| The Link Centre at 1800 West Main Street in Tupelo is housed in the former buildings of Harrisburg Baptist Church, which moved into larger quarters on Coley Road in 2000. The Harrisburg complex on West Main is a textbook example of how a large and thriving Southern protestant church housed itself and its many activities from the fifties through the nineties.
The former church sanctuary, now the Link Centre Concert Hall and signature building of the complex, seats 540. It is solidly built of buff-colored brick, with architectural elements of art deco stone trim outside. Its style is an institutional ecclesiastical typical of the fifties, with a high, flat interior ceiling and eight multicolored, pointed-arch, but unfigured stained glass windows.
When converted to a concert hall in 2003, the entire front section of the interior, with its pulpit, choir seating, and large pipe organ space, was hauled away. The bathtub-size baptistry, however, was so solidly built into the upper front wall that it was left in place. A proscenium arch and new stage were built, designed to hold an entire symphony orchestra, with conductor and (at times) piano soloist.
Fortunately, the Link Centre was able to keep the attractive, sixteen-foot high(?) oak paneling along the back wall of the stage. The contractor even carefully reproduced new sections to fill in where necessary. The Link Centre stands almost unique among performance centers of the world in that its concert hall still contains a built-in baptistry!
The other buildings of the Link Centre complex once included offices for the pastor and staff, a gymnasium, many Sunday school classrooms, a large dining room with stage and cafeteria, and ample choir rehearsal space.
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