The lines of this handsome Georgian Revival brick church are reminiscent of a New England meetinghouse, and the similarity would have been even more pronounced if the projecting tower at the center of its pedimented facade supported a spire instead of a small wooden cupola. A diminutive Tuscan portico shelters the on-grade entrance, but the sanctuary, like the one at the earlier St. Patrick's Church (
SU3), is raised above a fully exposed ground story.

Second Baptist's congregation, organized in 1878, was first composed largely of African Americans who worked on the C&O. The fine design of this city landmark bespeaks the hand of a trained architect, and one would like to ascribe it to someone of the caliber of John C. Norman of Charleston. For now, the architect's identity is unknown.