Created out of the sale of Southern Baptist Hospital, Baptist Community Ministries is a private health legacy foundation serving Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes. The foundation operates from three pillars of service: chaplaincy, congregational wellness and grant-making. Since 1996, the organization has awarded nearly $250 million in grants, including approximately $12 million annually to New Orleans-area nonprofits.

The BCM’s focus areas are education, health and public safety. It annually awards approximately $12 million in grants to New Orleans-area nonprofits.

“We currently employ 11 professional chaplains who serve the New Orleans Police Department and several medical facilities in the Greater New Orleans region,” says Inman J. Houston, president and CEO of BCM. “Our congregational wellness division recruits, equips, deploys and supports community health nurses and lay health advocates in churches throughout our service region.”

Moving from an upper floor in a corporate tower on Poydras Street, the new ground-floor location along St. Charles Avenue serves as both a metaphorical and physical ‘return to the community.’

BCM recently moved into its new headquarters, a mid-century modern building at 1320 St. Charles Avenue in late February 2024. The location, formerly occupied by Whitney Bank, provides the organization with enough space for staff and community meetings, as well as sufficient outdoor space for parking and a new outdoor courtyard.

To maximize the building’s space, BCM hired EskewDumezRipple (EDR), which began the full-service architecture and interior design work (including furniture specification) in the fall of 2021. EDR also provided site and landscape work, including transforming a portion of the existing parking lot into the new courtyard.

“The BCM team wanted to rebrand their new office to be approachable and to provide space for their community partners [and] staff,” said Jill Traylor, principal and director of interiors at EDR. “Moving from an upper floor in a corporate tower on Poydras Street, the new ground-floor location along St. Charles Avenue serves as both a metaphorical and physical ‘return to the community.’ The organization wanted to celebrate this return by creating a welcoming and warm space for visitors; the interior design shows that BCM is ready to serve [the community] compassionately in this space.”

BCM also hired Ryan Gootee General Contractors (RGGC), which began renovations in January 2023. The company estimated all building costs, collaborated with the design team and owners during reconstruction to value engineer the project, and managed all the trade partners.

“It was largely a full-gut project, including moving walls to create a more open floor plan with increased office space, multiple workstations and a flex area on the first floor,” said Kristian Sonnier, vice president of communications and business development at RGGC. “We identified original elements of the interior that could be saved and restored, like the old bank vaults, interesting wood, and travertine wall panels and column cladding. The existing wood paneling was in poor shape. We brought in an artist [who spent months meticulously hand painting] the panels so that the original wood grain could be accentuated.”

“At every opportunity, we tried to use existing materials,” Houston said. “The beautiful terrazzo flooring and the wood paneling on the first floor are original. The stone columns and window trim are also original.”

The workspace now boasts a reception area, a boardroom, a kitchen, two conference rooms and an open public area with custom arched banquettes on the first floor. The second floor, which also features an open floor plan, includes two conference rooms, multiple employee offices, workstations, meeting spaces and a break room. On the ground floor, the existing glass storefront along St. Charles Avenue lets in plenty of daylight, while the new courtyard provides employees the opportunity to extend the office outdoors.

EDR added mid-century modern-inspired furniture and light fixtures to keep the heritage of the building present in the design.

The team also cleaned and preserved the vault doors on the first and second floors and repurposed two existing bank vaults as design features. One, which now acts as a second-floor conference room, still features a wall of old safety deposit boxes, reminders of the building’s history.

“Contrasting with the existing stone and terrazzo within the building, we included elements of fluted glass, woven fabrics and screening elements to provide a welcoming space,” Traylor said. “Rich tones like navy and maroon, alongside tan leather, create a space with color and warmth.”

Overall, the architecture and interior design cohesively reflect BCM’s faith-based mission to improve the physical, mental and spiritual health of individuals in the community.

“We created the concept based on the values of transparency, warmth, strength, compassion and bonding,” said Traylor, “all of which are important to [BCM].”