Second Baptist is a congregation with roots going back deep into St. Louis history. Their current location at the southeast corner of Clayton and McKnight roads was on the grounds of the Barron-Childress Mansion, which they demolished back in 2002.
The current church, which received a new vestibule a few years back, was originally designed by Frederick Dunn, whose name just popped up with the National Garden Clubs headquarters.
This building is from 1958, and has a certain elegant simplicity. I was inside probably close to 35 years ago and have not been since, so I don’t know what has happened to the interior in the intervening years.
It is a church that is perhaps of its time, minimalist in its composition.
The highlight are the Emil Frei and Associates stained glass windows, which are restrained in their composition to go along with the interior space.
Second Baptist had at least four other locations, and the church they called home from 1872 to 1908 was at Locust and Beaumont streets, seen below. They also had a long tenure at Holy Corners from 1908 to 1954, and I’ve looked at that location, which is very prominent, and very abandoned, before.
