Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Baptist Church that now houses Springville Center for the Arts is one block north of the East Main-Mechanic Street Historic District and across from Fiddler’s Green Park. What was one of five churches that originally lined the Green, the Baptist Church is a representation of an ecclesial design by regional architect Cyrus K. Porter. Two maple trees stand in the front west side of the Gothic Revival style church, with a background of red brick and limestone trim. The original 1869 massing of the church consisted of a steeply gabled 5-bay main sanctuary block, a square belltower at the northeast corner and a 3-bay gabled wing projecting from the south side of the main block. A fire took place in the church sometime between 1879 and 1906 that destroyed the Gothic spire atop the tower. Later additions, circa 1913-15 included a narthex to the northeast and a shed roof addition near the rear. A pair of paneled wood doors provide entrance on the ground level to the sanctuary, now the Carol Mongerson Theater. The interior also consists of the arch of the original church entrance and the original Jones & Company Foundry Bell. A stage now resides where the baptism pit and pulpit once were underneath dark stained wood and luminaries added in 1962. Once a prayer room, the Harold L. Olmsted gallery holds two stained glass windows. A second floor added to that space in the 50’s was cut back in a piano curve in the recent renovations to re-expose those windows. The building holds 27 more stained glass windows, streaming colors of greens, pinks and yellows when the sunlight shines in.
