For years, one may have never guessed that the blue-grey church sagging at the corner of Valence and Magazine streets in New Orleans’ Uptown National Register District was designated by the City of New Orleans as a local landmark. The building was sad — empty and neglected, and repeatedly broken into by the unhoused. The grass and sidewalk surrounding it were often littered with broken glass.
Now its status as one of New Orleans’ most prized buildings can be easily understood — freshly restored, its white exterior gleams proudly, with its priceless stained-glass windows shining from newly painted mullions. The building long known as the Valence Street Baptist Church has now become NOLA Baptist Church, and it is being renovated under the guidance of that congregation’s leader, Pastor Kyle Jagers.
Its continued life as a site of worship for Baptists lives true to its origin: the church was built in 1885 as the Mission Baptist Church, according to the New Orleans Architecture series book on Jefferson City. The building was designed by famed architect Thomas Sully in a traditional ecclesiastical style with Victorian detailing — hence its inclusion on the City’s local landmark list.
Due to its landmark status, the meticulous work needed to bring the church back to life was overseen by staff of the City of New Orleans’ Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC). The structural beams of cypress holding the church up were in fantastic shape, Jagers said. Sadly, the weatherboards protecting the exterior were not, however, and had to be replaced. The HDLC approved replacement cladding — and everything else needed to spruce the church up, down to each doorknob.
Happily, the church’s crown jewels — its stained-glass windows — are intact and beautiful, Jager said. Even the cypress mullions holding the windows in place were in pristine condition, he said.
While the building looks incredible from the outside, the inside remains in poor shape. Jagers estimates that it could cost as much as $2 million to finish the interior renovation, which will include replacement of major systems, walls, flooring and more. He has already spent over $100,000 on asbestos abatement inside the church. “The entire bottom floor — the flooring, the walls, the ceiling — had asbestos that had to be removed,” he said. The church has raised and spent $900,000 on renovation costs so far, and they will now focus on raising the millions that are needed to finish the job.
Luckily for Jagers and the NOLA Baptist Church, the site itself was free. National craft retailer Hobby Lobby, whose Christian leadership performs regular acts of charity, purchased the church and the fellowship hall to its left in November 2022. After one year and one month of ownership, the company transferred ownership of the site to NOLA Baptist Church.
The fellowship hall next door, built as a double shotgun likely around the same time as the church, is in sorry shape. “The sills are bad and some of the floor joists are touching the piers,” Jagers said. The structure looks unsafe — and it is. Jagers is concerned about the potential of collapse, and he has applied for a permit to immediately stabilize the structure and begin its renovation. He is waiting on the City’s approval before work can begin.
The smaller site will be the perfect place for his small congregation, which currently has about 50 members, to meet until they can raise the money needed to fully renovate the interior of the church. He hopes to have the fellowship hall renovated and open to his congregants by the beginning of 2026.
Shuler Construction was the contractor for the project, and the architect was William Sonner. Jagers said he enjoyed the process of working with the HDLC to get approvals for all of the building’s exterior repairs. “I’m thankful for the historic guidelines,” he said. “It made a lot of decisions for us, and I found that comforting.”
