Church of the Advent
- Architect
- Calvin Brent
- Year
- 1893
- City
- Washington, DC
This Late Gothic Revival church at Fifth and Q Streets NW was built in 1893 to the designs of Calvin Brent, one of Washington's first African American architects, for a congregation that became the third oldest Black Baptist church in the city and the oldest Black Baptist church building still standing. In January 2024 the building was sold to Church of the Advent, an Anglican congregation, after the original Third Baptist Church relocated to Prince George's County, Maryland.
the building
Brent's brick facade. The gable-fronted brick building measures 50 feet wide by 93 feet long, with its entrance on the east side facing Fifth Street NW; its National Register nomination calls it an unusually intact example of a late Victorian church retaining its original design and materials.
the style
Built in the Late Gothic Revival style, the church was designed by Calvin Brent, a pioneering African American architect working in 1890s Washington, for an established Black Baptist congregation.
the architect
Calvin Brent was one of Washington, DC's first African American architects; this 1893 church, his design for Third Baptist Church, is recognized as an unusually intact example of his work and stands as the oldest surviving Black Baptist church building in the city.
significance
The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It is the oldest Black Baptist church building still standing in Washington, though the congregation that built it, Third Baptist Church, relocated to Prince George's County, Maryland, in 2024 when the building was sold to Church of the Advent.
nearby
- The Lafayette
- O Street Market
- Woodson, Carter G. House
- Immaculate Conception Church (Washington, D.C.)
- Armstrong Manual Training School
- Lincoln Congregational Temple United Church of Christ