The First Baptist Meetinghouse

The First Baptist Meetinghouse. . , The First Baptist Meeting House is locate one block east of this bridge at 75 North Main Street. Founded in 1638 by Roger Williams, the First Baptist Church is the oldest Baptist congregation in America and has held continuous services since then. The first two edifices were constructed along the Moshassuck River on the corner of North Main and Smith Streets in 1700 [unreadable]. The congregation outgrew the original building during the 1770's., The present meeting house, designated a National Historic Landmark, is one of the city's most important 18th century architectural monuments. Erected in 1775, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, the Meeting House can seat 1,400 people, or more than one fourth of Providence's population at the time. It was dedicated "to the publick Worship of [unreadable] also for holding Commencement in," the latter to accommodate Brown University, then affiliated with the Baptist Church., Joseph Brown designed the edifice. The plan is square, in New England Meeting House tradition, 80 by 80 feet with doors on all four sides and a projecting vestibule on the front. All the vestibule a steeple rises 185 feet above the ground. The design was adapted from a drawing taken from James Bibb's Book of Architecture, published in London in 1728. The main auditorium, reached by a double stairway from the vestibule, has a central nave and two side aisles. Above the aisles are galleries, supported by Ionic columns. The nave is covered by an elliptical barrel vault, and the galleries by groined vaults. A focal point inside is the Waterford crystal chandelier. The elaborate chandelier is set off by the simplicity of the sanctuary, with its high pulpit, sounding board, and box pews.