The First Baptist Meetinghouse

Founded in 1638 by Roger Williams, the First Baptist Church is the oldest Baptist congregation in America and has held continuous services since then. Its first two buildings stood along the Moshassuck River at the corner of North Main and Smith Streets, but the congregation outgrew the original building during the 1770s. The present meeting house, erected in 1775 on the eve of the Revolutionary War and designated a National Historic Landmark, is one of Providence's most important 18th century architectural monuments. Designed by Joseph Brown, it could seat 1,400 people, more than one fourth of Providence's population at the time, and was dedicated to public worship and to holding commencements for Brown University, then affiliated with the Baptist Church. The square building follows New England meeting house tradition, measuring 80 by 80 feet with doors on all four sides and a projecting vestibule on the front, above which a steeple rises 185 feet above the ground. Its design was adapted from a drawing in James Bibb's Book of Architecture, published in London in 1728. Inside, the main auditorium is reached by a double stairway from the vestibule and has a central nave, two side aisles, galleries supported by Ionic columns, an elliptical barrel vault over the nave, groined vaults over the galleries, a Waterford crystal chandelier, and a sanctuary marked by a high pulpit, sounding board, and box pews.

Providence, Rhode Island · United States