7 replies to this topic

[Stadtplan]

Some photos of Mount Gilead Baptist Church from today's Downtown Fort Worth Walking Tour, including the pool in the basement.  There was another thread about the potential former sale of this church to Paradox church that JBB started a while back here:

 

 

 

Those power lines, ughh:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fellowship Hall (Basement) stage:

 

Fellowship Hall Organ:

 

 

The swimming pool:

 

 

[JBB]

Great photos!  I completely forgot about the potential sales.

[John T Roberts]

Great shots.  I'm glad your swimming pool photograph turned out well.  Several people have asked if the church actually had one in the basement.  First Christian Church also had a pool, but it was located in the 7 story educational annex that was built 1928-29 and demolished in 1990.

[Stadtplan]

Thanks JBB and John. Im glad I decided to bring that little LED light to see in the pool as I recall John saying he had struggled in the darkness to really see the pool. It was really special the pastor allowed close to 100 people to go down and see the pool. That is an important piece of history as is the rest of the building. I was interested to see many parts of the church appeared to be relatively unchanged inside. There were minor details even the feel and creaking of the sanctuary floor as people walked in that adds to the character. Im sure there have been changes over the years but generally speaking it felt very true to its original design. It appears at the center of the skylight there is an exhaust fan. That ties back to a comment the lead minister at 1st Christian made about their domed skylight have a pulley system to raise the center portion up allowing forced air to exhaust up through the building and out the cupola (pre-air conditioning).

It appears that the skylight is no longer exposed to natural light. Was this always the case or did they cover it with a more traditional roof at some point?

[John T Roberts]

I thought that the modern double domed skylights replaced the original(s) at some point in time.  You can see them on the roof in the aerial.  With it being overcast yesterday, it was really hard to tell if any natural light was coming into the church.  A few years ago, when I went inside for the first time, it appeared to me that natural light was coming inside through the roof and dome.

[roverone]

Stepping backwards through the Google Earth historical imagery, the nature of the exterior skylights is more clear in the 2017 image.

[John T Roberts]

It appears that half of them have been removed and roofed over.

[Stadtplan]

What's interesting is the cost to build Mount Gilead was $50,000.  I read an article that mentions the following features of the project:

• built of dark Malakoff pressed brick
• 82x94 feet in dimension
• nursery
• kindergarten dept.
• sewing department
• a cookery where instruction and practice will be given
• a labor bureau
• library
• swimming pool
• public bathing station with shower baths
• a gymnasium 
• banquet hall
• twenty-two Sunday school rooms
• a Sunday school chapel
• a 2,000 seat auditorium
• a roof garden

It mentions a "fallery floor" but I'm not sure what that is...perhaps having to do with a wooden floor related to falling or to fell trees?