File:Greece Baptist Church, Greece, New York - 20221029.jpg

English: Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Road, Greece, New York, October 2022. In this work by architect Roger Patterson of the Buffalo-based firm of Shelgren, Whitman, Patterson & Marzec, we see the minimalist angularity of the Modernist movement in all its glory. Right angles, in particular, are a recurring motif: the vertical columns of windows on the façade of the sanctuary are intersected by horizontal stone sills functioning as spandrel panels, and the top and bottom of each individual one is lined by a row of small square panes. Notice also the wafflelike concrete latticework in the belfry of the narrow tower, which is also topped consecutively by a spindly spire and a cross bottony. The oldest religious congregation in the town, the erstwhile First Baptist Church of Greece was founded in 1822, the same year as Greece itself. The first purpose-built church to house the congregation was located at the northeast corner of Long Pond and Ridge Roads, where the Sunoco gas station is today, and served the congregation for over 125 years, from 1833 until the construction of the present building on a 15-acre campus just a short distance away. According to contemporaneous news coverage, the siting of buildings on large lots such as this was then "the latest concept in church planning" which "envisages restoring the church as the center of the community" and "is particularly feasible for suburban churches, where members live right around the church". The process moved quickly after the purchase of the land in 1958: the proposal to build, which entailed a series of three buildings over a period of ten years, was approved by the congregation in June 1958; the architect's plans were similarly approved in October of the same year; ground was broken in March 1959, the cornerstone laid in June, and the first portion of the complex - that seen here, comprising a 600-seat sanctuary, a 140-seat overflow parlor, and a small one-story annex housing administrative offices, classrooms, a music room, and a library - was dedicated in May 1960. A two-story fellowship hall followed in 1962. The third phase, which was to include a chapel, was never built, nor were any of the extensive range of outdoor amenities originally planned for the property, such as picnic groves, baseball diamonds, and other sporting facilities.