Riverside Baptist Church - Jacksonville, FL
N 30° 18.627 W 081° 41.598
17R E 433341 N 3353390
The historic Riverside Baptist Church is located at 2650 Park Street in Jacksonville, Florida.
Waymark Code: WMC3XQ
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2011
Views: 4
The RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH (open 8-12 and 1-5 daily except Tues. and Fri. p.m.), SE corner King and Park Sts., is an octagonal structure of gray limestone blocks with a red tiled roof, embodying features of Spanish and Byzantine architecture. The building was erected in 1925, and Addison Mizner was the architect. Gable wings extend from four sides of the octagon, giving the structure the shape of a cross. The entrance into the front gable, on King Street, is through heavy carved pecky-cypress doors under a graven stone arch, above which is a series of three arched blue windows. Two other entrances into the side gables are through cypress doors under large blue rosette windows. All windows, placed in deep recesses in the thick walls, usually in groups of three, are of blue glass. The effect inside is that of calm blue light diffused from a great height over orderly pews. The only departure from the scheme of blue is a trinity of yellow windows on either side of the rear gable, that cast a golden light upon the choir, enclosed behind iron grillwork back of the pulpit. The central chandelier, copied from one in the Santa Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, has blue glass, to produce the same lighting effect by night as by day. Tile for the floors was brought from an ancient Spanish Cathedral. ---Florida - A Guide to the Southernmost State - Part II. Principal Cities - Jacksonville, 1939
Construction of this lovely church was completed in 1926 and the church was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Apparently the perceived radical design of the church at the time of its construction led to the loss of some of the church's congregation, but it doesn't appear to have had a permanent effect as the church appears to be thriving today.
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