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Helen Betts | all galleries >> Galleries >> Creatively Repurposed Buildings on Capitol Hill > Grace Baptist Church condos
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18-FEB-2018

Grace Baptist Church condos

Built in 1891, Grace Baptist Church became Faith Baptist Church in 1970 before being converted to 18 condos in 1989, one of the first of such conversions on Capitol Hill. The units range from 570 to 1,375 square feet, but I can’t find any evidence of what they cost these days, probably because none are available. The stained glass windows from the original property were retained.

From a December 1987 Washington Post article:

“The church's cornerstone was laid in 1891 by Grace Baptist Church, a congregation that remained in the building for almost 90 years. Grace was a conservative, middle-class white Baptist congregation with about 1,200 members during the 1950s, explained Erwin Nase, 58, a former deacon. The congregation had pride in its building, its teaching and missionary work in the neighborhood where few of its white members lived.

“After the 1968 riots, which destroyed several neighborhoods in the city, the congregation began to swiftly dwindle. ‘It wasn't safe to go to church,’ Nase said. ‘One man was robbed at gunpoint. It even happened on Sunday mornings.’

“The congregation began to lose members at a rate of 40 to 50 a month, Nase said. ‘We had a colored evangelist come to the church. He wasn't racist. He just told us the mood of the day around here, there's nothing you can do. They won't listen to whites. So we took his advice’.”

Grace Baptist Church (1891) condo conversion, posted earlier

Nikon D850 ,Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
1/125s f/10.0 at 40.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Alexander Kazakov02-Mar-2018 19:59
Wonderful! V
Zoltán Balogh28-Feb-2018 18:10
This is a great photo Helen. V
Gill Kopy28-Feb-2018 02:51
An amazingly complex building - super shot Helen V
Pieter Bos27-Feb-2018 20:26
Massive architecture! ~V
fotabug27-Feb-2018 18:19
Good work, Helen!
John Hamers27-Feb-2018 18:02
Amazing architecture and a great capture of it !V
danad27-Feb-2018 15:42
Superb architecture and the color of the wall matches so well with the blue sky. V.
Jim Coffman27-Feb-2018 14:53
That is a very good looking building.. Nice capture, Helen..