First Baptist Church Downtown Campus Map. The Hobson Block (No. 1) is identified in red.
2. Middle School Building
Dating to 1927, the Middle School Building features 27,267 square feet at the intersection of Laura and Ashley Streets. Sharing the block with JEA’s headquarters, the first floor was occupied by the FBC Lighthouse Bookstore for several years.
3. Children’s Building & Welcome Center
Located at 600 Main Street, the Children’s Building & Welcome Center occupies a full city block. Completed in 2002 for $14 million, the 128,525 square foot building is the most recent addition to the First Baptist Church’s campus. It was designed to house an urban elementary school, First Baptist Academy. The block also contains a playground and sports field.
4. Blue Parking Garage (Garage #2)
Completed in 1988, 717 North Laura Street is considered the guest parking garage.
5. Worship Center 110 West Beaver Street
Occupying a full 1.53 acre city block, the Worship Center serves as the downtown campus’s largest sanctuary. Located at 110 West Beaver Street, the 10,000-seat auditorium was completed as recently as 1995.
6. Ruth Lindsay Auditorium & Preschool Building and Dining Room
Ruth Lindsay Auditorium
The complex occupies a full 1.53 acre city block at 125 West Ashley Street, including 3,500 seat Ruth Lindsay Auditorium, completed in 1976. The adjacent Preschool Building and Dining Room was completed in 1986. The cafeteria style dining room faces Laura Street at ground level, offering the possibility of retail and dining uses on a block currently hostile to pedestrian uses.
Ruth Lindsay Auditorium
Ruth Lindsay Auditorium
The Preschool Building features a cafeteria style dining room on the ground floor along Laura Street. However, the glass block storefront openings hid that use from the view of the general public.
A view inside of the cafeteria style dining room.