Built in 1869, and located at the foot of Carr's Hill, the church was not named, as is commonly the case, for
Mary, mother of Jesus, but for Mary Baxter, a shareholder in the factory who was recently deceased. who also designed the church. Wall recognized the potential of the church as a rehearsal space and cleared it out. He lived there briefly too. Later that year, Wall moved to
Atlanta to manage its branch of Wuxtry.
Peter Buck, who worked for Wall at the Athens branch, expressed an interest in taking over the church that his boss was renting out. Wall sub-let the apartment to Buck, his brother Ken, Kathleen O'Brien (a bartender at Athens' Tyrone's OC and a morning-show
disc jockey on
WUOG) and another girl named Robyn Bragg, although it is rumored that up to 15 other people lived there as well, all contributing to the monthly rent of $350. "There were pews and a stage and ceilings and the old preachers were buried under the floor," explained Buck. "It was like something out of weird
Tennessee Williams, this big, pink, decrepit church. It wasn’t so legendary as rumored. It was a real zoo. It was a dumpy little shithole where only college kids could be convinced to live. It was really wretched: slate falling off the walls. We lived with some girl who dealt drugs, and all of these sickos who would come over at four in the morning with '
the urge.'" in support of
the Side Effects, at the church, then home to Buck and his new friend
Michael Stipe. was maintained by a
homeowner association until 2004. After the fire, county inspectors told the Steeplechase Condominium Association that they either needed to repair the steeple or have it torn down. Although they voted for the latter, they did not arrange its demolition. ==References==