Hillcrest Baptist Church, Columbus, OH

There are two special categories in this study which aren’t necessarily A-A churches, yet they’re too important to ignore: the Institutional Church and a nameless group of buildings that incorporate commercial rental space. Hillcrest Baptist church in Columbus, Ohio is an example in the latter group.

Hillcrest still occupies this building on West Broad street between Eldon and Terrace avenues. They have also expanded into two or three adjacent commercial storefronts. It’s evident that they have also taken over the four commercial units on the ground floor of the building shown here, veneering everything with a Midcentury Modern crinkled canopy on stack-bonded  concrete block. I’m grateful for cheesy postcards.

Hilltop Evangelical Lutheran Church is immediately across the street in what might have been a similar hybrid design.