First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church Halifax

Halifax Association

Nova Scotia

Halifax County

1300 Oxford St, Halifax, NS

Active

Built 1950

This church was formerly known as the Granville Street Baptist Church. The congregation of the First Baptist Church in Halifax dates back to September 27, 1827, when a group of mainly African-Canadian individuals, led by Rev. John Burton, invited Dr. Ira Chase, of Newton Baptist Theological Institute of Mass, USA, to come to the Atlantic port city to help form a church. Being frustrated with the king being able to choose their clergymen, these individuals decided to leave the Church of England.

In 1838, many members from the Granville Street Baptist Church had a crucial role in the founding of Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

By 1886, the Granville Street Baptist Church outgrew its facility. That same year the congregation built a church on the corner of Queen Street and Spring Garden Road. The congregation changed its name to what it is currently known as (2021), the First Baptist Church. On March 21, 1942, this building was destroyed by fire, leading the congregation to meet in St. Andrew’s United Church Hall on Coburg Road for eight years.

The current church that serves the congregation (2021) was constructed in 1950. It was built in the English Perpendicular Gothic style by architect Bruce Brown of Toronto. The floor plan for this church was cruciform, meaning it is in the shape of a cross, with a nave, chancel and transepts. Arcades of slender piers range down both sides of the nave, separating it without obstruction of views and sightlines. On either side of the church there are towering windows loaded with tracery and stained glass.

Information provided by First Baptist Church & Churches of Nova Scotia.