Shandon Baptist Church, ca. 1939 — Columbia, South Carolina. Located at 819 Woodrow Street in Columbia’s historic Shandon neighborhood, the building was constructed about 1939 as Shandon Baptist Church and is an important example of Neoclassical architecture in the city. The three-story rectangular brick structure is distinguished by a full-height, full-width pedimented portico supported by classical columns with Ionic capitals, creating a formal and dignified entrance facing Woodrow Street. Three principal doorways feature paired wood-paneled doors, triangular pediments, decorative scrollwork, and fanlights, while the first-floor windows are six-over-six sash and the second story contains stained-glass windows with fanlight detailing. A hipped roof is concealed behind a continuous brick parapet, while dentils and a broad band of trim emphasize the roofline. On the north elevation, a porte cochere supported by brick columns adds both architectural interest and a practical feature characteristic of the period.

The building’s history took an important turn in 1995 when the congregation of Shandon Baptist Church moved from its historic downtown sanctuary on Sumter Street into the former Shandon Baptist Church building, giving the 1939 structure a new role within Columbia’s African American religious and community history.  The former Shandon Baptist building remains a contributing property within the Old Shandon Historic District, recognized for its architecture and its relationship to the development of Columbia’s early twentieth-century middle-class suburb.