; and offices are on the southwest. On the lower level are Sunday school rooms and additional meeting rooms. Grade access to the upper level of the building is only at the main entrance. The hill slopes down to the southwest. The entrance elevation (northeast) is composed of a long, low (about 10 feet high) brick wall that wraps around the curved end of the sanctuary on one end (photo 3), and circles around an interior stairwell on the chapel side (photo 4). This wall is a base on which the great roof masses of the sanctuary and chapel appear to rest. A wide, T-shaped opening in the center of the wall accesses a small enclosure, onto which open four glass entry doors to lead to the narthex.

The roofs of the sanctuary and chapel, similar in form and material, are dominant elements of the building (photo 1). The ridge of the sanctuary runs east-west; the ridge of the chapel runs northsouth. The roofs of both are steeply pitched and covered with mottled gray/purple slate. They are hipped (the sanctuary at both ends and the chapel at the northwest end). Details in the roof are suppressed to the extent that at the changes in plane slate forms crisp lines. At the eave, the slate stops at the soffit line, with no gutter or fascia. The roof overhangs the face of the building by about 18 inches. In the soffits are set operable windows that indirectly light the interior spaces.

Near the southwest end of the sanctuary, a triangular brick wall rises at a slight angle from the ground to a point high above the peak of the roof, sectioning the sanctuary. Just above the peak of the roof, a circle is cut out where a bell is hung. The wall thus functions as the spire for the building. The wall is coped with lead-coated copper. (This material replaced the original brick coping, which leaked and was replaced with a different material at some point.) The sanctuary roof meets the wall at the top of the roof; at the eaves, there is a gap between the roof and the wall, and the intervening triangular zone, which extends from ridge to eaves, is filled with a skylight.

The side (southeast) wall of the sanctuary is brick with rectangular piers every 14 feet that suggest buttresses. There are no windows in the sanctuary. Tall slit windows serve the classroom spaces located below. On the southwest end of the sanctuary, the brick rises above the base established on the opposite side of the spire wall, and wraps in a semicircle around the end of the sanctuary. The roof above this semicircular section is also hipped.

The chapel is separated from the sanctuary by the narthex. The chapel is similar in form, but is placed perpendicular to the sanctuary. This section of the building is smaller than but similar in design to the sanctuary. It also has a skylight and a spire wall (though with no circular cut-out or bell), which in this case is buttressed by a sloped wall.

The classroom wing on the northwest side of the building (photo 2) is composed of three bays that are each two stories high. Each bay is the width of a room. The bays are expressed with piers that continue above the roofline. The roof is flat, but there is a slate covered pent roof between each of the piers. A band of windows runs from pier to pier on the main level – which is a story above grade on this side of the building – just under the pent roofs. Windows on the lower level are casements in narrow openings.

The office wing on the southwest side is somewhat shorter than the classroom wing. It appears to follow the base elevation established on the entrance side. The facade is divided into eight bays that are about eight feet wide. As in the classroom wing, there are slate covered pents between pier, and a band of windows from pier to pier. There are louvers in the lower level openings.

The interior of the building is laid out around the lower-level courtyard (see floor plan and photo 7). The courtyard is accessed from the narthex, located on the northeast side of the building. A set of double doors in the south corner of the narthex opens onto a ramp that descends into the courtyard. The sanctuary is reached from the southeast end of the narthex and the chapel from the northwest end. Near the chapel end of the narthex is a circular, brick enclosure that serves as a coat closet. Most of the interior walls on the main level are brick. Ceilings are exposed structural tongue in groove decking, supported by laminated wood beams.

A corridor that extends from the west corner of the narthex has windows on the southeast side that overlook the courtyard. On the northwest side of this corridor are a series of three double door entrances to the large fellowship room. This room, which has a fireplace on the southwest end, may be divided into three spaces. The corridor continues around the corner, following the southwest side of the courtyard. On the southwest side of the corridor in this part of the building are several administrative rooms. The corridor terminates at the southwest end of the sanctuary section.

The sanctuary is the principal interior space of the building. It is a windowless room, made up of simple elements that combine to create a space that is at the same time dramatic and serene. Each element is a simple object – a brick wall, a beam, an opening, a skylight, but they are all exaggerated slightly in size, proportion, or height.

The entrance to the sanctuary is a low, dark space, with a ceiling under eight feet high. In this area, one is guided through a hairpin turn and up a curved flight of six steps to the light-filled sanctuary where the space ascends to a peak about 45 feet above the floor (photo 5). A handicapped access ramp was recently added that follows the curve of the wall at this end of the sanctuary. A sound and light control booth in the form of white oak casework was added at the same time. The additions are compatible in design and have had minimal effect on the space.

The ceiling of the sanctuary is the structural beams and deck of the roof. The brick side walls are very low, about five feet high. The spire wall that is a dominant element of the exterior functions in the interior as the front (southwest) wall of the main part of the sanctuary (photo 5). It is built of brick and is pierced by vertically-oriented, rectilinear openings that emphasis its height. The unobstructed openings allow views through to the choir and organ lofts that are located in the apse. Light from the skylight washes across the brick wall. Seating in the sanctuary is in white oak pews. The main aisle is off-center with the space.

The chapel (photo 6) is similar to the sanctuary in materials and detailing, except the spire wall that forms one end of the room is not pierced with openings as in the sanctuary. The chapel is unaltered, except for the infill of a portion of the vestibule as a closet.

In the lower level, interiors are similar to the upper level, except that the ceilings are concrete. In some areas, suspended acoustical tile has been installed to conceal recently installed air conditioning ducts.

The building has few alterations and retains its integrity.

The church was sited on the crest of a prominent knoll. The remnant of a walnut tree fence row was left intact on the east side of the property. Originally the site was bare (except for the walnut trees) and the building was dramatically silhouetted against the sky. Evergreen and deciduous trees were planted in the years following construction, and these have softened the initial impression. The parking lot and drives on the site are intact in their original configuration.

The church property is part of a larger community “center,” consisting of the church, neighboring Richards Elementary School, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and Par 3 Golf Course and Clubhouse, designed by Bruce Adams. Each of the three structures has a prominent silhouette or roofline, and together they form an interesting nucleus of an otherwise unremarkable 1960s/70s residential subdivision.

• US govt text, public domain.