AUGUSTA, Ga. () – The Historic Preservation Commission held a hearing to discuss the possible violations and infractions both the Augusta Historic Preservation Ordinance and the Building Code of Augusta, Georgia, over the Old First Baptist Church of Augusta property on Greene Street. People came out to testify about what they had seen at the building.

The church has been there since 1902 and was the founding site of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is also on the National Register of Historic Places and Downtown Historic District.  Sherman and Hemstreet Real Estate Co. bought the building back in 2020.

“It’s a significant historical resource not just architecturally but to the community,” said Robert Mauldin, President of Historic Augusta. “And all the members with the First Baptist Church community that grew up in that church, their parents grew up in that church. It’s no longer active as First Baptist Church, but it’s still in the hearts and minds of Augustans.”

The purpose of the meeting was to determine whether the owner, Joe Edge, has kept the property up to code. Community members from Jessie Norman School of the Arts, Immaculate Conception School, and Historic Augusta raised concerns about the property endangering the public and the blighted conditions of the building.

“So, if a person buys a building in a historic district in the state of disrepair and does not have the money to take care of it, then that’s a big mistake,” said George Bush, Historic Augusta.

The HPC decided the building was still not up to code. Afterward, Edge declined to comment. But in a statement earlier today, he said, “While the progress might not be as quick as some would like, there has been progress, and any notion that the building is a nuisance or risk to life safety to anyone is factually incorrect.”

“We weren’t singling out the owner. We were singling out this building because this building is so important,” said Tara Conway, Chair of the Augusta Historic Preservation Commission.

After a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, the commission came to a decision to give the owner 10 days to start the process of bringing the building up to code.