development
|category1=Deep Deuce
|category2=Office Buildings
|category3=Churches
|category4=Current
|
|project=Calvary Baptist Church
|address=300 N. Walnut Ave. (http://goo.gl/maps/iuP57)
|status=under construction
|owner=Daniel and Joy Davis
|cost=$700,000 purchase, unknown renovations ($1+ mil)
|architect=Moda Architecture
|start=
|finish=1921
|contractor=
|height=3 floors
|sq. feet=22,788
|acerage=.64
|other=Law office + historic sanctuary to have community use
|
|image=http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/calvarywiki1.jpg
|

Information & Latest News
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http://youtu.be/4nPFlJWe3Rg

Calvary Baptist Church (June 03 2013) - YouTube (http://youtu.be/4nPFlJWe3Rg)

Links
County Assessor Record (http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R020022350)
Doug Loudenback article (http://www.dougloudenback.com/maps/vintage_calvarybaptist.htm)
Gallery

A very exciting idea is in the works for Calvary Baptist Church but it is still in process and under the radar at least as I understand it. I'm not fond of being a tease -- the potential development may not occur -- I'm only saying this so that you'll know that the concept of reinventing this historic church is not being ignored. It may become a reality, but it may not. Much too soon to tell.

Ooh ooh....Let me guess...It will become another Lifechurch branch

If it can't remain a church, a residence is preferred over some that have been turned into bars etc. But one of the most bizarre reuse of a church was in Salem Mass., a church was being used to house the Witchcraft Museum (this was a couple of decades ago, so don't know if that is still the case). Dioramas in the balcony areas and a lit from underneath, blood red Pentagram in the middle of the floor of the former sanctuary.

If it can't remain a church, a residence is preferred over some that have been turned into bars etc. But one of the most bizarre reuse of a church was in Salem Mass., a church was being used to house the Witchcraft Museum (this was a couple of decades ago, so don't know if that is still the case). Dioramas in the balcony areas and a lit from underneath, blood red Pentagram in the middle of the floor of the former sanctuary.

LOL!!! I'd love to see a couple of churches overturned in our state. That will be quite a sight to see. LOL!!!

Ooh ooh....Let me guess...It will become another Lifechurch branch

That would still be positive for downtown. I think a Lifechurch downtown would be GREAT. Count me as the last person to ever step foot indoors, unless they start broadcasting Easter mass from the Vatican or something, but that would be a great way to bring more people downtown that wouldn't normally be there. A good way to capitalize on trends in OKC, too.

Ooh ooh....Let me guess...It will become another Lifechurch branch

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth...

Whatever the (structure) Calvary Baptist Church becomes the historic church building has no roots to its former founders.

It could become an office structure as they did with Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Medical Center District.

Oklahoma City appears to be moving toward a change or revitalization that preserves the structural memories of many who took those memories to their graves; "this too will pass!"

Hey Doug, do you have a picture of the cool old vintage neon sign that used to be out front. They took it down right when I moved here. Hated to see it go.

All I have which shows the sign is this one which isn't so good.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/deepdeuce/calvarybaptist.jpg

I have been told, but have not verified, that the sign was put up for sale on EBay some time ago. Again, true or false, I don't know.

Thanks Doug! I was just trying to remember exactly what it looked like.

We should ask Mega's eyedoctor - I bet he knows whats up

We should ask Mega's eyedoctor - I bet he knows whats up

Good one...point for hipster

Hard Rock Cafe

Zombie lair

for the next couple of weeks, a haunted house

Attorney buys Deep Deuce’s Calvary Baptist Church building
By Brianna Bailey
Journal Record
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847
Posted: 04:38 PM Wednesday, April 25, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – A local attorney has purchased the historic Calvary Baptist Church building in Deep Deuce for $700,000 with plans to restore its sanctuary and convert part of the crumbling brick structure into a law office.

Oklahoma City attorney Daniel Davis and his wife, Joy Davis, purchased the nearly 90-year-old building from Covenant Life Family Worship Center on March 30. Daniel Davis, a personal injury attorney, plans to renovate the balcony of the building to use as his law office. The couple also want to restore the church sanctuary and showcase its history for the public, Joy Davis said.

“That church is such a gem,” Joy Davis said. “It belongs to the community, that’s why we’re restoring the sanctuary – to give it back to the community.”

They are working with Oklahoma City-based Moda Architecture to restore the church sanctuary to its former glory.

The CovenantLife congregation has been forced to hold services in the basement of the building for the past several years.

The roof of the sanctuary is crumbling and pieces of plaster and boards occasionally land on the church floor with a loud crash, Joy Davis said.

The Davises expect to spend more than $1 million restoring the building, but are still working with a contractor to finalize the cost of the project. They hope to begin putting a new roof on the building in the next few months.

“We’re not wealthy people, but we don’t want to take shortcuts,” Joy Davis said. “We want to do it right.”

Dal Shannon with Capital Commercial OKC had been trying to sell the property for the past four years.

The church building was once under contract to a woman who wanted to turn it into an events center, but the deal fell through when she was unable to secure financing for the project, Shannon said.

He said when he showed the Davises the property, they fell in love with it.

“Once they saw it, they just had a passion for it,” Shannon said.

Built in 1923, the church at 300 N. Walnut Ave. played an integral role in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

The congregation once interviewed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was fresh out of seminary, but declined to hire him because of his lack of experience.

Church membership had dwindled to about 50 when the building sustained more than $1 million in damage from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995. The force of the blast shattered many of the church’s stained-glass windows.

As part of the Murrah District Revitalization Program, the church received $1.4 million for renovations, repair and replacement of the stained glass.

Attempts to reach the Rev. Phillip Davis, pastor of Covenant Life Family Worship Center, were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

The congregation will lease the basement of the church building for one year while they continue to look for a more permanent meeting place, Shannon said.

I"m not quite sure I understand from that article what their final plans are for the use of the sanctuary area.

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/sketches/picfile/2735/R020022350001xA.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/covenant.jpg

Doug Loudenback has everything you want to know about this building's history:

http://www.dougloudenback.com/maps/vintage_calvarybaptist.htm

What will happen to the congregation?

Also, the vacant land north of the church is owned by the urban renewal authority.

The vacant land to the east is unclear as the county assessor's site says "parcel not found".

What will happen to the congregation?

Maybe someone can post the full article but the synopsis says that the sanctuary will be restored, so perhaps they current congregation will stay with some sort of agreement with the new owner.

Maybe someone can post the full article but the synopsis says that the sanctuary will be restored, so perhaps they current congregation will stay with some sort of agreement with the new owner.

The article said that the congregation will lease the church for a year while finding a new location. Someone posted the article in the general thread about the church.

Well, I'm hoping the purchaser has the deep pockets to keep this church from crumbling. But, it's sad to think of the congregation leaving. I always liked to see all that activity there.

Thanks BDK. I've merged the two threads.

While this doesn't begin to match the exciting possibility that existed for this property (which I alluded to earlier), at least the new owners appear to have Oklahoma City and the historic value of this property in mind. I hope that the Davis's do it right.

The church building was once under contract to a woman who wanted to turn it into an events center, but the deal fell through when she was unable to secure financing for the project, Shannon said.

.

The church torpedo'd that deal, not the "woman."

If the sanctuary will not be used for that purpose, this location would make a great museum of Black history in Oklahoma City. There is a wonderful museum in Cape Town called the "District 6 Museum": http://www.districtsix.co.za/ which could serve as a model. I was there several years ago and, if I am not mistaken, it was also in a former church or theatre which has a large open space around which the exhibit is focused.

Granted, the District 6 museum deals with the horrific mass removal of 60,000 people under Apartheid, but the general appeal could be the same. I think it would be a great draw to the area and preserve a small bit of the rich history of the neighborhood.

The church torpedo'd that deal, not the "woman."
Thanks for calling that part of the article to attention ... I missed that in my first read. So, now I'm more comfortable speaking about the earlier possibility. The lady had quite a project in mind for this property and my understanding is that Urban Renewal was working with her also. She had an option to purchase but needed a little more time to come up with financing but the church was unwilling to work with her ... at least, that's my understanding.

Thanks for calling that part of the article to attention ... I missed that in my first read. So, now I'm more comfortable speaking about the earlier possibility. The lady had quite a project in mind for this property and my understanding is that Urban Renewal was working with her also. She had an option to purchase but needed a little more time to come up with financing but the church was unwilling to work with her ... at least, that's my understanding.

She/we, were working on a house of blues type venue, with a restaurant in the basement. We were literally sitting down to execute a contract extension, and one of the church representatives demanded that the church be cut into the deal. We walked.

Thanks, good to know. It was my honor to become acquainted with her and have coffee a couple of times. It would have been a grand project.

I hope they do something with the building than just make it "open to the public". This is a physical urban asset and needs to be put to work.

What will happen to the congregation?

The church is moving to 1212 North Hudson to rent a space in the old Hudson Theater. I really don't understand how the church could be falling a part after they recieved 1.4 million dollars to repair it. covenant Life Family Worship Center is a morphing of the former Calvary Baptist Church. I wonder if the sign is in the building somewhere.

All it said is that they received 1.4 million dollars...

I happen to know a little about this church. Without releasing too much information that would make anyone there look bad. One should investigate the pastor's financial issues to understand the decay of the church's building. It's really sad, but I would rather someone who cared about the building be entrusted with it. It will be interesting to see if the church purchases a permanent building with the funds secured from the sale.

The church is moving to 1212 North Hudson to rent a space in the old Hudson Theater. I really don't understand how the church could be falling a part after they recieved 1.4 million dollars to repair it. covenant Life Family Worship Center is a morphing of the former Calvary Baptist Church. I wonder if the sign is in the building somewhere.

Ah, thanks for that! Hopefully that building is still left standing after that congregation is done with it...

When I wrote this piece about Calvary Baptist Church 2-3 years ago (http://www.dougloudenback.com/maps/vintage_calvarybaptist.htm), I received a few e-mails from members of the church critiquing what I'd written.

One e-mail said that, despite what I'd heard about the signage being sold on ebay that it had actually been saved by the current church, Covenant Life, and was in storage. Another said that the church hadn't become a Pentecostal church (as had been reported in the Oklahoman) but was still pretty much in the Baptist Church vein of such things. I invited all e-mailers to submit something to me in a written form with permission to publish in my blog/historic map area and that I would do so, but I got no takers, not one.

I've still seen no evidence (a) that the original Calvary Baptist Church signage still exists or (b) that the $1.4 million grant the church received to repair/restore the building after the Murrah bombing was particularly spent doing so. I'm not saying that it didn't spend the money properly, I'm just saying that I've seen no evidence that it was.

I've still seen no evidence (a) that the original Calvary Baptist Church signage still exists or (b) that the $1.4 million grant the church received to repair/restore the building after the Murrah bombing was particularly spent doing so. I'm not saying that it didn't spend the money properly, I'm just saying that I've seen no evidence that it was.

Free money is often spent freely.

That makes me very upset, not just to squander so much public assistance that should have made a difference in preserving a historic resource, but to take advantage of the worst tragedy in our city's history for someone to pocket $1.4 million from a program that we were lucky to have -- to help us repair some of the extremely widespread damage from the bombing.

I don't want to rush to conclusions here, and I really hope that this grant was in fact used appropriately. If that was the case, it needs to become public knowledge asap.

Also, was meaning to ask J. Pitman or Doug, whomever would be able to clarify, the "woman" wouldn't have been Marva Ellard by any chance? I'd heard at the time that she was looking east for her next project, although I don't know if that is still on or off.

Also, was meaning to ask J. Pitman or Doug, whomever would be able to clarify, the "woman" wouldn't have been Marva Ellard by any chance? I'd heard at the time that she was looking east for her next project, although I don't know if that is still on or off.
No. She wasn't a local but had city ties.

Loved hearing that Hammond organ and choir through my old apartment walls. Made it feel like a real neighborhood on Sunday mornings.

Today the Urban Design Commission gave approval to this renovation project.

Hopefully, work will start soon.

Were there any renderings attached to that, Pete?

No, no renderings.

We may see some when the committee releases their new agenda in about a week.

Yeah I saw that the most recent DDRC agenda is from May 17. Do they commonly lag way behind in posting their agendas online, and isn't that an OMA violation?

They usually post the agendas a few days before the meeting.

I believe the open meeting laws require 48-hour notice.

Walking around Deep Deuce yesterday, I realized how critical this property is to the neighborhood.

Not only is it right in the middle, it borders Level and DD Apartments and feels like a badly-kept black hole: weeds everywhere, no life at all.

Even if this is only offices, cleaning it up and having people in and around it will make a huge difference.

Amen

The new owners just submitted an application for design review for renovations.


Install storm windows; Erect new entry canopy Construct new sidewalks at SE corner of bldg Construct new parking lot @ east of property

I saw workers there last friday scraping paint on the window frames. It appears the reno has begun.

A few improvements:

http://www.okc.gov/planning/hp/newapps/12-00141.pdf

Thanks for that.

Here are some of the renderings and site plans. Looks like the main entrance will now be on the east side facing the east parking lot but it also looks like they'll keep the historical west entrance.





http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/5c16d049-9321-476e-9a12-aef8372da2b3.JPG


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/calvary1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/calvary2.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/calvary3.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/calvary4.jpg

Has this gone up for review yet Pete? If not, when does it? I'd like to protest the parking lot. It would set a horrible precedent for the neighborhood.

It'll probably be on the HP agenda next week and then maybe on the downtown design agenda in late October.

HP: The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Historic Preservation Commission is Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at the Municipal Building, City Council Chamber.

Downtown: The next regular Committee meeting is Thursday, October 18, 2012. Council Chambers, City Hall, 200 North Walker Ave., Third Floor - 9:30 a.m.

UPDATE: Not sure if the Downtown code requires HP and Downtown review or just HP. It's a little fuzzy when it comes to the overlay zoning and interaction with design review base zoning (HL over the DTD-1/2).

Has this gone up for review yet Pete? If not, when does it? I'd like to protest the parking lot. It would set a horrible precedent for the neighborhood.

You can't protest the existence of the parking lot generally, only its appearance and interaction with the street. While parking is NOT required, it's certainly not NOT allowed. Not saying I agree with that... just the code at this point in time.

Has this gone up for review yet Pete? If not, when does it? I'd like to protest the parking lot. It would set a horrible precedent for the neighborhood.

No.

This requires board approval of the Historic Preservation Commission:


The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Historic Preservation Commission is Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at the Municipal Building, City Council Chamber.

Has this gone up for review yet Pete? If not, when does it? I'd like to protest the parking lot. It would set a horrible precedent for the neighborhood.

I agree. With the recent momentum of the neighborhood, the last thing we need is to approve surface parking. And with other developments set to occur soon (hopefully) and will be presenting plans before we know it, we do not need a history of approving more surface parking in this area.

I am confused. It sounds like you are contradicting yourself. It is allowed or it isn't. Are they seeking a variance to install one?

He's saying parking isn't required, but it's not against the ordinance code either. And the only thin you can protest is the overall appearance of the parking lot. I think the double negative threw you off (not NOT)

Even though a parking lot might be allowable, it's still worthwhile to meet with the owner/developer and/or speak with his representatives at this meeting.

It would also be helpful it this was expressed as a concern of the neighborhood (i.e. recruit others with the same concern) rather than just one person.