Here are photographs from December 2005 of beautiful Fourth Baptist Church at the northwest corner of 13th and Sullivan in Old North St. Louis. The church's presence truly anchors the immediate area.
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The interior was as wonderfully austere as the exterior, with the sanctuary auditorium a voluminous space lit by large southern windows. Here are images from October 2006.
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No matter what the fate of the church, all who passed through or by its doors saw in it the incarnation of certain faith and a wonderful sense of architectural economy. The building served well and long, and was awaiting a new call to service when struck by fire on September 20, 2008.
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10 comments:
What an atypical and fascinating church for St. Louis. As much as I love Gothic Revival, there's a certain finesse to this church.
Even sadder, the guy in the red ball cap was an interested buyer, there with his roofer.
So there was a serious buyer...? I thought "Anonymous" said there never were. Not that I trust "Anonymous" or anything.
He must not have made a "credible offer" (eyes rolling).
Owners of abandoned churches shouldn't expect to get much for these huge structures. Did you know that St. Augustine (one of the largest churches in the city) sold a few years back to its current owners for only $50,000?
I hope 4th Baptist wasn't asking an asinine amount--but I have a feeling that they were asking too much.
That's the $64,000 question (no pun intended).
No one has ever been able to state a "credible" asking price for what the church would take for the building.
The sense is, not only did they probably want too much, they probably had ridiculous conditions on what the church could be used for...
No other houses of worship....no entertainment venues...no restaurants....no housing....blah, blah, blah.
Speculation? Totally. Why? The church has never been forthcoming with it's "marketing" information.
They'd be damn lucky to get 50k for it. Well, not now. Now they'd be lucky to get someone to take it off their hands for free. Even at "free" it'd be a damned expensive project.
At this point, only the house on Sullivan retains enough integrity to be clearly eligible for state historic rehabilitation tax credits. I doubt that anyone would pay much for the sanctuary, which probably would have to be reused without historic rehab credits, or the annex, which will probably be demolished by Halloween.
Too bad, a great streetscape. St. Louis has lost so many great buildings, the tradition continues.
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