As East Austin’s Rehoboth Primitive Baptist Church moves on to roomier digs up north, its congregation is preparing to say goodbye to its home of six decades in more ways than one.
What was once holy ground at 5303 Samuel Huston Avenue landed on the Historic Landmark Commission’s radar last month, with a request from new owners to demolish the structure to make way for single-family homes. While their plans have thus far met little neighborhood resistance, commissioners are holding out hope that developers can retain some semblance of the site’s historic character, voting for a second time to postpone demolition for further discussion.
The midcentury-modern church dates back to 1963, when it sprang up to meet the growing demand for centers of worship and community in postwar East Austin. Preservation staffers say the site’s blend of dramatic, stained-glass roof lines with neighborhood-scale modesty reflect the period’s innovative approach to contemporary religious spaces.
While the East MLK Neighborhood Plan Contact Team has asked only that the church’s cornerstone be donated for reuse, landmark commissioners are floating more ambitious suggestions, like reincorporating the site’s sweeping facade into new construction plans. Owners expressed mild interest in this more creative approach before commissioners last month, but so far no new plans have materialized.
In the meantime, neighbors hope that the demolition can at least be an opportunity to repurpose materials and potentially preserve some history in the process.
“I would just ask that, if they do decide to demolish this, we can reach out to the community of nearby churches to repurpose the materials,” neighbor Diana Dean said. “Rehoboth was a community staple, and there remains a huge African American presence around those churches even today. Stained glass, metal, wood, pews, sinks, windows, doors, fixtures – things like that could all be something for the community to hold on to and remember.”
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East Austin: East Austin is the quadrant of Austin that, generally speaking, is east of IH-35.
Historic Landmark Commission: The city’s Historic Landmark Commission promotes historic preservation of buildings and structures. The commission also reviews applications and permits for historic zoning and historic grants.
