First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City finds 'creative uses' for historic building

SALT LAKE CITY — Not every church in Utah that dates back to the 1800s was originally located in Salt Lake City.

The first Baptist church in Utah was founded in Ogden in 1881 by James E. Berkley and his wife, Annie Louise Means, from Ohio. It took another two years for a Baptist congregation to form in Salt Lake City.

According to Pastor Dr. Curtis L. Price at the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake congregation moved between different locations. They moved above a blacksmith's shop and into a space that is now an antiques shop.

Finally, in the late 1940s, Pastor Fenwick Fowler pushed to build a large building for the Baptists in Salt Lake City to gather.

Price said Fowler envisioned the building to hold more than a thousand people and to be the "Baptist Cathedral" for the city, joining the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Holy Trinity Cathedral. In 1951, the cornerstone was laid, and the building at 777 S. 1300 East was officially dedicated on April 25, 1954.

The building originally had two chapels, along with the main sanctuary. As time went on and the congregation's needs changed, the children's chapel was converted into a childcare center.

The remaining chapel, called the Skaggs Memorial Chapel, is a more intimate worship space within the church, mainly used for weddings and other smaller gatherings.

From above, the building looks slightly like a stylized capital letter "E," with the main sanctuary at the top, the childcare center at the bottom and the remaining chapel in the middle. A gymnasium extends outward behind the childcare center, attempting to mirror the other side.

Price said the original plan was to add another wing behind the sanctuary as a youth wing to complete the mirror image, but the parking lot was built there instead.

Parishioners used to enter the building off 1300 East, according to Price, but after the parking lot was built, attendees began entering through the back, where the pastor would enter to begin his sermons.

"I wish I could pick up the sanctuary and just turn it around," Price said with a laugh.

The sanctuary itself is massive, and the balcony at the rear only adds to the space's maximum capacity. Price said it can be difficult to fill the space behind him as he teaches, simply due to the sanctuary's size.

He recalled commissioning a star for the church's Advent celebrations. Even after the four-foot-wide star arrived, Price said it still looks small when framed within the sanctuary.

"You can't really do anything small," he said. "Anytime I want to do something — I like creativity and doing a lot of visual things, but that has to be huge."

Behind a panel at the front of the sanctuary, a baptismal font awaits new members of the congregation. Price said they still use the font for baptisms, though it takes about eight hours to fill it.

More than just a worship space

While the church was originally built for a congregation of over 1,000, Price said their current congregation is much smaller — but "thriving."

To keep using the building, Price said the church has found "creative" uses for the space. Price said they have hosted Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, weddings, a samurai dojo and various childcare groups within the building.

In the childcare center, staff care for approximately 100 children under the age of 5 daily, helping watch them while their families are at work. The courtyard between the childcare wing and the chapel was converted into a playground.

Other community members gather on the upper floors to create waterproof sleeping mats from plastic grocery bags for people experiencing homelessness.

Many rooms can also be rented by other community groups, leading many locals to see it as the unofficial Sunnyside Avenue Community Center, according to Price.

"A lot of people tell me they've been to my church, but never on a Sunday," Price said. "I think one of the most significant things we do as a community is we let this space get utilized by the community for a lot of different things."

Related topics