Macon’s Oldest Church Building, Built in 1829, Sells for $180,000 and Will Stay a Church

• The Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority is selling the church at 506 Hawthorne Street for $180,000.
• Completed in 1829 and designed by Elam Alexander, it is Macon’s oldest standing house of worship.
• It was built as First Presbyterian Church and later housed Catholic and Baptist congregations, including Fulton Baptist.
• Fulton Baptist sold it to Bibb County for $150,000 in 2013; the buyers plan to keep it as a church.

Macon’s oldest church building is set to remain a place of worship. Georgia Public Broadcasting, carrying a report by Liz Fabian and The Macon Newsroom, said the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority (UDA) is selling the historic church on Hawthorne Street.

The wooden church with a steeple at 506 Hawthorne Street was designed by architect Elam Alexander and completed in 1829 as Macon’s first church building. It is the city’s oldest standing house of worship. Over the years it was home to the First Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Second Baptist and Fulton Baptist.

Fulton Baptist sold the building to Bibb County for $150,000 in 2013, and the county later transferred it to the UDA. The buyers, Chimere Perry and Lillian Lloyd, are paying $180,000 and plan to continue using the building as a church.

The sale was one of several items before local boards that week; the report’s headline story was about a planned Veterans Affairs clinic complex in Macon.

Public bodies sometimes end up owning historic churches, and the Macon sale shows one good outcome: a modest price and buyers who will keep the building in its original use. In Jamaica, many historic churches are protected heritage sites. Their owners, whether congregations, denominations or public bodies, face the same question Macon did: who will care for the building next? When such buildings are sold, keeping them in worship or community use can protect both the structure and its meaning. For small congregations looking for a home, historic buildings in public hands can sometimes be bought at reasonable prices, though repair costs must be counted carefully.

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