Second Baptist Church (Los Angeles)
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Second Baptist Church
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Second Baptist Church, June 2011
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| Location | 2412 Griffith Avenue, Los Angeles, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°01′16″N 118°15′23″W / 34.02111°N 118.25639°WCoordinates: 34°01′16″N 118°15′23″W / 34.02111°N 118.25639°W |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Paul R. Williams, Norman F, Marsh |
| Architectural style | Lombardy Romanesque Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 09000151 |
| LAHCM # | 200 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 17, 2009 |
| Designated LAHCM | October 18, 1978 |
Second Baptist Church is a historically African-American Baptist church located in South Los Angeles, California. The current Lombardy Romanesque Revival building was built in 1926 and has been listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (1978) and on the National Register of Historic Places (2009). The church has been an important force in the Civil Rights Movement, hosting national conventions of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons ("NAACP") in 1928, 1942, and 1949, and also serving as the site of important speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and others. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
The Second Baptist Church occupies a Lombardy Romanesque Revival church structure located along 24th Street to the west of Central Avenue. The structure was built in 1926 at a total cost of approximately $175,000, including the land, building and furnishings. The structure was designed by African-American architect Paul R. Williams in collaboration with Norman Marsh. The church building opened in January 1926 with seating for more than 2,000 persons. The church's pastor at the time the church was built was Dr. Thomas L. Griffith, who served in that position from 1921 to 1941.
According to a history of the church, the congregation's leaders acquired the property on which the current structure sits after hiring a real estate agent "who was very light in complexion." The leaders were reportedly concerned that white property owners may not sell to an African-American organization and hoped that the white owners would be more inclined to sell to a light-skinned agent who appeared to be "a member of their racial group."
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