First Christian ‘eggshell’ church at NW 36th – Walker demolished

Last Updated on September 26, 2022, 10:15 PM | Published: September 26, 2022

OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — What Cityans have called the “eggshell” church at N.W. 36th and Walker for six decades was demolished early Monday morning within minutes of the City of Oklahoma City issuing a demolition permit (see below.)

The unique white sanctuary that looked somewhat like half an eggshell along with the other space-age-looking buildings on the sprawling campus were a landmark for many drivers over the years.

The congregation that bought the land and built the buildings was First Christian Church of Oklahoma City back in the zenith of its numeric and financial health in the late 1950s. Before the term was even coined, it was as close to being a megachurch as churches OKC came in that time.

But, moving through the last half of the century, the congregation continued to decline slowly. Eventually, the church was made up of “only about 40 people” said City Council member Mark Stonecipher in a City Council meeting in 2019.

In May 2019, it seemed that the building could be saved when the large Crossings Community Church in far northwest OKC said it wanted to explore buying and preserving the property to make it one of their satellite locations.

But, by August of that same year, Crossings Church backed out, citing the $20+ million estimated to prepare the building for their needs as being more than their leaders were willing to take on.

Eggshell church in jeopardy again as Crossings Church pulls out of deal

Since then, hearsay has spread from time to time about possible buyers of the property but no public bids to take on the property and preserve it have publicly materialized.

Here is the demolition permit dated 9/26/2022, Monday. Demolition could be seen happening in the early morning hours the same day.

Demo-Permit

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