Wheeler avenue baptist church

Location: Houston, Texas
Area: 150,000 SF
Year: 2017
Role: Senior Designer
Team: Perkins&Will
Phil Freelon, AIA
Luis Ayala, AIA
John Stultz, AIA
Matt Richardson, AIA
Lee Kelly, AIA
Sanja Zillic, RID

Photography: Luis Ayala, AIA

To explain our design proposal, it’s imperative to understand the existing structure that functioned as their Church. Researching the history of our client, we found a newspaper article in the Houston Chronicle by Lisa Gray where they interviewed Pastor Lawson, the founder of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church (WABC). The report illustrated the story of the beginnings of WABC. In 1960, Pastor Lawson met with Martin Luther King at the Rice Hotel in Downtown Houston. Because of their race, they were not allowed to enter through the main doors, so they had to use the back door and ride the service elevator to a room on the 17th floor. Mr. King, Pastor Lawson, and some white businessmen worked out a peaceful desegregation plan there.

The country was ready to make a historic change and right the wrong.

And so, during the next three years, as negotiated in the Rice Hotel, Houston stealthily desegregated. One day, as Lawson remembers it, downtown’s lunch counters quietly began to serve black customers. Another day, department-store clerks might suddenly begin to ask black shoppers if they wanted to try on shoes - something never before possible. “Whites Only” signs from the glorious movie houses, like Loew’s State, disappeared.

Pastor Lawson and a group of friends decided to start a Church dedicated to the African American Community in Houston in 1962.

Years later, WABC continued with successful growth, and the first Sanctuary was envisioned. During the construction of the building, Mr. Lawson learned that the Rice Hotel was being renovated, and he offered to purchase the one-inch thick Italian marble floors of its lobby. Also, Loew’s State movie theater closed, and he salvaged the brass doors of the demolition. The article read, “Floors that they were not allowed to walk through and doors that the civil movement opened are now welcoming them to their house of worship. Do you know what that means to our congregation?” Pastor Lawson said.

These words gave us an idea of how important this building is for them. They built it with sweat and tears, and although it was outdated and they couldn’t fit on it anymore, the emotional ties to it were too strong. We knew we had to respect it, and we knew we had to honor their past and project it to the future.

Learning from this, we thought, what if we treat the original Sanctuary as the center of the site and trace lines that connect it to the community from it? So there’s a line that points to the Rice Hotel, another to the Lowes Theater, and later to the Emancipation Park and all community centers. This exercise showed a radial pattern with rays emanating from the center, the original WABC Sanctuary. Since It was important for the old building to maintain a connection to the street corner, we decided to have the new building lobby on this axis, with glass walls on both sides to preserve a visual relationship.

In a community meeting, a member shared her experience when joining the Church and likened it to a dry valley that was covered with flowers after rain. She used words such as “ascension” and “transcendence” to explain her spiritual connection with higher powers. Her speech was emotional and moving. It inspired us to create a building that ascends, reaching the highest point at the center, where the building holds the cross as a symbol of transcendence and connection to heaven. The brick pattern we designed for the walls is based on the earth’s striations when cut in sections. These strata evidencing the passing of time are a reference to the three generations that are now embraced by the Church and awaiting many more to come surpassing the humble beginnings of Pastor Lawson’s vision.