Chicago's Sacred Spaces

Chicago's Churches and Synagogues: Some Facts

St. Adalbert Church

1656 West 17th Street
Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1912-1914.
Windows: F.X. ZETTLER, 1913
Int. Decor by: Altars, murals, Stations of the Cross, pews, sculptures
In 1874, St. Adalbert became the third national Polish parish founded in Chicago. Its intention was to serve the predominantly Bohemian families living in Pilsen. The current church was built in a Roman Renaissance Revival style in 1912-1914 after plans by Henry J. Schlacks (1868-1938). Schlacks, born in Chicago, received his first architectural training in the offices of Adler and Sullivan. He also traveled extensively in Europe where he saw many of the buildings that inspired him first hand. St. Adalbert was an adaptation of the popular church in Rome, St. Paul's Outside the Walls (totally rebuilt after a fire in 1823, in a style Schlacks admired).
Dominating the front of St. Adalbert are twin towers 185 feet high and a large, eight granite columned portico. The columns are toped by Corinthian capitals. Above the portico is a large rose window between four pilasters, each capped by a Corinthian capital, too. The visible construction of the building is buff colored bricks and for articulation, as in the framing of the entrances, terra cotta glazed to imitate granite.
The basilica shape of the church becomes very evident once inside. From the outside you pass between the columns of the portico to enter into the narthex (much like a lobby or vestibule) before choosing one of three doors to enter the nave. The nave is the body of the basilica plan. Here it is 195 feet long, 113 feet wide and outlined by a row of columns left and right. The columns form an arcade, and separate the nave from the side aisles. The aisles allow for secondary access to the front of the church without crossing the altars axis and space. The altar is the most sacred space within the church and is located near the apse (the semi-circular area opposite the entrance doors). Above the arcade is the clerestory, or upper window zone. This set of windows helps illuminate the nave. The ceiling, 110 feet above the floor, is decorated in a series of ornamented squares known as coffers. This was a typical Roman Renaissance style ceiling decoration.
The interior has exceptional decoration. The stained glass windows were painted in Munich, Germany by the F.X. Zettler Company in 1913 and represent many Polish saint and others with their Polish names.
The former high altar is composed of 35 tons of Carrara marble. Its twisted columns are reminders of Bernini's Baldacchino in St. Peter's in Rome. The Carrara marble pulpit is a superb example of stone carving. It depicts the four Evangelists and six prophets of the Old Testament. A full size replica of Michelangelo's Pieta, also of Carrara marble, is located on the altar in the right transept.
According to Schlacks, "The architectural lines of a building are no more than the skeleton of a structure built to be adorned. The marble treatment of the interior reveals the spirit and purpose of a building much as flesh and blood reveal the working of the human system as one organized whole." In 1928 Schlacks co-wrote a four part series of articles entitled "The Use of Marble in Churches" for Through the Ages magazine. The proper use of marble was very important to him.
On the north wall of the interior a mural depicts important national events in the history of Poland: on the left side, the wedding of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Prince Jagiello of Lithuania; and on the right side, the victory of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
Inscription of apse arch:
            Bogu-Rodzica Dziewica Bagiem Wstawiona Marya
            Lord-Family                                    Family to Mary
Since the early 1970 the community served by St. Adalbert has become almost exclusively Mexican-American. This is reflected in the shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos and the pictures of Our Lady of Guadeloupe.
There are three St. Adalberts; of Prague, Feast Day, 23 April; of Magdeburg, Feast Day, 20 June; of Egmond, feast Day 25 June. The one celebrated here was of Prague, Bishop of Bohemia, who died 956, and very popular throughout the Middle Ages

Addison Street Baptirst Church
1242 W. Addison
Chicago IL
Formerly: First Swedish Baptist Church
Architect: J.A. Nyden, 1911

St. Agatha Church (new church 1970s)
3151 W. Douglas Blvd., southeast corner Douglas Blvd. and Kedzie.
Architect: Prindville and Egan, 1906
Windows: FXZ,
St. Agatha is the consolidation church, after closing in July 2005, of Blessed Sacrament, Presentation B.V.M. and Our Lady of Lourdes, 1444 S. Keeler Ave.(run by Redemptorists),  parishes in North Lawndale.
October 1903 ground was broken. Cornerstone laid 26 June 1904. Dedication was on 27 May 1906.
Romanesque inspired basilica with large transepts.
The congregation was formed in 1893 by Irish families.
Agatha was a martyr in Catania, Sicily. Feast 5 Feb. She rejected a suitor so thrown in prison. Her martyrdom consisted of having her breast cut off. In traditionasl depictions she presents them on a plate. To some they looked like bells, so she is often called the patron of bells!
Charles H. Pridville (1868-1914) also designed St. Jerome, 1701 W. Lund (7000North)
James Egan (1839-1914) designed St. Vincent de Paul, 1895-7; Holy Angels, 1896-7 (605 E. Oakwood, 3940 south);
Egan and Pridville designed St. Agatha, 1904-06; St. Bridget, 1905-06; (2940 s. Archer); St. Andrew, 1912-13, (3550 N. Paulina); Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1913-14 (700 W. Belmont)

St. Agnes Church
2650 W. Pershing Road
Architect: William F. Gubbins, 1905
Windows: Munich Studio

Agudath Achim North Shore Congregation
5029 N. Kenmore
Chicago IL.
Architect: Goldberg and Fisher, 1927

Agudath Achim-Bikur South Shore Congregation
8927 S. Houston Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally Bishur Cholem Congregation
Architect: H.L. Newhouse, 1900-09

All Saints and St. Anthony
2849 S. Wallace (600 west, 518 W. 28th Place)
Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1913-15
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1913
Signed window = N.side of apse, l.l. F.X. Zettler, Munich

All Saints Episcopal Church,
4550 N. Wellington
Architect: John A. Cochrane, 1882-84
Windows: Designed and fabricated by Healy and Millet, 1883
(according to Inland Architect, March, 1884).
Restoric (Neal Vogel) did the stained glass conditions survey,
18 May 2004.
The church was dedicated 2 March 1884.
It may be the oldest remaining frame church in Chicago.
During the 1930s-40s the congregation stood at about 700. After WWII the Ravenswood neighborhood declined so that by the later 1980s the congregation numbered 40. In 2005, about 200 attend a Sunday service.
The windows may be Healy&Millet’s first large commission after they formed their partnership in 1883.

All Saints Polish National Cathedral
2012 W. Dickens Ave.
Chicago IL
Architect:J.G. Steinbach, 1930-31

St. Aloysius
2300 W. LeMoyne
Chicago, IL
Architect: Gaul & Voosen
Corner stone April 18, 1964.
In 884, German Catholics founded the church in a neighborhood known at "Holstein." They established a school with classes in both German and English. In 1895 the West Side Metropolitan Railrway opened. By 1900 the nighborhood was heavily populated. Polish moved into this area in the 1920s. In the 1970s Puerto Rican Charismatic Movement Catholics were held in this church. These services became the largest Puerto Rican spanish speaking services in Chicago.

Alpha Temple Missionary Baptist Church
6701 S. Emerald Ave.
Chicago IL
formerly known as Emerald Avenue Presbyterian
Architect:B.K. Gibson, 1931-32

St. Alphonsus Church
2950 N. Southport/1429 W. Wellington/Lincoln
Architect: Adam Boos and Josef Boettinghofer (of Chicago) early plans, then completed by Schrader and Conradi of St. Louis, 1889.
Windows: 16 windows by Franz Mayer of Munich, 1925
Int. Decor: repainted after fire, 1950
The tower rises 260 feet. It dominates this port of Lake View. The style of the church is mid 19th century Gothic Revival, note the gables. The building is of Chicago brick with a facade of Indiana limestone and rests on a pedestal when seen from the front, and shows a high English basement chapel from the side. There are eight bays each marked by a window. The church is 208 feet long and 80 wide. Inside, the nave is 60 feet high.
The parish was a German-national mission from St. Michael's in Old Town, which was also a German national foundation. St. Alphonsus was dedicated 3 Oct. 1897 by Archbishop Feehan
The windows are by the Franz Mayer Co. of Munich, installed in 1925.
The cornerstone was placed on dedicating the basement church. This chapel was dedicated in 1890 and is still in use.
On 20 October 1950 workmen were putting the finishing touches on a newly repaired roof when sparks caused a fire that quickly engulfed the whole roof, ceiling, vaulting, and choir loft. Plans were to rebuild a flat ceiling but Cardinal Strich intervened and ordered the ceiling rebuilt as it had been, Gothic Revival vaulting.
The church is named for St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), founder of the Redemptionist order of priests and brothers. St. Alphonsus is the patron saint of moral theologians.
The organ, a three-manual pipe organ built by Casavant Freres of St. Hyacinth, Quebec, Canada, was installed after the fire in 1950.

St. Ambrose Church
1012 E. 47th St.
Architec: Zachary T. Davis, 1906.

St. Andrew's "Manna"
3546 N. Paulina at Addison
Architect: Egan & Prindiville, cornerstone, 30 June1912, Joe W. McCarthy, enlargement & renovation, rededicated 23 Oct.1932.
Although founded as a parish for Irish, English speaking Catholics who did not want to attend German speaking St. Alphonsus, in 1894, the brick structure, facing Paulina, has a Mediterranean, Italianate look to it. It was not until 1912 that some of the current building was erected, sort off. The parish grew so fast in the 1920s that the existing church had to be extended, almost doubled in length, to 150 feet, with a new altar and a reredos. On the exterior three large sculptures were added flanking the entrance, Ss. Peter, Andrew and Paul. The stained glass windows are by?
In 1935 Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Sheil took over. Known as "Labor's Bishop," he was known throughout the U.S. as the founder of the Catholic Youth Movement (CYO).

Angel Guardian Croatian Catholic Church, former: St. Henry's Catholic Church,
6346 N. Ridge at Devon
Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1905-06
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1908, 1911, 1913, 1914
Int. Decor: current by pastor and congregation
Founded by German and Luxembourger Catholics in 1851, the community was known as Ridgeville and Rosehill and stood about six miles north of the city limits, halfway between Grosse Point (Wilmette) and Chicago. In 1861 the frame church was placed under the direction of the Redemptorists from St. Michael Old Town. In 1865 Angel Guardian Orphanage (now Misarecordia) was founded and supported by donations from the German parishes of Chicago.
In 1889, the area bounded by Devon on the north, Fullerton on the south, Western on the west and Lake Michigan on the east, was annexed to Chicago.
Archbishop Quigley dedicated the red brick and Indiana limestone church on 20 May 1906. It served a German speaking, national parish. At the time, the English speaking parishes were St. Jerome or St. Ita. The English speaking population grew so rapidly into the 1920s that 4 new churches had to be built, St. Ignatius, St. Gertrude, St. Margaret Mary, and St. Timothy.
The windows are by F.X. Zettler, 1908-1914, and depict scenes from the life and times of Saint Henry, also known as King Henry II, the last Ottonian king. He expanded German rule eastward, into Poland.
In 1926 Cardinal Mundelein decided to make the church a chapel for an expanded Angel Guardian School. The German's complained bitterly, but were transferred to St. Philomena Church. During world war II a novena was held here, which drew so many people that some 14 masses were said each Friday.

St. Ann's Church
1836 S. Leavitt St.
Built 1903.

Annunciation Cathedral (Greek Orthodox),
1017 N. LaSalle
Architect: N. Dokas, 1910
Windows: Installed 1938. In style of Munich Studios, but not by them.
Int.Decor: recent icons by Stathis Trahanatzis
The design of this building is modeled after the Cathedral of Athens. Greek Orthodox churches are not as large as western Latin churches.
This building was built for the original Greek Orthodox Congregation of Chicago which was organized in 1892 by Greeks who came mostly from Sparta. At the time, most of the Greeks were involved in Chicago’s great produce market. The congregation met in several locations until it split over internal differences only to reorganize in 1910 and build this building on La Salle.
Built of common brick with yellow facing brick and limestone trim. It is a basilica style with two western towers, a nave, transept and crossing dome. The central stained glass window over the entrance depicts the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel.  In 1930 the building was lifted off its foundation and moved to its present location to accommodate the widening of LaSalle Ave.
Inside the two rows of columns have fine Corinthian capitals, half domes, a barrel vaulted nave. A fine wooden iconostasis with Renaissance details divides the sanctuary from the nave.

St. Anslem Church
6045 S. Michigan Ave.
Architect: Charles L. Wallace, 1924-1926.

Anshe Emet Synagogue
3760 N. Pine Grove Ave
Originally built as Temple Sholom
Architect: Alfred S. Alschuler, 1910-11

Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel ("People of Peace and Children of Israel)
540 W. Melrose, Chicago IL.
Modern Orthodox. In the hot summer of 1870, DovBer Ginsburg, from Mariampol, Lithuania, was asked to leave BaisMedrash Hagodol synagogue in Chicago for wean a straw hat. He then assembled his own group resulting in a shul named Ohave Sholom Mariampol at Polk and Dearborn. The Great Fire of 1871 greatly increased membership and the shul decided to move and did several times before it merged in 1892 with Anshe Kalvarier shul and became known as Anshe Sholom Congregation. In 1894 the congregation retained its first rabbi, Abraham Samuel Braude who served until 1907. In 1910, the shul moved west in to a new building at Polk and Ashland. In the 1920s it moved to Polk and Independence. At the time Lawndale was Jewish and known as "Little Jerusalem." In 1940 the shul moved to LakeView, opening Lake View Anshe Sholom Center in a graystone at 540 W. Melrose. In 1959 it built the current school. Inside a low wall separates the men from the women. Stained glass windows are composed of amber rectangles and roundels (these are from former synagogues and shules). A fine collection of liturgical metalware is housed in cabinets in the sanctuary. Recently a mikvah was added. Ritual immersion is central to Orthodox Judaism. Its construction requires "living," flowing, water. Here rainwater and snow melt is used.

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
6234 S. Stewart Ave. /corner Englewood (415 West)
Originally: Englewood Baptist Church
Architect: Theodore Bell and Frank Swift, 1889-90
Originally built for Englewood Baptist Church, dedicated 14 September 1890. A fine example of Richardsonian Romanesque with split granite boulders set in a rubble and Bedford limestone dressed masonry. Elongated nave with central transept has a single square into a circle tower in corner that serves as entrance on two sides.  Has fine glass.
The Antioch M.B. Church was organized 3 Feb. 1925 and moved to this location in 29 June 1958.

Apostolic Catholic Church,
927 N. LaSalle
Chicago IL
Architect: E.O. Pridmore, 1901
Church will be donated to another ministry.
English Arts and Crafts inspired interior. Heavy hammer corbeled trusses over the wide nave. Lathwork on ceiling

St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church
9805-07 S. Commercial Ave.
Built cornerstone 1925

Asamblea de Iglessias Cristianas
2836 W. Logan Blvd.
Chicago IL
Original: Eleventh Church of Christ, Scientist
Architect: L.E. Stanhope, 1916-17

Asamblea de Iglesias Pentecostales de Jesucristo Inc. (Pentecostal)
1908 N. Humboldt Blvd.
Chciago IL
Original: B'nai David Ohave Zedek
Architect: D.O. Klafter, 1919-21

Ascension Church
Oak Park
Architect: Meyer & Cook, 1928
Windows: F. Mayer, 1930
Interior decor: Conrad Schmitt?
On 20 Nov. 1928 ground was broken at the southeast corner of Van Buren and East Ave. for a new church. Cardinal Mundelein dedicated the structure 15 June 1930. At its dedication, The New World noted: The church was heated by a concealed radiator system, installed by the Modine Co. and is said to be the first of its kind in a Catholic church. "A unit, something like an automobile radiator, is inside the wall, and the heat is transmitted to the interior of the church through a register in the wall, the heat varying with the height of the register from the unit. Another first: the lights of the dome were placed on a moveable track so they could be changed without scaffolding being erected. The track moves around the openings in the dome, through which the lights can be changed.
The terrazzo flooring was installed by Pascal Sylvester (4507-11 Armitage Ave. Chicago) who was the only manufacturer of this specific kind of floor.

Assumption, BVM Church
323 W. Illinois St.
Architect: Guiseppe Beretta (a parishioner) 1881-86
Windows: nave ones 1966, by Drehobl Bros. Art Glass of Chicago
Interior Décor: The ceiling murals and the medallions of the 12 apostles are by Joseph Grill, 1936-38. Ceiling restoration by Conrad Schmidt, 1994.
Founded by the Servite Fathers in 1881, The Assumption, BVM Church was the first Italian national parish in Chicago. On 17 April 1881 the first mass was in the basement. Since that date Assumption, BVM has been a national parish for all Italians in Chicago. Of the original building, only the walls inside and out remain. The church was entirely re-bricked in 1973.

The cornerstone of the present church was placed 21 Sept. 1884. The church was dedicated by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan, 15 Aug. 1886, the Feast of the Assumption. In the late 1930s the church was redecorated. In 1952 the sanctuary was renovated and 5 paintings by Caracciolo were donated by Frank Crowley, of the parish. In 1955 a new floor was placed and the pews renovated.
The church is modeled after typical small Italian-Baroque parish churches and was built of tan/yellow Chicago brick.
Church is run by the Servants of Mary (Order of Servite Fathers), founded 1233 in Florence as a Mendican order by 7 founders: S. Bonifatius (Boniface); S. Bonaventa (Bonaventure); S. Alexius; S. Uneccio?; S. Manethuis?; S. Amideus; S. Sosteneus (Sostene). The order has been in the U.S. since 1870. Its mother-church is Sorrowful Mother on the west side.
The Italian community stood at 5,685 in 1890 and grew rapidly, reaching 16,008 by 1900. The newcomers settled mostly near Taylor and Halsted. The Servite Father conducted language instruction classes for Italians in the parishes: St. Joseph (German); St. Stephen (Irish); St. Procopius (Bohemian); St. Malachy (Irish).
In 1899 Sister Frances Xavier Cabrini and her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart opened Assumption, BVM School with an enrollment of nearly 500. The school was free of charge and for years the only Italian parochial school in Chicago. In 1946 Mother Cabrini became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

Assumption B.V.M./ St. Catherine of Genoa Church
640 W. 118^th St.
An African-American parish, the church is scheduled for closing 30 June 2002.

Assumption Greek Orthodox Church
601 S. Central (5600 west)
Original: Hellenic Orthodox Church, "The Assumption'
Architect: Peter E. Camburas, 1937-38
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1959/60
The building is in a Latin Cross plan with crossing dome (40 feet diameter) and clerestory. The heavy portico is reminiscent of the 11^th c. Cathedral of SS. Peter and Gorgonius in Minden, Germany.
Exterior stone is cream colored Lannon-stone from Wisconsin. There is a red tile rood, copper trim and oak doors.
The interior of the church was decorated in 1945 and again in the late 1970s with authentic Byzantine iconography. The windows by F.X. Zettler, 1959-60 are also in a Byzantine style and follow Byzantine iconography. The chandeliers which hang near the transepts were donated by Balaban and Katz in 1944.

St. Augustine Church
5045 S. Laflin St.
Architect: Brother Adrian Weaver, 1891-1892 and 1903-1904.

Barat College Sacred Heart Chapel (demolished)
Lake Forest IL
Architect: George Hellmuth, 1924 (of Hellmuth, Obata, Fassbaum)
Windows: FXZ and FM?
Staircase landing has 3 windows L to R:
St. Madeleine Sophie Barat?
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Priest blessing a Jesuit holding cross (WHO?)
Upper staircase has a large blue window dedicated to Mary in different functions.

CHAPEL
Facing the altar, LEFT side, front to back:
Annunciation
Mary and Elizabeth
Nativity
Presentation of Jesus in Temple
12 years old Jesus Teaching
Adult Jesus Teaching
Jesus Blessing Apostle Peter? A Traditio Legis?
Facing the altar, RIGHT side, front to back:
Risen Christ with children
Nole me Tangere
Out of Tomb
Crucifixion
Gethsemane
Jesus in boat stilling sea
Jesus with Children
The school was built in 1904 and the chapel was added 20 years alter, 1924. The windows were probably installed in 1924. The quality of painting is not at the 1904 level of Z-M. The firms suffered artistic losses in world war one and by 1924 the artistic directions in church art were changing fast. These windows represent a tradition view.

St. Barbara
2859 South Throop at Archer
Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1912-14
The Polish community grew so rapidly in the first decade of the 20thc. that another Catholic church was deemed necessary in this quarter of Bridgeport.
Construction began in June of 1912, with dedication ceremonies on 5 July 1914. The building is a centralized octagon of red brick with Indiana limestone trim. Though described as Renaissance, probably because of its references to early Bramante, it also follows Milanese or Bolognese Italian Romanesque. Windows are probably Munich Studio, somewhat dark and muddy.

St. Barnabas Church
101st Place and Longwood Drive (Beverly neighborhood)
Architect: 1924
Founded in an area not known for Catholics. During construction the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses in front of the structure.

St. Bartholomew Church
3601 N. Lavergne Ave.
Architect: Gerald A. Barry, 1937-38
Windows: F. Mayer & Co., installed 1939
The building is in an New England Anglican American Colonial style exterior. Inside is unremarkable with its almost flat vault, auditorium like, ceiling.

St. Basil (Greek Orthodox Church)
(former Anshe Sholom synagogue, 1910-27)
733 South Ashland at Polk
Architect: Alexander L. Levy, 1910
Int. Decor: iconostasis images by Philemon Savatis from Korfu, smaller icons by Ioasophaion Brothers from Mount Oros, Greece, 1930.
In 1927, this church became the third Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago.
The exterior is a limestone facing over brick. Four columns with Corinthian capitals support the pediment of the main portico. Three doors open into the building. Three stained glass windows survive over the doors, all others were sold in 1972. Pilasters with Corinthian capitals turn the corners. A dentil cornice sets off the eves. A wall-balustrade sets of the roof which is dominated by a double octagonal drum supporting a dome. Inside, the Pantocrator dominates the dome.

St. Basil/Visitation Church = DEMOLISHED 1998!
1843 W. Garfield at Peoria
Architect: Martin A. Carr drew up plans in 1891
Date: 1891-99,
St. Basil was designed by Joe McCarthy and built in 1925.
Windows: imported
Decoration: Interior by John A. Mallin redecorated in 1919-21.
Mosaic Stations of the Cross
In 1998 Joined with St. Basil when St. B. was torn down.
Visitation Church organized in 1886 for a predominantly Irish community living in the town of Lake (joined Chicago in 1889). Consolidated with St. Basil, 1996. The historic exterior was restored, slate roof and copper metal work restored. The stone was cleaned and tuck-pointed, and window frames were stripped and repainted. The adjacent rectory was demolished to make room for landscaped on-site parking. Jaeger, Nickola & Associated designed the remodeling of the church to meet current standards and provided handicapped accesses. New, angled pews were to enhance the sense of community. The work was to be completed in 2001!
Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan placed the cornerstone of the present rusticated Gothic Revival church on 26 June 1898.
Early in August 1963, two black families moved into a large apartment building in the 5600 block of Morgan St. and one black family moved in a home in the 5700 block of Morgan St. This moved touched off a week of racial strife during which 158 persons were arrested and many injured, including seven Chicago policemen. A steady departure of whites followed the strife.
Formerly Visitation Church, (cornerstone placed 26 June 1898)a rusticated Bedford limestone Gothic Revival exterior over a brick frame.  The interior is almost square. Four arches on each side define the side aisles. Wide transept.
The interior of building has been renewed, painted an off white and gray white with gold detailing. New woodwork. Altar niches to the left and right of the main altar are filled with newly configured marble altars and saints that may have come from the original church. The main altar is white and may also be reused. Large, rectangular, baptismal font to the left of the altar is new. Twenty four Gothic inspired alphabet letters are inhabited by a portrait of saints whose names are commemorated in full while the alphabet letter is the first letter of their name. (V= Vincent de Paul, O= Danielo O’Connell etc.) The letters are replaced by very agitated, flying angels in the apse.  The murals float against an off-white ground.
The stained glass windows are very bright with brash colors. The Rose window in the choir loft depicts the busts and instruments of martyrdom of the 12 Apostles with Christ with a Crown of Thorns in the center.
Ceiling ornamentation:
East side: O NP VB AN MD AG I
West side: G PL FD FA DL AP D
Balcony rose window: Apostles in lancets, Center = Xr. Suffering, crowned.
East left rose = Sacred Heart of Mary
West right rose = Sacred Heart of Jesus
Nave windows = West side, back to front: Jesus Raising Peter from water. Jesus Preaching in Temple.
Nave Windows = East side, back to front: Mary in Gloria, St. Dominic and Rosary.

DESTROYED St. Basil's Church (Roman Catholic) DESTROYED 1998
1850 W. Garfield Blvd.
Architect: Joe McCarthy, 1924
The exterior is of pressed brick with Indiana limestone columns, capitals and trim. The church is neo-Byzantine inspired, possibly by Sergius and Bacchus, Istanbul. There is a sun dial above the entrance.
In the apse, 7 columns, each of a different marble, surround the old altar. Vatican II has reconfigured the otherwise grand centralized interior.

St. Benedict R.C. Church
2201 W. Irving Park Rd.
Architect: Hermann J. Gaul, 1916-18
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1926 and 1956.
The cornerstone of the present church was placed by Archbishop George W. Mundelein 21 March 1917. The church was dedicated on 30 May 1918. The church cost $170,000.00. The debt was paid off by 1924. On 22 March 1926, Auxiliary Bishop Edward F. Hoban blessed six new bells, the product of the firm of H. Humpert, Brilon, Germany. That summer, St. Benedict received a German delegation to the XXVIII International Eucharistic Congress, held in Chicago.
The parish was founded as a mission of the German parish of St. Matthias at Ainslie St. and Claremont. At the time this area was known as West Lake View. (Now known as North Center). The German national parish was located within English-speaking parish of St. Andrew Church (founded 1894 at Addison and Paulina). The present rectory was completed in 1909.
The large, single towered church is of red brick with Bedford (Indiana) limestone trim, all in a neo-Italian Romanesque Revival style. The triple arched entrance, elevated above the level of the street, opens directly onto Irving Park Rd. The interior of is a German säxischer Stützenwechesel, and similar in proportion to Limburg an der Lahn.
The windows were installed in 1926. A set of 8 windows was ordered for the convent of St. Benedict's in 1927. Were these installed?
St. Benedict, patriarch of Western monks, was born in Norcia in Umbria, about A. D. 480 and died at Monte Cassino about A. D. 547. His feast day is 21 March. Little is known of his life. He went to Rome to study where the high life disturbed him. He turned to solitary, rural life at Subiaco. A community of monks asked him to become their abbot. This did not work, so he returned to Subiaco and gradually organized his own community. Monte Cassino was established about A. D. 529. His emblems are a broken cup and a raven.
His sister is St. Scholastica.

St. Benedict the African
340 W. 66^th and Stuart
Windows: Robert Cormin did monochrome ones. David Cisco, 1999 and 2001 and others
Wood carving: Jerzy Kenard
Tapestry: Robert Cormin of St. Louis. Died in 2000.
This is the third church on the site. The first was Irish Catholic.
A school and church building from the 1930s? has received the addition of a spiral into a centralized church addition. Inside the church is 12 sided and each wall is scalloped, its pleat facing the solid, laminated wood support of the ceiling. Around the walls skylights provide illumination for the interior and palm trees. The seating is arranged in a semi-circular set of rows facing the wooden altar. A large tapestry hangs on the wall behind the altar. A large baptismal font walled in granite river stones is set just of axis opposite the altar. It has three wooden gates and an octagonal skylight.

St. Bernard's Church
340 West 66th Street
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

St. Bernard's Hospital
64th and Dan Ryan
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1911, 1912, 1914

Bethany Evangelical Lutheran
1244 W. Thornedale
Originally a German congregation.
Two stained glass windows and a "Tree of Jesse" woodcarving grace the chancel were dedicated 5 May 1946 "To the Glory of God, and in Testimony of Pastor Karl G. Schlerf, by the Past Presidents of Bethany Ladies Aid." The design had been the suggestion of Pastor Kretzamnn. The Tree of Jesse contains twelve shields representing the twelve apostles. The windows, seven feet tall and 21 inches wide, show Mary and Martha attending Christ and the raising of Lazarus, both Bethany related scenes.

Bethel Apostolic Church (Apostolic)
5433 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago IL
Original: Congregation B'nai Israel
Architect: Peter M. Leichenko and Curt A. Essor, 1927

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
1410 N. Springfield Ave.
Chicago IL
Originall: Eveng. Luth. Bethel Kirche
Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1910

Bethel Lutheran Church
2101 N. Humboldt Blvd., 60647
Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1910.
Neo-Gothic inspired cruciform plan. The exterior is of red pressed brick. Large projecting towers. Seating for about 200.

Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church
3725 E. 105th St.
Chicago IL
Built 1922

Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Lutheran Missouri Synod)
10261 S. Avenue H
Chicago IL
Originally: Colehour German Lutheran Church
Built 1919

Bethlehem UCC
2746 N Magnolia at Diversey Pwky
Orignally: Deutsche Evang. Bethlehems Kirche
Architect: ?? 1884, remodeled 1938
Cut into Bedford limestone over the doorway is Ev. Bethlehems Kirche, probably the founding congregation. Set in stained glass over the door and below an image of Christ with open arms, is the name Bethlehem Evangelical. The glass is all opalescent.
A single, square, central tower dominates the facade, which is all of a uniform Bedford limestone. The nave of tan common Chicago brick with highlights ever the windows in red brick. The engaged buttresses have Bedford limestone caps. Overall the building is of quality materials and well maintained.
The sidewalls, north and south, have 5 large lancet windows each, one per bay. Buttresses determine the bay. The window imagery is not clear from the outside. There is some ornament and catalog glass visible. The windows have a resin based protective glazing, installed recently.
The high basement, on a Lamont limestone base, is windowed in each bay with paired Italianate window set in its original wooden frame.

Blackwell Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
3956 S. Langley Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church
Built: 1890-99.

Blessed Agnes Church
2655 S. Central Park Ave. (3600 west)
Architect: Joseph B. Rezny, 1925-26
Windows: Clinton Glass Co.

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
2153 S. Millard Ave/corner 22^nd (3600 West)
(Redemptorist)
Architect: McCarthy, Smith and Eppig, 1937.
Windows look to be Munich Studio, but the building is 1938.
The parish was organized in 1884 for Lawndale. Lawndale was a tract of land that was subdivided by Millard & Decker. Much of the area remained unbuilt until the 1890s. On the site there was a first church built for an Irish congregation of brick and with stained glass windows.
Lawndale flourished in 1902 when the Douglas Park “L” was extended to Pulaski.
In 1913 a rectory was built.
Throughout the 1920s Russian Jews moved into Lawndale. The 1930 census records that Russian Jews made up 1/2 of the population.
In May 1938 a new church was dedicated, designed by McCarthy, Smith and Eppig. Dark red brick exterior. Flat barrel vault, deep stichkappen, no columns. Stained glass windows in the “Munich” style, by??? Entrance windows clear with lead line geometric.
Several windows have been damaged.
In the later 1940s, blacks moved into Lawndale. In the course of the 1960s Mexican’s started moving in. Spanish language mass began in mid 1960s.

B'nai Zion Synagogue
6759 N. Greenview Ave.
Chicago IL
Architect: Edward P. Steinberg, 1927

Bond Chapel
University of Chicago Quadrangle
Architect: Coolidge and Hodgdon, 1925-26.
Associated with the Divinity School, the Chapel was given by Mary Olney Bond in memory of her husband, Joseph Bond, a former trustee of the Baptist theological Union. The windows are by Charles J. Connick of Boston and were donated by Edgar Goodspeed in honor of his wife, Elfleda Bond Goodspeed. The window above the altar presents scenes from the New Testament starting with the life of Jesus and his disciples, the spread of the faith, and the culmination in the visions of the Apocalypse. In the balcony is a small Schlicker organ. On Sundays Episcopalian services are held here.

St. Bonaventure Church
1641 W. Diversey Parkway
Architect: Joseph Molitor, 1913-1914.

St. Boniface Church (closed)
921 N. Noble St. (1348 W. Chestnut)
Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1902-04
Windows: F.X. Zettler, 1904

St. Brendan
Englewood Community celebrated its closing mass Sunday, September 4, 1988.

St. Bride Church
78^th and Cole
Architect:    1908
Windows: Munich Studio, 1910, Chicago, and Michaudel in Rectory staircase.
Slides and photographs  23 VI 1999
Twelve of the thirteen windows present full window scenes from the life of Christ. four smaller windows are the Evangelists.

St. Bridget Church
2928 S. Archer Ave. (1500 west)
Architect: Egan and Pridville, 1905-1906
Windows: Munich Studio

St. Bronislava Church
8708 S. Colfax Ave.
Built 1928

Bryn Mawr Community Church (Community Interdenominational)
7000 S. Jeffrey Blvd.
Originally: Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
Architect: A.N. Rebori, 1917

Buddhist Temple of Chicago
1151 W. Leland Ave.
Chicago IL

Buena Park Memorial Presbyterian Church (BUILDING COLLAPSED)
4301 N. Sheridan Rd.
Chicago IL
Architect: Ivan Viehe-Naess and Company, 1922

Canaan Baptist Church of Christ
6657 S. Harvard Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist
Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1904

St. Casimir Church
3047 W. Cermak / rectory 2226 S. Whipple.
521.8400
The Church, at Cermak Rd. and Whipple St., was founded in 1890 to serve Polish Catholics who had settled west of St. Adalbert Church, then located at 16^th and Paulina. In 1890, Rev. Francis X. Kroll organized the move of a door and sash factory at 20^th and Laflin to 22^nd and Whipple where it was converted into a church.
With the opening to Pulaski Road in 1902, of the Douglas Park branch of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway, the neighborhood grew rapidly in population. In 1904, ground was broken at 2232 S. Whipple for a new St. Casimir church. The cornerstone was placed 4 September 1904. The structure was designed by John Molitor. The building was dedicated Pentecost, 11 June 1905. The neighborhood continued to grow rapidly. Church membership rose from 800 families in 1910 to 2,000 families by 1917. A new church was needed. Ground was broken at 22^nd and Whipple with the cornerstone laid 9 September 1917. This church was designed in a Baroque style, an octagon, was dedicated 21 December 1919 by Archbishop George W. Mundelein. It was one of the first churches in the area to be fully electrified. The parish reached a peak membership of 3,300 families in mid 1920s.
Other churches by John Molitor include:
St. Laurence, 1911-12 (7142 South Dorchester)
SS. Cyril and Methodius, 1912-13 (5001 S. Hermitage)
St. Joseph, 1913-14 (1729 W. 48^th St.)
Holy Cross, 1913-15 (1736 W. 46^th St.)
Providence of God (lower church, 1914) (1800 S. Union Ave.)

Sisters of St. Casimir, Mother House chapel
2601 W. Marquette Road
Chicago IL 60629-1817
Windows are all TGA in a chapel built in early 1920s for St. Casimir Academy for Girls. All windows are signed, one twice and those with dates were dedicated in 1924-25.
Seen from the altar to the back of the chapel
right side                               left side
St. Elizabeth of Hungary         St. Casimir
Death of Joseph                     Ascension of BVM
Child Mary in Temple              Jesus Healing a Cripple
Jesus with Mary and Martha    Jesus with Children
The Sisters of St. Casimir were founded 29 August 1907 by Mother Maria Kaupas (1880, in Ramygala, Lithuania-1940, Chicago). The congregations emblem is a lily and sword in a crown. It was designed by Bishop Shanahan of Harrisburg, PA and given to the Sisters of Saint Casimir as a Christmas present in 1907. The lily symbolizes the single-heartedness; the sword symbolizes the need to battle against self-centeredness; and the crown symbolizes the gift promised by Jesus to those who are faithful. Taking their vows on 29 August 1907 in Harrisburg PA, the newly organized Sisters of St. Casimir began teaching at a newly built parish school, Holy Cross in Mt. Carmel, where Father Staniukunas ( strong supporter of the sisters) was pastor. He searched for a suitable place for the Sisters. It was on a fund gathering trip to Chicago that he encountered a very large Lithuanian population in serious need of teachers and clergy. He suggested the Sisters move to Chicago and build their Motherhouse. Cardinal Mundelein gave his approval in 1909.

St. Casimir Church (see Our Lady of Tepeyac)

St. Charles Lwanga Church
153 W. Garfield Blvd.
Originally St. Anne Church
Architect: Gregory Vigeant, 1875-1880

Cathedral of Faith Missionary Baptist Church
11336 S. State St.
Chicago IL

Cathedral of St. James (Episcopal)
65 E. Huron St.
Chicago IL
Architect: Edward J. Burling/ Burling & Bacchus, 1857/ 1875

Cathedral Memorial Missionary Baptist Church
249 N. Kedzie Blvd.
Chicago IL
Built 1890-99

Cenacle Retreat House,
513 W. Fullerton, Chicago
Windows: Designed and fabricated by Adolfas Valeska. (digital IMAGES)
The Cenacle was the place chosen by Jesus for the celebration of the Pascal Meal = the room to which the Apostles and a Mary returned to await the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. Today, the Cenacle is a place of spiritual renewal.
The Fullerton Parkway Cenacle was founded in 1920. The other Chicago Cenacle is at 11600 Longwood Dr. (= home of the Walgreen Family) since 1949.
The Religious of the Cenacle originated in La Louvesc, France in 1826, near the tomb of St. John Francis Regis, the Jesuit apostle of the poor, by Jean-Pierre-Etienne Terme, a holy and zealous missionary priest of the Diocese of Viviers, and Marie-Victoire-Therese, age 20. An American foundation followed in 1892, in New York. The Fullerton Cenacle was founded by Mother Marie Majoux and five sisters with Mother Ludovica Theodoli as superior.
Windows by Valeska Art Studio (1950-) was born in Kaun as, Lithuania, 1901. Studied in Paris and Berlin and moved to the US, late 1940s. First in New York, then in Chicago in the 1950s, he opened his studio on N. State Street. He worked in slab glass and epoxy resins. His Rodfei Zedek windows received the Honor Award of the Am. Assoc. of Architects in 1966.
Other Valeska windows are:
Cenacle Retreat House Chapel, 11600 S. Longwood Dr.
Cenacle Retreat House Chapel, 513 W. Fullerton
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, 6812 S. Washtenaw Street
O’Hare 42^nd Parallel Restaurant and Lounge (extant?)
Palos Community Hospital Chapel, 80^th Ave. & McCarthy Road, Palos Heights
St. Philomena Church, 1921 N. Kedvale Ave Chicago 773.489.1100
Polish Jesuit Residence Chapel, 4105 N. Avers
Rodfei Zedek Temple, 5200 S. Hyde Park Blvd (extant?)

Cenacle Retreat House,
116000 South Longwood Drive.
The east wall of the chapel is a triptych window designed, fabricated, and installed by Conrad Pickel Studio of Vero Beach, FL in 1962. Its subject is Christ as King.
Conrad Pickel came to the U.S. in the 1930s after eight years of art studies in München and eight years of apprenticeship with Franz Mayer Co. Pickel established his own studio in the U.S. in New Berlin, WI in the mid-1940s with a branch in Vero Beach, FL in the mid 1950s He closed the New Berlin studio in the early 1970s and moved to FL. His son Paul has been involved in the studio there.

Chicago Evangelic Center
1336-40 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Wicker Park Methodist Episcopal Church
Built: 1887

Chicago Milal Church(Presbyterian)
4500 N. Spaulding Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Albany Park Baptist Church
Architect: Wheelock and Shank, 1914-15

The Chicago Temple - First United Methodist Church
77 W. Washington St.
Architect: Holabird and Root, 1922-24.
A skyscraper church, 568 feet tall, with neo-medieval inspired decoration. The sanctuary windows were designed and installed by Giannini & Hilgart in the 1940s. Lubomyr Wandzurka designed the 10-backlit windows facing the Miro sculpture court in 1965. A graduate of the AIC who was also chief-designer for Giannini & Hilgart became president of the firm in 1970, succeeding Fred Hilgart, son of Fritz Hilgart, founder.

Chicago Theological Seminary (Windows and some interior Destroyed)
5757 S, University
Architect: H. H. Riddle & Riddle, 1926.
The seminary was founded in 1855 by clergy and laity from Congregational Churches of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. East wing contains residences, the west wing two chapels, a library and classrooms.
Stones from around the world mark lend the cloister special distinction.
Hilton Memorial Chapel is a gem, built a few years before the rest of the complex. Windows by Willett Stained Glass Studios of Philadelphia. Founded by William Willett (1867?-1921). The studio opened in 1898.
The tower is a memorial to the Chicago Daily News, newspaper publisher, Victor F. Lawson.

Christ Episcopal Church (demolished)
2401 S. Michigan (now Joyce Ford dealership)
the congregation was founded in 1859 and they built a church at 2401 S. Michigan in 1864. The Building was sold in the 1920 with several LCT windows removed. The LCT windows were installed in  a new church (location?)

Christ Temple Cathedral
62 W. 111th Place
Chicago IL
Originally: Bethany Reformed Church
Built 1925

Christ the Redeemer Byelorrusian Byzantine Church (Byzantine Catholic/Slavic rites)
3107 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Christ the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church
Architect: Alfred Alschuler, 1930-31

Christian Missionary Baptist Church
132 W. 104th St.
Chicago IL
Originally: Fourth Christian Reformed Church
Built 1920

Christian Pentecostal Church
1035 N. Richmond St.
Chicago IL
Built 1903

St. Chrysostom's Church (Episcopal)
1424 N. Dearborn Parkway
Architect: Chester H. Walcott, 1925-26
Windows: TeDeum window by Connick of Boston.
The Parish was incorporated in 1894. A frame church was built on the present location. In 1925, the present limestone church was built. The open cloister is also the entrance to the sanctuary. On the left is a large mosaic of St. John (c.345-407 AD) Patriarch of Constantinople. His exemplary life and teaching lent him the honorary title CHRYSOSTOM (Greek for golden mouthed). The mosaic replicates one in the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul.
The main altar is hand carved oak with mounts of carved limewood. The panels depict the Nativity, Crucifixion and Ascension of Christ.
The altar and the sanctuary are the last commissions of Chicago architect David Adler.
The organ is a four-manual 90-rank Möller installed in 1979.
Windows
Between the banks of pipes is the great Te Deum Laudamus window showing Christ, King of Glory surrounded by men and women of the Old and New Testament. The window is the design of Charles J. Connick of Boston. The north nave windows show Mary, Elizabeth, Martha and Mary of Bethany. Across from them, on the south side stand the four evangelists, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, and John the Baptist.
The great Ascension panel in the north transept is also the work of Connick. It was dedicated in 1937.
Throughout the church are fleur-de-lis, symbolizing the Holy Trinity and beehives, symbolizing St. John Chrysostom, whose words flowed like honey..
A 6-ton, 43-bell carillon made in Croydon, England was installed in 1927. The bells range is size from 9 to 5,600 pounds.
St. John Chrysostom: (born Antioch, c. 347, died near Comana in Pontus, 14 September 407. Feast day is 27 January. Bishop and one of the four Greek doctors of the Church. Above all he was a preacher. He spoke eloquently, straightforward and practical to the common person. His sermons are very well known.
He was from a wealthy Greek family, well educated. After some time as a hermit in the mountains, he joined the clergy at Antioch in 381, and in 389 he was elected archbishop of Constantinople.  He spoke out against wealth and wickedness with the effect that the wealthy hated him and the nobility feared him. In 403 he was deposed and sent into exile in Armenia, from where his influence was still heard. He wrote letters about this time which still survive. He was then moved even further away and died in 407 on the road.

Church of Christ
3300 W. Monroe St.
Chicago IL
Originally: The Tabernacle Baptist Church
Built 1900

Church of Our Lady of Victory
5212 W. Agatite Ave.
Chicago IL
Built 1920-29

Church of Our Savior (Catholic)
2624 N. Fairfield Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Trinity Danish Lutheran Church
Architect: J.F. Knutson, 1902

Church of Our Savior, Episcopal
530 W. Fullerton Parkway (2400 north)
Architect: Clinton J. Warren, 1888-89
Windows: Main window by Tiffany Associated Artists

Church of Saint Bride
7811 S. Coles Ave.
Architect:  ?  1908
Windows: Munich Studio, 1910
Twelve large windows depict scenes from the life of Christ. Four smaller windows depict the Evangelists.

Church of the Advent (Episcopal)
2610 N. Francsico Ave.
Chiago IL.
Architect: Jenny, Mundie and Jensen, 1926

Church of the Ascension (Episcopal)
1133 N. LaSalle 60610
architect: Albert Wilcox and John Tilton, 1882-87
windows: nearest entrance by Reynolds, Francis and Rohnstock of Boston, 1925. Others by Willet Studio, 1966, 1967.
The church was built 1881-87, but the present front dates to 1930 when LaSalle Street was widened and the porch of the church was removed. The present crucifix on the west facade is from the original rood screen of 1887. The interior is high Episcopal.
Edward (or John?) Stout designed the high altar and iron rood screen in 1894.

Church of the Atonement (Episcopal)
5749 N. Kenmore Ave.
Chicago IL
Architect: Henry Ives Cobb, 1890, with an addition by John E.O. Pridmore, 1910,1919.
Windows: Willett did chapel windows in 1925

Church of the Epiphany
201 S. Ashland Blvd. 60607.
Architect: Burling & Whitehouse, 1885
An identical church design is St. Thomas, Sioux City, Iowa (1891-2). This one is of Sioux City granite.  Plans by local architect, John W. Martin, John M. Poorbough was contractor.
The Church of the Epiphany is to be saved, again. In desperate need of restoration, again.
The present building was the anchor of an effort to establish an Episcopal church south of Madison Street began with the purchase of land in 1868 and the construction of a wooden church that could seat 400 people built at a cost of $7,250.
As a direct result of the Great Chicago Fire, the west side of Chicago grew rapidly. This area, after all, had not been effected and proved the perfect local to live in, near the center of the city, yet far enough away. By the early 1880s the congregation had grown large enough to think of a new building, and built one following the plans of Francis Whitehouse. The new church opened its doors for the first time in December 1885. The congregation had taken out a loan to build the church and was still in need of an organ and a rectory. To help raise the necessary funds, the church's pews were rented out regularly to other organizations. Soon the church had a fine organ and a rectory.
The style of the church is known as Richardsonian Romanesque, named after the great American architect, H.H. Richardson. Its red stone is Lake Superior Sandstone and its style is pure late 19th century American, not Medieval. The finely ornamented cut stone of the bell tower encloses three bells and has certain English Norman aspirations as Richardson imagined them.
The interior of the Church of the Epiphany is one of the great rooms of the Midwest. It has no columns, only a heavy, diagonal, truss support system holds the roof in place. It spans about 60 feet. This truss system is Pugin-Ruskin inspired Gothic Revival based on the great medieval halls and barns of England and Belgium. As a wainscoting, the walls are covered in rust red, square tiles inspired by Celtic and Visigoth patterns. Above these the blue walls have a faint trace of the original floral pattern bleeding through. The windows, three over four, symbolize the trinity in the top row and as seven, the sacraments of the church. Their glazing is as fine an example of Arts and Crafts glasswork as can be found in the Midwest from the 1880s. The pews, choir seating and other furnishings are of cherry wood probably worked by one of Chicago's fine furniture makers and represent an English style known as Eastlake. The ornate cast iron heating grates mounted in the floor are original to the building.
Today, the church houses a three manual organ with Austin console and Schumacher Memorial fanfare trumpets.
The altar is unique in Chicago in that it was designed as a sarcophagus for the first rector. As fate would have it, he lays buried elsewhere. Directly above this altar is a glass mosaic representation of the Resurrection. It was made in 1912 by M.C. Dart of New York. To the left and right are mosaics of angels constructed of Venetian glass. These date to the building of the church, 1885. Two more Venetian glass mosaics flank the angles. The Mother and Child on the left, dated 1896, and Jesus bearing the cross on the right, dated, 1897. High above the central mosaic is a relief sculpture in Lake Superior Sandstone of the Epiphany, the Three Kings adoring the Christ Child. Trumpeting angels flank the event. From this scene the church derives its name and its feast day, January 6.
In the early 1970s, thieves removed the Tiffany styled nave windows. What remains is a roundel showing a Pelican feeding its young. and some ornamental pieces.  Replacement windows were commissioned from Edgar Miller.
Today, the Church of the Epiphany is only a shadow of its former, glorious self, yet remains an undisputed monument to its age in Chicago and a cornerstone of an enthusiastic community it is now serving.

Church of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic)
3111 S. Aberdeen St.
Chicago IL
Architect: Herman J. Gaul and Albert Fischer, 1908-10

Church of the Living God, Temple 120 (Church of God)
6000 S. Union St.
Chicago IL
Originally: Fourth Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church
Built 1895

Church of the Mediator (Episcopal)
10961 S. Hoyne Ave.
Chicago IL
Architect: Waterman?, 1929

Church of the Valley
1048 W. Barry Ave.
Chicago IL
Originally: Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church
Built 1887

St. Clara and St. Cyril
6401 S. Woodlawn (1200 east)
Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1923-27
Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

St. Clement,
642 W. Deming
Architect: George D. Barnett, 1917-18 of the St. Louis firm of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett.
Windows: Gorham of New York
Limestone. A smaller version of the St. Louis cathedral, also designed by Barnett. Clement I was a pope and martyr, end 1c. under Trajan . Clement was drowned. Anchor is his symbol. The dome measures 103 feet across and is 163 feet high.
Led by Adam Kasper, St. Clement was founded as a German national parish not to be associated with the Irish and Polish nearby churches. The completed church is inspired by the recently completed Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, designed by the same firm, which in turn was inspired by a wave of Byzantine Revival architecture and style then popular in England and Germany. The Byzantine Revival, loosely modeled after Sergius Bacchus in Constantinople more than the Haghia Sophia in the same metropolis, contributes the idea of the great dome, though not its profile. The dome is much steeper in profile than domes early Byzantine architects were capable of engineering. The profile is closer to the early style engineered by the designers of the domes of St. Mark's in Venice and those in Constantinople by SInan the incomparable Ottoman architect. The Facade and the interior is modeled after Medieval norhtern Italian and French churches as sifted through the revival filter of both 19th and century Germany and England. In sum, the complex structure of St. Clement is an amalgam of architecture from the Eastern Roman Empire, now called the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and severa Italian and French Medieval conventions that make St. Clement a strictly 19th and early 20th century conflation of the origins of Christianity, East and West in one.

St. Columbanus Church,

331 E. 71^st. (between Calumet and Prairie) Called Park Manor

Architect: James Burns, 1923-1924

Founded 1909 for Irish-Americans. Area became African-American by 1954.

Most of the interior fixtures are removed and no longer there.

The Domincans started the church.

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

(Concordia evangelische lutheranische Kirche, U.A.C.)

2645 W. Belmont at Washtenaw, 60618

Originally: Concordia Evang. Luth. Kirche, U.A.C.

Architect: Frederick Ahlschlager, 1892. 150 ft. tower

Windows: art glass of little significance.

Brown brick with Indiana limestone trim. The main tower is 150 ft. The building cost $25,000.

Chicago Historic Resources Survey #21-33-11-003. The building was not noted as of special importance.

Became a Lutheran Missouri Synod, which is different from Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America.

Other German Lutheran Evangelical Reform Churches joined UCC.

Interior has 3 hanging arches, no columns, to designate nave, wide transept, another 2 hanging arches define the apse. Vaulting designates aisles only at vault level. Vault ends foliated. Three chandeliers, lights in a ring, from the early 1960s. Clerestory windows have been blocked.

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church

3855 N. Seeley (near Belmont and Western)

Architect: Andrew E. Norman, 1910.

The congregation was founded in 1898 and built its church in 1910.

Congregation Bickur-Cholim-Agudus Achim

8923 S. Houston (1 block East of Commercial)

Agudath Achim-Bikur Cholim is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 8927 Houston Avenue in the South Chicago community. Bikur Cholim, the original congregation at this site, was issued a charter by the State of Illinois in July 1888 and the City of Chicago issued a permit in May 1902 to construct a synagogue at the present address. Built and completed in 1902, it housed a congregation of 500 Eastern European Jewish families at its peak. Designed by architect Henry L. Newhouse, the Romanesque structure is almost hidden away in a row of houses on Houston Ave. It was the first public building built without obstructing support posts. The synagogue also has excellent acoustics. The synagogue had a separate balcony for women because Orthodox Judaism requires the separation of men and women during religious services. In 1972 Congregation Agudath Achim, located at 7933 S. Yates, sold its facilities and merged with Bikur Cholim. Agudath Achim means "society of brothers" and Bikur Cholim means "visiting the sick". In recent years most of the Jewish population of the area has moved and there was difficulty maintaining a "minyon", a quorum of 10 men needed to hold religious services. Since 1994 the synagogue has shared its building with the Beth Shalom B'nai Zakam Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation. Some of the members of the former synagogue still worship there. The synagogue has the distinction of being Chicago's oldest continuously operating synagogue and is the only synagogue in the city south of 55th street and east of Kedzie. This remnant of a South Chicago past that prominently featured Jews and Jewish institutions remains. The Hispanic names on storefronts in the neighborhood give no hint that European Jews owned many of the businesses in the first half of the century.

Corpus Christi

4900 S. Martin Luther King Dr. (400 east)

Architect: Joe W. McCarthy, 1914-16

Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

The building is of Bedford limestone in a style inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Rustication on the ground and smooth above. A Palladian window marks the center.

The church history is three distinct p[arts. The church was founded 5 June 1901 for an Irish, Anglo-Protestant and Jewish neighborhood. When the present church was completed the neighborhood was staring to change and by 1928, only 100 white persons attended Sunday mass and 21 children registered for the school.

The pastor resigned and the parish was closed 3 May 1929. Cardinal Mundelein turned the parish over to the Franciscan fathers as a retreat center. In 1932 they reopened the parish to the blacks in the neighborhood and the church continues to live to this day.

The original parish was carved out of St. Elizabeth; Holy Angels; St. Cecilia and St. Anne. The first mass was celebrated by Father Henneberry in September 1901 in the Sister's Chapel of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls. This institution was operated by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and was located at 4900 S. Prairie Ave.

A new chapel , designed by William J. Brinkman, was opened on for Mass on Christmas Day, 1901.. The parish grew very fast over the next several years.

The present church was opened for mass on Christmas Day, 1915 and dedicated 25 June 1916.

Corpus Christi is Latin for Body of Christ, a reference to the sacred bread which Jesus gave to his followers at the Last Supper.

The interior is a large and has no pillars. One of the ceiling coffered fell in June 1975 and the church was closed. The parish complained and under the guidance of architect Paul Straka, each of the coffers was repaired and hung on wires. The church reopened for the 75th Anniversary.

The windows are by F. X. ZETTLER. North wall depicts Jesus Feeding the Multitudes. East windows depicts Pope Pius X carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession accompanied by Rev. Thomas O'Gara, who founded Corpus Christi , the Sisters of Mercy who taught in the school and the prominent Irish Catholics who helped fund the window and the church.

Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer-Holiness (since 1991)

was built as Holy Cross Catholic Church in 1909, designed by W.J. Brinkmann

Cosmopolitan Community Church

5259 S. Wabash Ave.

Chicago IL

Built in 1924

Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago (since December 1993)

Formerly the Cathedral of All Saints of the Polish National Catholic Church

2012 W. Dickens

Architect: John G. Steinbach, 1931

Exterior: neo Gothic Revival, terra cotta, brick with some composite cement stone.

Interior: murals, stained glass and fine carved neo-gothic altars (said to be imported from Italy).

The founding congregation formed in 1895 by a group unhappy with the Resurrectionist Order at St. Hedwig's, three blocks away. The Gothic Revival style of this church is distinctly different from the traditional Polish Renaissance style of other Polish churches. This was intentional. The stained glass window over the entrance depicts St. Cecilia.

St. Chrysostom's Church

1424 N. Dearborn Parkway

Architect: Chester H. Walcott, 1925-26

Windows: TeDeum window by Connick of Boston.

The Parish was incorporated in 1894. A frame church was built on the present location. In 1925, the present limestone church was built. The open cloister is also the entrance to the sanctuary. On the left is a large mosaic of St. John (c.345-407 AD) Patriarch of Constantinople. His exemplary life and teaching lent him the honorary title CHRYSOSTOM (Greek for golden mouthed). The mosaic replicates one in the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul.

The main altar is hand carved oak with mounts of carved limewood. The panels depict the Nativity, Crucifixion and Ascension of Christ.

The altar and the sanctuary are the last commissions of Chicago architect David Adler.

The organ is a four-manual 90-rank Möller installed in 1979.

Windows

Between the banks of pipes is the great Te Deum Laudamus window showing Christ, King of Glory surrounded by men and women of the Old and New Testament. The window is the design of Charles J. Connick of Boston. The north nave windows show Mary, Elizabeth, Martha and Mary of Bethany. Across from them, on the south side stand the four evangelists, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, and John the Baptist.

The great Ascension panel in the north transept is also the work of Connick. It was dedicated in 1937.

Throughout the church are fleur-de-lis, symbolizing the Holy Trinity and beehives, symbolizing St. John Chrysostom, whose words flowed like honey..

A 6-ton, 43-bell carillon made in Croydon, England was installed in 1927. The bells range is size from 9 to 5,600 pounds.

St. John Chrysostom: (born Antioch, c. 347, died near Comana in Pontus, 14 September 407. Feast day is 27 January. Bishop and one of the four Greek doctors of the Church. Above all he was a preacher. He spoke eloquently, straightforward and practical to the common person. His sermons are very well known.

He was from a wealthy Greek family, well educated. After some time as a hermit in the mountains, he joined the clergy at Antioch in 381, and in 389 he was elected archbishop of Constantinople. He spoke out against wealth and wickedness with the effect that the wealthy hated him and the nobility feared him. In 403 he was deposed and sent into exile in Armenia, from where his influence was still heard. He wrote letters about this time which still survive. He was then moved even further away and died in 407 on the road.

Diversey Boulevard United Methodist Church

1055 W. Diversey

Originally named Diversey Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church

Building, 1905

St. Dominic Church

869 N. Sedgwick St.

Windows: Munich Studio

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (former Temple Isaiah)

4501 S. Vincennes Ave.

773.373.6144

Architect: Dankmar Adler, 1898-99.

The building is built of "Roman" tan-pinkish bricks set in thin mortar and Bedford, Indiana limestone. Its shape is something of a Greek Cross 127 feet long and 97 feet wide. Inside its auditorium is 90 by 80 feet and is said to have nearly perfect acoustics. This hall is the last of Dankmar Adler's interiors. He died within a year of its completion.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1902 in a move from Olivet Baptist Church on 27th and Dearborn. Before acquiring its present building, the Ebenezer congregation met in Arlington Hall, 31st and Indiana, and then in 1903 moved to a building at 35th and Dearborn where it then stayed 18 years before purchasing Isaiah Temple in 1921. Ebenezer is a biblical word meaning "rock of help.".

Ebenezer Lutheran Church

1650 W. Foster

Founded as Svenska Ev. Lutherska - Ebenezer Kyrkan

Architect: Andrew E. Norman, 1904-1912

Ebenezer Lutheran Church

1248 S. Harding Ave.

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1912-1913

St. Edmund Church

188 South Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park 60302-2974

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks

Windows: F.X. ZETTLER

The gold leaf decoration of the sanctuary was undertaken in 1943 and completed in 1951. The total cost was $33,000. Much of it was painted over during the renovation in the late 1990s.

St. Edmund's Epicopal Church

6105 S. Michigan Ave.

Originally SS. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church

Architect: Jens Jensen, 1927-1928.

Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist

4359 S. Michigan Ave

Church of Christ, Scientist

Architect: Leon Stanhope, 1910.

Emmanual Baptist Church of Chicago

6820 S. Emerald Ave.

Originally Salem Evangelical Church

Architect: W.H. Lantz, 1926.

Emmanuel Presbyterian Church

1850 S. Racine

Architect: Edward D. Dart, 1965

Small red brick church is irregular in silhouette. The entranceway adjoins the bell tower, and just inside is the cancel with the pews fanning out to the right. The inside walls are all plain brick. The main body of the church is wider than it is deep in order to keep the congregation close to the service. The pews are placed so that people are gathered close to the Lord’s Supper. The floor level is the same throughout the sanctuary. This suggests the availability of Christ to all the people. Only the pulpit is raised, not to exalt the preacher, but to exalt the Word of God.

The baptismal font is placed just inside the entrance to remind the worshipers that baptism is the means by which each one enters Christ’s church. The Chancel is central, the walls converge on it, the ceiling raises to exalt it.

Episcopal Cathedral of St. James

65 E. Huron

Architect: Edward J. Burling, 1857,then Burling & Bacchus, 1875

Windows: mostly Heaton, Butler & Bayne, London, c.1885. Several windows are of unknown manufacture, probably English. The great Christ the King window (the Randall Memorial window), over the entrance is the work of Charles J. Connick of Boston, 1963. The window is a particularly powerful mismatch with the rest of the building.

The Cathedral is the oldest Episcopal Church in Chicago. The parish was organized in 1834. Its exterior, Lemont (Joliet) limestone with Bedford, Indiana limestone trim, was originally built in1856-7. The final completion and dedication of the church structure was in September, 1871. On 9 October, the second day of the Great Fire, the church was mostly destroyed. Portions of the exterior walls and the bell tower survived. It was rebuilt in1875.

The single, large tower to one side of three doorways is typical English neo-Gothic styling in the style of Pugin. The doorways open into a large narthex. On the left (north) wall of the narthex is an altar erected "In honor of those who fought -- in memory of these who fell," in the Civil War. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead of Vuax, Withers and Olmstead of New York, the altar survived the fire.

In the central nave entrance way stands an important Carrara marble font, the Paul C. Popp Memorial. It was carved by Augusta Freeman, in 1874 and given to the Church in 1875.

The hammer-beam truss vault as well as the walls bear the 1888-9 stencil décor of E.J. Neville Stent an English Episcopal inspired neo-Gothic Revival Arts and Crafts design living in New York. In 1985 the Holabird and Root with Walter Johnson undertook the restoration. Bob Furhof returned the walls and vault to their original splendor.

Outside, along the north side of the church is the Chapel of St. Andrew. Designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, it is replicated after a late gothic priory chapel in Southern Scotland. The chapel opened in 1913 as a memorial to James L. Houghteling and his Bible class that founded the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew in 1893. The altar area is particular importance. The altar painting is by Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936). The floor tiles are set in lead? and may be medieval or manufactured after Pugin or Morris designs. The stained glass roundels are very fine examples of Dutch-Renaissance Revival from the 1880s or are of a later revival of medieval painted glass from the 1920s, as at Cranbrook. A silver ewer and paten designed by Ralph Adam Cram are preserved in the Cathedral treasury.

Epworth United Methodist Church

5253 N. Kenmore

Originally Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: Frederick B. Townsend, 1890 and 1930

Windows: over doorway art glass maybe Chicago made, early 1890s, nave, modern

The congregation was founded in 1888 and quickly constructed the current building, 1890. The neo-Romanesque exterior is of randomly coursed rusticated boulders with the nave wall sporting buttresses. An addition was built by Thielbar & Fugard in 1930. The massive boulders of the outside walls are said to have been gathered from the farm and summer home owned by L.T.M. Slocum (founder of the congregation) near Lake Geneva, WI. They were floated down on barges. At the time, the church was very near the lakeshore and a slip dug out on Berwyn Ave. allowed the barges to rest next to the church’s site.

Evangelical Baptist Church

5008 W. Wellington Ave.

Originally Belmont Park Lutheran Church

Architect: A.V. Tusen, 1921-22

Evangelical Spanish Baptisdt Church

3008 W. Cortland Street

Originally The Temple Baptist Church

Architect: S.M. Sealor, 1923

Faith Deliverance Temple Baptist Church

3540 W. 15th St.

Originally Beth Jacob Synagogue

Architect: Himmelblau, 1919-1920

Faith Evengelical Lutheran Church

8300 S. Sangamon St.

Built 1922

Faith Temple, Church of God in Christ

7158 S. Peoria St.

Originally Second Christian Reformed Church

Built 1925

Faith United Methodist Church

335 W. 75th St.

Originally Auburn Park Methodist

Architect: Frey?, 1892 and 1912 tower addition

Fellowship Methodist Church

Originally West Pullman Methodist Episcopal Church

Cornerstone: 1893

Fifth Illinois State Temple - Church of God in Christ

Originally First Christian Reformed Church of Roseland

First Baptist Congregational Church,

60 N. Ashland Ave. (1600 west)

Architect: Gurdon P. Randall, 1869-71

Windows: regular opalescent glass, said to be imported from Italy. Most probably manufactured by Misch & Co., Chicago

The neo-Gothic Revival exterior is of Lemont limestone. The building and its 175 feet tall steeple command a powerful presence across from Union Park.

The congregation was founded in 1851 First Congregational Church, and later merged with the Union Park congregation. Together they acquired this building in 1910. Hardly noticeable from the outside the church is almost square in plan. A free-span wooden truss system covers the very large sanctuary. Its graduated Akron seating plan focuses on the pulpit. The truss-system was reinforced in 1927. There is no processional space.

The furnishings are all 1851. A horseshoe shaped balcony runs around the room and cuts the windows.

Installed after the renovations of 1927, the organ, a Kimball, is said to be the largest of its type ever built.

First Church of Deliverance

4315 S. Wabash Ave.

Architect: Walter T. Bailey, 1929 or 1939. Bailey was first Black architect registered in IL

Founded by Rev. Clarence H. Cobbs in 1929, this was the first Spiritual congregation in IL. In 1934, Sunday services began to be broadcast on the radio. Early on it accepted Gospel music and broadcast it.

Chicago based artist Fred Jones created two murals and designed 3 sets of double doors for the main entrance.

First Immanuel Lutheran Church

1124 S. Ashland Ave.

Architect: Frederick Ahlschlager, 1888.

First Lutheran Church of the Trinity

635 W. 31st. St.

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1912-1913.

First Presbyterian Church

6400 S. Kimbark (1300 east)

Architect: Thomas Tallmadge & Vernon Watson, 1927-28

Windows: R. Toland Wright Studios of Cleveland, 1927-28, and 3 by Willett Studio of Philadelphia behind the altar.

Dedicated: 14 October 1928.

The congregation was founded by 12 men and 4 women, 26 June 1833 inside old Fort Dearborn. Rev. Jeremiah Porter was the pastor. It was the first church organized in the City of Chicago. Its building was the largest hall in town and for the next few decades was used as a school, concert hall and amphitheater for political debates. In the 1840s the church founded Wellesley College, and in the 1880s was pivotal in founding what was to become Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital. In the later 19th century the congregation moved around the loop, then to 21st and Indiana and in 1913 merged with Forty-First Street Presbyterian.

The merged congregation occupied a church at 41st and Grand Blvd. (now King Dr.). In 1926 First Church merged with Woodlawn Park Presbyterian Church. In 1928 they commissioned Tallmadge and Watson to built their current structure at 64th and Kimbark.

At the time of the dedication, Tallmadge wrote, "The building is of variegated Indiana limestone ... Its great tower is 125 feet in height ... The massiveness and plainness of the walls is broken by buttresses, heavy and powerful on the church and light and graceful on the parish house. ... Archangels crown the tower."

The building is neo English Gothic Revival inspired. Its exterior is all Indiana limestone. The great tower has open tracery windows to hide the bells, small balconies and an angel (archangel?) at each corner. A cloister between the church and the parish house is decorated in neo- late French Gothic inspired capitals.

The sanctuary is 95 x 62 feet x 49 feet high. Ornate woodcarving, stone work and stenciling of the high quality is visible throughout.

The nave windows, depicting scenes from the life of Christ are by R. Toland Wright Studios of Cleveland.

The 40 feet high, plaster, imitation-stone, reredos, was designed by Elizabeth Eberlee. Its three stained glass windows are the work of the Willet Stained Glass Studios, Philadelphia, and represent the Lord in Glory with Mary and St. John.

The three murals, painted by Jean J. Myall, represent the three archangels, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael.

The organ is a four-manual Möller with 70 stops and 3,300 pipes.

In the church and cloister is a collection of stones from the four former churches of the congregation and from other famous churches and historic sites of the world, including The Temple at Karnak, St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, The Lateran, Rome.

Old First Presbyterian stood at 21^st and Indiana was originally built for Calvary Church, but after the Great Fire of 1871, First and Calvary merged completing the construction. First church was here from 1871-1913.

41^st Street Presbyterian was organized as a Sunday school sponsored by members of First Church in 1871. The congregation grew quickly requiring a stone church to be built at the corner of 41^st and Grand Blvd (now King Drive). First Church merged with 41^st and moved into its building in 1913, remaining there until 1926.

Sixth Presbyterian was founded in 1875 when Ninth Pres. And Grace Pres. Merged. The church was located at 36^th St. and Vincennes Ave. In 1918, Sixth Church merged with First Church and sold its building to an African-American Presbyterian church, now known as 6^th Grace Presbyterian Church.

Woodlawn Park congregation was formed in 1885 with support of the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church. They built a building in 1900 that was small by 1925. In 1926, First and Woodlawn Park churches merged taking the name First. A new building was erected on the site of the Woodlawn Park Church. The cornerstone from 1900 survives in the Garth of First Pres.

Other stones in the Garth:

Palestine Quarries. Three stones quarried in the Holy Land, one each from the quarries of King Solomon, Bethlehem, and Nazareth are installed in the Garth.

Westminster Abbey. At the Parish House entrance is a stone from Westminster Abbey which is certified to have been quarried in 1235.

St. Olave’s, London. As early as 1281, there was a St. Olave’s Church in London. This stone comes from the building constructed in 1740.

Rheims Cathedral. A niche at the south end of the cloister holds a stone brought from the Cathedral at Rheims.

Chester Cathedral. A stone of “dog-tooth” pattern comes from an arch in the front wall of the red sandstone cathedral built in 1093.

Old Rehoboth. The oldest Presbyterian Church in America was founded in 1683 in Old Rehoboth, Maryland. The four bricks are from the building erected in 1706.

St. Andrew’s, Toronto. In the wall of the parish house is a stone from St. Andrew’s the oldest existing Presbyterian church of Toronto , Canada.

St. Peter’s, Geneva. The consistory of St. Peter’s Protestant Cathedral at Geneva, Switzerland, presented a carved capital from their historic church to the First Pres. In 1928. St. Peter’s was the church in which John Calvin worked and preached, and it may be regarded as the mother church of all Presbyterian and Reform congregations. The stone was received with this inscription: “This stone from Calvin’s Church in Geneva is presented to the First Pres. Church of Chicago as a token of international friendship.”

Fort Dearborn. In the ceiling of the cloister is a rough oak timber from Fort Dearborn, where the Reverend Jeremiah Porter and a little group of citizens and soldiers organized the First Pres. Church in 1833. The piece of wood was presented to the Church by the Chicago Historical Society.

In the Sanctuary:

The Temple of Karnak. At the end of the south aisle is a stone dating from 1300 BC. It depicts the Pharaoh Seti I, receiving a captive Philistine king. Seti I was the Father of Ramses II, the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

St. John’s Lateran. In the chancel floor is a fragment of Porta Santa marble from St. John’s Lateran, oldest church in Rome.

Temple Du Chabas. A stone from the Waldensian church of Chabas, built in 1555, and still used as place of worship, may be seen in the middle aisle of the sanctuary near the chancel.

In the Chapel:

St. Peter’s, Rome, in the pavement of the chancel rests a stone which was a part of the floor of St. Peter’s, the papal church.

A beam from old Fort Dearborn was installed in the ceiling of the cloister.

First St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church

1301 N. LaSalle St. at Goethe

Architect: Edward E. Dart, 1969-70

This is the oldest Lutheran church foundation in Chicago, dating from 1848, the year after the meeting in Chicago from which developed the Missouri Synod.

Inside and out, the church is all brick. It stands among the houses of Sandburg village. A clerestory window facing north floods the sanctuary with indirect light.

The word and sacrament are important here. The chancel is the symbol of the word. The table, also called a mensa, represents Holy Communion. It is the focus of the room. The organ is a ten ranked Schlicker.

First Unitarian Church of Chicago (also known as Denison Hall)

5650 S. Woodlawn

Architect: Denison B. Hull, 1929-31

Windows: Rose window above altar by Charles J. Connick of Boston.

Probably the purest example of English Vertical Gothic in Chicago, there is no steel used in the church and tower. Only the steeple has some steel.

The exterior is made of split-faced Bedford, Indiana Limestone while the inside is sawed stone. The vaults are of stone.

The First Unitarian Church was actually built around Hull Memorial Chapel, designed by William Augustus Otis, in 1896. This chapel has thick Roman brick walls, traceried woodwork, wooden hammer-beams, open trussed ceiling, amber colored windows.

Beneath the nave of First Unitarian is a marble burial crypt containing cinerary urns. This is the first crypt in a Chicago church.

The Italian marble baptismal fond, designed by August H. Burley in 1867, came from an earlier church building on Wabash Ave. in the Loop.

First United Methodist Churh = The Chicago Temple

77 W. Washington

Architect: Holabird and Root, 1922-24.

First Unity Missionary Baptist Church

5129 S. Indiana Ave

Originally Ad Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Anshe Dorum Synagogue

Architect: Alexander Levy, 1912.

Fourth Presbyterian Church

126 E. Chestnut (offices) at N. Michigan Ave.

Architect: Ralph Adams Cram and Howard Van Doren Shaw, 1912-14.

Windows: Charles E. Connick Assoc. of Boston, 1928, figurative.

Decoration: angels and ceiling paintings by Frederick C. Bartlett.

Cram did no other churches in Chicago. His fame rests in N.Y.: St. John the Divine (Episcopal) 1911+ and St. James Episcopal, Madison /71st.

Fourth Church is characterized by what Cram thought was appropriately Gothic, narrow side aisles; shape of the piers; transept space is a balcony.

Wood ceiling and trusses painted by Bartlett. Shaw did the parish house. Bill Tyre has written about the windows in the Church Newsletter.

Fourth Baptist Church

Architect: Chas. F. Whittlesey

Inland Architect and News Record, No. 5, vol. XVIII (1891?)

St. Francis of Assisi Church

817 W. Roosevelt at Newberry

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1904

The first German national parish on the west side, organized 1853.

The current building is a reconstruction of a building lost in a fire in 1904. The new dedication was on 17 May 1905. By this time the neighborhood was mostly settled by Italians, Greeks and Jews. The neighborhood went into decline by 1910 with both Germans and Irish moving out. WIthin a decade the church was predominantly Italian with a growing population of Mexican-Spanish surnames. By 1930 the Mexican community had become significant.

St. Francis Episcopal and Chicago Christian Churches

2514 W. Thorndale Ave.

Originally St. Anscarius Church

Built 1929.

St. Francis Xavier Church

2840 W. Nelson St.

Architect: Herman J. Gaul, 1927-1928

Full Gospel Illinois Church

4601 N. Lawndale Ave.

Originally Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol

Architect: W.L. Bein, 1927

St. Gabriel Church,

4522 S. Wallace St.

Architect: Burnham and Root, 1887-88

Known as the Catholic Church of the stockyards. Brick with tc facade added in 1914. Very wide interior, much like Epiphany, without the truss work. Central round, rose window over entrance. Other windows present scenes from the life of Mary and Jesus. Jesus and the Elders, Assumption of the BVM, Presentation of Mary in the Temple, Jesus Healing a sick girl, Ascension of Jesus, Jesus at the well.

St. Gall Church

5500 S. Kedzie Ave.

Architect: Pavlecic and Kovacevic and Ota, 1955-58

Windows: Designed by Kovacevic, fabricated by Conrad Schmidt

“The altar should be the true center of the church,” Father Hirtshen the pastor, told the architects. Behind the altar is a white plaster wall with a gold wire mesh on it holding a cross. The walls of the church are constructed of hand-made bricks, each of which is coated with a patina green glaze. The stations of the cross on the side walls are of hand hammered bronze and the work of Peter Recker. The curved rear wall is a series of alternating gray granite (from Georgia) panels and stained glass windows.

The windows, fabricated by Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin WI, were designed in a special process in which the cames between the pieces of glass are painted silver on the outside so that the design in the windows is visible from the outside as well as the inside.

Gammon United Methodist Church

502 N. Central Ave. 60644

Built 1899

The congregation was formed in 1905, but their present building, occupied by them since 1973, was built for the First Methodist Church of Austin. The building is in a brick neo Gothic Revival style with gabled roof, slate shingles, and limestone and copper trim.

St. Gelasius

6415 S. Woodlawn

The congregation is the result of the merger in 1990 of Holy Cross and St. Clara/St. Cyril, a parish that itself merged in 1969.

An African-American parish, the church is scheduled for closing 30 June 2002.

formerly Gemeinde Gottes Apostolischer Glaube, now Iglesia Presbiteriane Ebenezer

1941 W. Belmont

The German inscription on this storefront church has been chiseled away but is still clearly visible. There is no cornerstone visible. The community was always very poor. Diaper shaped plastic windows?

St. Genevieve Church

4835 W. Altgelt St.

Architect: McCarthy, Smith and Epping, 1939-1940

St. George Church

902 W. 33rd Street (St. George's School, 911 W. 32nd Pl.

Built 1896

St. George Church

9546 S. Ewing Ave.

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1907-09

St. George Greek Orthodox Church

2701 N. Sheffield Ave.

Originally German Evasngelical Lutheran Church

Built 1886

St. Germaine Church

9700 Kolin Ave., Oak Lawn, IL

Ground was broken 4 August 1963 for a combination church-school under one roof. The Presentation Sisters opened the school in September, 1963. Archbishop John P. Cody dedicated the church of St. Germaine and the school on 22 May 1966. At the time parish membership stood at about 1,000 families with 464 children in the school. By 1978 there were approximately 2,800 families of diverse ethnic heritage belonged to the parish.

St. Germaine of Pibrac a.k.a. St. Germaine Cousin was a shepherdess born in Pibrac, near Toulouse in about 1579. Her father was Laurent Cousin. Her mother, Marie Laroche died shortly after the birth. Germaine was sickly, had a withered hand, lived a poor life under a stepmother or her half-brother's wife. She gave some of her food to the poor. St. Germaine died in 1601, and from 1644 miracles of healing were said to happen at her grave which quickly became a pilgrimage site. Germaine was canonized in 1867. Her feast day is 15 June

German Lutheran Emanuel Church

9037 S. Houston Ave.

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1907.

St. Gertrude Church

6214 N. Glenwood Ave. or 1420 W. Granville

Architect: James Burns, 1930-31

Windows: Franz Mayer&Co., installed in 1931 for a total cost of $48,000.

Dedicated: By George Cardinal Mundelein dedicated the church 15 Nov. 1931

In 1911 the residents of north Edgewater asked Archbishop Quigley to establish a new parish under the patronage of St. Gertrude, half-way between St. Ignatius in Rogers Park and St. Ita in Edgewater.

The parish was largely Irish, but also very German. It was a very active congregation, forming one of the first branches of the Holy Name Society in 1913.

After W.W.I. the neighborhood experienced very rapid development. And by 1929 a new Church building was found necessary. It was one of the few churches built in Chicago during the Depression.

The altars are Carrara marble with gold mosaic and Pavonazzo trimmings. The reredos behind the central altar was made from cloth woven especially for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of England in 1953 and acquired for the church by Msgr. J. Gerald Kealy, pastor from 1936 to 1968.

Organ = three-manual Kilgen pipe with thirty ranks

St. Gertrude of Helfta, 16 November. 1256-1302. A mystic, often called the Great. At age five she was entrusted to the nuns of Helfta, Saxony. She seems never to have left the convent. Her mentor and friend there was St. Mechtilde. Gertrude was very well educated but at age twenty-five had visions that made her turn to the Bible exclusively. She wrote two major works: The Revelations of Gertrude and Mechtilde and The Herald of God's Loving-kindness.

Nearby churches include: St. Columbanus (1923-5); St. Kevin on S. Torence (1925-6); Our Lady of Guadalupe (1928).

Gethsemene Garden Baptist Church

5201 S. Justine St.

Cornerstone 1890-99 with Polish dedication.

Grace-Calvary United Methodist Church

7800 S. Loomis Blvd.

Originally Auburn Park Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church

Built 1922.

Grace Episcopal Church

Oak Park, IL

Grace Church has five distinct programs in its stained glass; the great apse window above the altar; the single saints to the left and right of the altar and of the clerestory; the Life of Jesus of the side aisles; the great window above the Baptistry; and the Baptistry.

The most striking windows, not only in size, but also color and theme, are the ones at each end of the church. The great window above the altar deserves our attention first. Focal point and central to the composition, is the enthroned Christ. He is shown in left profile with a radiating halo. This head of Christ is a reminder of the head of John the Baptist floating above Salome in the Symbolist watercolor by Gustave Moreau entitled The Apparition (Dance of Salome), painted in 1876 and now in the Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Christ receives Mary who is being presented by angels and kings. Trumpets and harps abound. Behind Christ, that is to his left, stand a cluster of angels holding palm leaves and a band with the inscription "Alleluia" repeated a number of times. Below all this, a child holds a shield with a Chi-Rho and an A and W. The Chi-Rho is the first two letters, in Greek, of the word Ch (Chi) r (Rho) ist. The A stands for Alpha and the W for Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, respectively. Christ is the beginning and the end. A frieze of togati representing Roman martyrs, line up below all this, walking in a procession from both sides towards the center. A similar procession is found on the great Roman marble altar dedicated to the Ara Paces of 9 AD.

Standing saints fill the twelve round topped windows that pierce the left and right wall above the altar. Reading across the room starting in the back left we find St. Bartholomew holding his symbol of martyrdom, a knife Across from him stands St. Simon holding a saw. St. Philip holds a cross, facing St. Jude who holds a club.

St. Bartholomew stands opposite St. Simon

St. Philip stands opposite St. Jude

St. John stands opposite St. Luke

St. James Gr. stands opposite St. Matthew

St. Paul stands opposite St. Andrew

St. Peter w. keys stands opposite St. Thomas

The third and fourth window on the left side are of superior quality. These windows are important. They date from about 1887.

Though I was unable to see the name of the manufacturer from below, the quality of glass, painting, line and color is akin to windows in the baptistry which are signed Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London.

The pair on the left side depict St. John (the Evangelist) holding a scroll on which we can read, "In the Beginning, Word was God." The window is a memorial to Archibald John Coombs who died in 1887. St. James the Greater (an Apostle) stands next to St. John. The inscription on this window could not be deciphered. Facing them, across the room are two other Evangelists, St. Luke and St. Matthew. They are a memorial to Meyer.

Though this would be a common location for the four Evangelists, St. Mark is not here, but St. James the Greater, brother of St. John is. What this indicates, I don't know. Maybe it's a reference to Santiago de Compostela, among the greatest of the pilgrimage sites in Christendom, or its a reference to Scotland, Again on the left we see St. Paul, sword in hand, facing St. Andrew holding his cross and a net (the symbol for fisherman). The l at of this series on the left is St. Peter who hold the keys (to heaven as given to him by Christ). St. Thomas, with a carpenters angle, stands opposite.

St. Cecilia and St. Gregory

Hidden under the organ balcony on the left side are two small windows, both references to music and both by the Willet Studio. First is St. Cecilia, donated by the Girls Friend's Society Founded D.O.M. 1875. St. Cecilia is shown holding her attributes, an organ and music. She was an Early Christian martyr, buried in Rome, who in the course of the 17th century became associated with music. Next to her is St. Gregory, who was pope, scholar and celebrated musician, whose chants, now known as Gregorian chant effected the spirituality of the liturgy in the course of the 6th century. Gregory was also the pope who sent St. Augustine of Canterbury from Rome to England to convert the Saxons to Christianity, thus the window of King Ethelbert's baptism in the Baptistry.

Starting on the right side of the church the first window we encounter under the balcony in the right transept depicts (R-1)Christ in Gethsemane (R-1). The window was Presented by Grace Church St. Katherine's Guild on all Saints Day 1927. This window and the one to its right, the Transfiguration R-2), are signed William Morris, Westminster. The firm was the continuation of the famous Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. of London, England, founded in 1861. Though Morris died in 1896, the firm, with a commemorative name change, continued his ideals until about 1905 when it spread into more general church decoration, including the painted stained glass windows, that we have here. The influence of William Morris cannot be underestimated, and these windows are an indication of how long his influence held. Next is a window depicting The Upper Room (R-3), with an inscription that reads, "Jesus saith unto them Peace be unto you." It window is signed Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London and is a memorial to Joseph Perine Sharp, 1834 - 1904. It was probably commissioned about 1904. Next is the Road to Emmaus (R-4), a memorial to Sarah Eliz. Sharp, 1836 - 1926. Its inscription reads, " Abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent." Though more than twenty years separate these two memorial dedications, they are not different in style. This may indicate that Sarah Sharp ordered both windows at the time of Joseph Sharpes' death and only later had her name and dates applied. This was and remains a common practice. The next window, also by Heaton, Butler and Bayne depicts Doubting Thomas (R-5) and is a memorial to Harry Hughes, 1875 - 1925. The inscription reads, "Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God." Next we see Christ's Charge to St. Peter (R-6),with the inscription, "Feed by lambs feed my sheep." It is a memorial window for Howard L. and Mary R. Hotchkiss, 1928. Though not signed, its style is such that it most like is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, also. Next is the Great Commission (R-7), a memorial dedicated to Charles L. Chenweth, 1868 - 1924. Its inscription reads, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." This window is also not signed, but is related to the others in style and manufacture. Next is the Ascension (R-8) window, a memorial to Edward E. and Kate Marrell. This window is not dated. Although its style is similar to the others, it looks newer and my very well be from the 1950s. The next one, the Holy Eucharist (R-9) window, a memorial to Rev. Harold Holt is dated 1955. Its style indicates that year or very soon thereafter. The last window in the series is Pentecost (R-10), a 1962 memorial to the Harry L. Judd Family.

The firm of Heaton, Butler and Bayne was founded in 1860 by Clement Heaton who was soon joined by the others. The firm specialized in stained glass windows, fresco painting, mosaics and other forms of church decoration. The firm claimed that its windows were "practically imperishable". Windows by the firm are also be found in St. James, the Episcopal Cathedral of Chicago.

Across the nave, we again begin reading the windows from the altar back, so that the first window is the Crucifixion (L-1). It, too, was presented on All Saints Day, but in 1922 by the Parochial Guild. This window is signed Willet Studio, 1922. Next is the Resurrection (L-2), dedicated to Ernest J. Wright, 1849-1919, also signed by Willett. This window is a triptych, composed of three parts. The Resurrection is the central scene. Flanking it on the left are the three women. On the right, stand two men. The memorial plaque names Charles Lake West, 1861-1923. Both these windows were probably a single order to the Willett firm and made in 1922, a year after the death of its founder. The Willett Stained Glass Studios of Philadelphia were organized by William Willett in 1898 and produced remarkable windows until the later 1970s. Next is the Prodigal Son (L-3), not yet dedicated. The comes the Raising of Jaru's Daughter L-4), a memorial to Maurice Anna M. Evans, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. Next is the Wedding of Cana (L-5), a memorial to Borwell. John the Baptist affirming Jesus (L-6) with the words, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World." is also by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. It is a memorial to Richard Allan Boaler, 1881 - 1935. Next is a Nativity, the Manifestation of Jesus (L-7). The window is a memorial to Anna M. Gausslen and is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. A modern Nativity (L-8) is next. It is a gift of the Knight Family. And the last window in the series, though the first in life of Jesus, is the Annunciation, dedicated by the Collins Family.

The sixteen windows read from the left back entrance to the front and then across the nave to the right side and back towards the entrance again. In this turn, we follow the life of the Lord from the Annunciation to the Nativity to the proclamation of the ministry by John the Baptist to two key miracles, to the notion of the lost and returned son to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Then back to the night of agony and the glorious transfiguration, followed by a number of appearances to the Apostles and the charge of creating the Church and the sacraments. Mary appears again at the end, in Pentecost, just as she did at the beginning in the Nativity.

Reading the scenes across also reveals connections in the program:

Gethsemane is opposite the Crucifixion

Transfiguration is opposite the Resurrection

Upper Room is opposite the Prodigal Son

Road to Emmaus is opposite the Raising of Jaru's Daughter

Doubting Thomas is opposite the Wedding at Cana

Christ's Charge to Peter is opposite the John the Baptist Affirming Jesus

Great Commission is opposite the Nativity(Manifestation of Jesus)

Ascension is opposite the Nativity

Holy Eucharist and Pentecost are opposite the Annunciation.

The clerestory:

In the clerestory of the nave paired windows are filled with standing figures.

On the west side, reading from the sanctuary we first encounter Jeremiah, a memorial to Frank Yardley, and The Prince of Peace, a memorial to H. Yardley and dated 1947. Next is Joseph, dated 1964 and Ezekiel, dated 1954. Then come Amos, dated 1950 and Hosea, also dated 1950. Followed by David, dated 1962 and Jonathan also dated 1962. Next stand Isaac, signed by the Willet co. and dated 1964, and Jacob, also signed by the Willet Co. and dated 1965. Last in this row are Joshua and Abraham, both dated 1967.

Paired saints also fill the east sides clerestory windows. Again reading from the sanctuary, we encounter St. John the Baptist and Micah, both from 1964. Next are Daniel and Moses, then Samuel and Eli, Soloman and Saul, both dated 1967, followed by Malachi, dated 1967 and Joel. Last in the row are Elisha and Elijah.

The Baptistry:

Opposite the sanctuary, in its own space and projecting towards Lake Street is the five sided New Gothic Revival inspired Baptistry. Following ancient Christian traditions, the fountain is opposite the altar, in the "entrance" area of the church.

Starting on the left we first see the Baptism of King Ethelbert by St. Augustine of Canterbury. The window is a memorial to Charles D. & Sarah R. Roe & children. Ethelbert of Kent, who is also a saint, welcomed St. Augustine of Canterbury and his monks when they arrived in Kent in 597. Elthelbert's wife Bertha, a Frankish princess, was already a Christian, and he was soon converted. Unlike other converts, he did not force his followers to convert. But set about by good example to gain their trust in Christianity. He founded St. Andrew's cathedral in Rochester and built the first St. Paul in London. His code of laws for Kent is the earliest known legal document written in a Germanic language.

Next is Jesus Presented in the Temple, a memorial to Charles Seaburg, 1839 - 1910. The window is signed Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London.

The central composition is Jesus with the Children and blessing a kneeling woman and Apostles. The window is a memorial to Will. Hollund Suntharp, 1904-1907. It is signed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London.

To its right we see the Baptism of Jesus. This window is a memorial to Charles Patrick Andenen, 1896 - 1918 and is signed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London.

The furthest right window depicts the Baptism of St. Paul and is a memorial to Francis R. Goodolphin. This window is also by Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London.

The style of the windows is so uniform that the two of the six not signed Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London are in all likelihood by them too. Fitting the Baptistry, the theme for each of the windows is baptism or initiation. Jesus Presented in the Temple was an initiation into the community for him, as is baptism for Christians. And Jesus with the Children, the central composition of this room, focuses on the function of baptism, the introduction to Jesus. The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist establishes the Christian tradition of baptism. While the baptism of St. Paul is that of a converted Jew. And finally the baptism of Ethelbert, that of a converted northern European pagan.

Above the Baptistry is a very large window divided by its tracery into a Tree of Life or a Tree of Jesse composition. At its base runs an inscription: "For those in thanksgiving who have served their church and their country." Above this are scenes

from the Life of Christ. In the center is the Trinity in a mandorla. Various saints make up the branches on each side, while the tops of the tracery encloses small windows depicting shells and a chalice with a host.

Inside the entrance is a window from 1956 by Connick Associates of Boston, a memorial to Albert and Laura Sloke.

As noted above, the most important historical windows in the church are those by the Heaton, Butler and Bayne Company of London. While those windows of the William Morris Company are also rare in Chicago and vicinity, their late date in the company's history reflect a quality of workmanship that no longer compares to that of Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Windows by the two American firms, Willet and Connick are widely distributed throughout the US.

Grant Memorial A.M.E. Church

4017 S. Drexel Blvd.

Originally First Church of Christ, Scientist

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1897

Granville Avenue United Methodist Church

1307 W. Granville Ave.

Originally Granville Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: F.O. Johnson, 1908.

Greater Bethesda Baptist Church

(originally B'nai Sholom Temple)

5310 S, Michigan, Chicago

Sold in 1925 and has been the current church since 1937. B'nai Sholom Temple merged with Isaiah Temple and moved to what is now KAM Isaiah Israel.

Greater Garfield Park Missionary Baptist Church

290 W. Shakespeare Ave

Originally Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church

Architect: C.J. Sorenson, 1913-1914

Greater Holy Temple, Church of God in Christ

formerly the First Congregational Church of Austin, 1908-1926; then Seventh Day Adventists, 1926-58; then Our Lady of Lebanon Church (Eastern Rite Catholics), 1958-73.

5701 W. Midway Park, 60644

Architect: William E. Drummond, 190(4)8-9

Windows: Linden Glass Co.?

The building was designed to for the First Congregational Church of Austin. Tan Roman brick with Indiana limestone trim. The Interior is similar to Unity Temple, but elongated. Low side aisles flank an elevated central space that is covered by a yellow and green glass leaded skylight. The walls are tan plaster and tan brick with dark, stained, oak slat-trim.

Greater Little Rock the Lord's Church

834 W. Armitage Ave.

Originally First German Methodist Episcopal Church

Built 1927

Greater Mt. Moriah Baptist Church

214 E. 50th St.

Built 1910-1919

Greater Mt. Vernon Baptist Church

6430 S. Harvard Ave.

Originally Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1922-1923

Greater Salem Baptist Church

215 W. 71st St.

Built 1904

Greater Union Missionary Baptist Church

1956 W. Warren Blvd.

Built 1880-1889

Greater Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church

2255 S. Millard Ave.

Originally Fowler Mothodist Episcopal Church

Architect: Wesley Arnold, 1891

Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church

1501 N. Fairfield Ave.

Architect: Wesley Arnold, 1885-1890

St. Gregory the Great Church

1634 W. Gregory off Ashland and Bryn Mawr

Architect: Comes & Perry and Mc Mullen of Pittsburgh, 1924

Dedication: By George Cardinal Mundelein, 28 November 1926.

Founded in 1904 as a German national parish on ten lots donated by Nicholas Mann, the Summedale neighborhood developed very quickly and within 20 years the parish spoke English. The interior was worked on throughout the 1930s resulting in Cardinal Mundelein calling it “a medieval gem in a modern setting."

Hartzell Memorial United Methodist

3330 S. King Drive

Built 1963-64 by unidentified architect

Exterior well set yellow/beige brick. Metal clad supports.

Various pastel colored glass sheets along side aisle and over front and skylight.

Archtiect could have been Charles Edward Stade (died Feb. 1, 1993, age 69) from Park Ridge who designed several churches with A-Framed roof and pastel glass panel windows with horizontal sections for offices and classrooms.

Healing Temple Church of God

1330 S. Fairfield Ave..

St. Hedwig Church

2226 N. Hoyne

Architect: Adolphus Druiding, 1899-1901.

Windows: F.X. Zettler, 1902-06

St. Hedwig was a Polish-German noble woman who married Henry, Duke of Silesia. She used her wealth and position to endow hospitals, convents and monasteries in Silesia.

The parish was cut from St. Stanislaus Kostka to accommodate the enormous influx of Polish Catholics into this area after 1900. In the early 1920s some 3,700 families belonged to St. Hedwig's parish.

Cornerstone, Ecclesia S. Hedwigis Viduae, erecta A.D. MDCCCXCIX.

The Church is in a Renaissance Revival style similar to St. Adalbert in Pilsen, St. John Cantius and St. Mary of the Angels. Four massive Doric capped columns support a porch over the entrance Three windows of almost equal size are flanked by four ionic capped columns below the pediment. Notice the heavy , almost fortress like lower portions of the towers. Inside the nave is flanked by 16 solid granite columns. The paintings are by the Polish artist Zykotinski. The windows are by F.X. Zettler, 1902-06. Two balconies overlook the nave. The organ is a Kilgen with two consoles, one on each balcony.

St.Helen

2315 W. Augusta (at Oakley) = Ukranian VIllage/West Town

contact:773.235.3575

Built 1964-65, architect?

Windows by ?

Polish parish with statue of Pope John 2001 by Prof. Czeslaw Dzwigat

interior fan shaped. Terrazzo floor, Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel with small terrazo fish.

Tree ot Life altar with various saints left and right.

Holy Angels Church

605 E. Oakwood Blvd. (3900 south)

Architect: James J. Egan, 1896-97

The neo-Romanesque Revival exterior, with one tower on the right is of well-appointed Bedford (Indiana) limestone. A large rose dominates the facade. Below it are 7 round headed windows separated from the three large arches of the entrance by a heavy ornate string course.

The interior woodwork is primarily of oak. The traditional altar is mostly of white painted wood, plaster? statuary and short alabaster columns. A large celtic inspired cross stands to one side. The paradise arch carries the inscription: REGINA ANGELORUM ORA PRO NOBIS.

Holy Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church

2301 S. California Ave.

Originally Ev. Luth St. Markus Kirche

Buikt 1887.

Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

(formerly Holy Cross Lithuanian Church),

4541 S. Wood St. or 1736 W. 46th St.

Architect: Joseph Molitor, 1913-15.

Windows: Arthur Michaudel, 1943-44

A first church was organized with in the territory of the English speaking parish of St. Rose of Lima and close to the Polish Catholic Church of St. Joseph's. This Lithuanian foundation began life through the St. Vincent Ferrer* Lithuanian Benevolent Society in 1902. The Benevolent Society purchased land for the parish 1 Feb. 1904. The cornerstone for a church designed by John Flizikowski was placed on 18 Dec. 1904. This church was dedicated by Archbishop Quigley on 12 Nov. 1905. It served Lithuanian Catholic immigrants working in the nearby Union Stock Yards.

* [Ferrer died in 1419, was English, lived in Valencia, Spain as a Dominican. He became a famous preacher to Avignon "Schism". Traveled all over Europe and worked countless miracles. Canonized 1455, Feast, 5 April]

The community grew so rapidly that by 1913 a large church was required. The cornerstone was placed on 26 Oct. 1913. The new structure, the one standing today, was dedicated by Auxiliary Bishop Alexander J. McGavick, 26 Sept. 1915. The church is a steel frame construction faced with brown and beige brick and Indiana (Bedford) limestone trim.

Its overall style is a Lithuanian Renaissance/Baroque. Eight Corinthian columns support an frieze and pediment. The Latin inscription read: "In the holy cross is the life of the world." The idea is based on St. Helena's finding of the True Cross

In the pediment we see a sculpture done in the early 1950s by the Lithuanian artist, Adolph Valeska, of a crucified Christ and traditional Lithuanian religious symbols. Mr. Valeska also decorated the narthex, did four large oil paintings as well as the general decor of the church. Above the pediment are three niches, each housing a figure important to Lithuanians: the worrying Christ, St. Isidore**, the farmer and St. George, the dragon slayer. The two great towers are rich in ornament a are a modeled after Renaissance/baroque ones.

The expansive interior of Holy Cross is outlined by some 2,000 light bulbs. Light bulbs are a common element in national churches of this period. For the new immigrants, electricity was still a marvel and it added a festive appearance to the building.

The pews are solid oak and seat some 1500. Polychromes saints stand in niches all along the sanctuary walls.

The Munich styled stained glass windows are by the Chicago firm of Arthur Michaudel and were installed 1943-44. [Michaudel closed about 1945] The windows copy the common iconography introduced by the Munich firms of Zettler and Mayer. A large rose dominates each transept, (Crowning of the BVM, Christ enthroned with Children), with a row of 11 Apostles and other saints below. Roundels and nave windows depict scenes from the life of Christ and the many standing saints are always paired.

The main altar is of wood and gilded with a crucifixion in the center, saints in niches left and right. The altar on the left is dedicated to Mary, the one on the right to Joseph. Two large balconies and a massive organ dominate the rear of the sanctuary. The flooring of the nave is in a traditional Lithuanian pattern by B. Jameikis. A large grotto, representing Lourdes dominates the left transept. The baptismal font is of note.

Though Lithuanian was the language of the congregation, English was introduced into the services in the course of the 1930s. During the later 1940s and into the 1950s Lithuanian refugees moved into the neighborhood, but left when their economic situation improved.

In the past 25 years, the neighborhood has become predominantly Mexican-American.

** St. Isidore, died about 1130, worked as a farm laborer in Madrid. He became very important to the spanish royals. Canonized 1622, Feast Day, 15 May

Holy Cross Church (Catholic) (Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer-Holiness since September 29, 1991)

842 E. 65th St.

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1909-1910.

Closed and reopened as Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer-Holiness.

Holy Family Church

1019 S. May at Roosevelt, 60609

Architects: Dellenberger & Zucher (of Milwaukee) with John Van Osdel (of Chicago), 1857-1860, 1874-5 = tower

A superb example of church preservation, Holy Family today again dominates its neighborhood besides being an example of preservation and restoration at its best. For many in the new city of Chicago the financial panic of 1857 was quite a mill stone, but in the working German and Irish community of the near south, money was always scarce and to build a church was the most important activity on earth. After all, it praised God, not mammon. Also, the new parish was home to Arnold Damen, S.J., one of the most influential national parish organizers in the nation. Two weeks after his arrival in Chicago, the Daily Journal reported that "the Order of Jesuits has resolved to establish a church, college and free school on a scale of magnitude equal to any of the same character in the United States."

On August 26, 1860 the building was dedicated to the Holy Family. The idea of family was especially important to these immigrants, most of whom lived in worse than deplorable conditions, often lost what little dignity they could muster and saw their children sucked into a similar spiral to survive. For them, Holy Family quickly became a symbol for another world, one mothers and fathers could seek comfort in and in which children behaved and looked like in the magazines.

The church building had to be the finest and best the predominantly Bohemian, German and Irish immigrants could do, and do they did. Two Milwaukee based German architects were commissioned with the project and the don of Chicago architect, John Van Ostel was secured for the interior. Even though the congregation was quickly to become predominantly Irish (the 1881 parish census listed 20,320 parishioners, making it the largest English speaking parish in Chicago diocese. By 1899 the parish numbered some 25,000 members, attended by 35 priests, and some 3,500 youths attended the schools), with the German's building their own church nearby, the overall style of Holy Family church was to be German Gothic Revival, not English, after all the church was Catholic, with some French, Polish and Bohemian 19th century elements included to please local tastes. A statue of St. Patrick was installed in 1863.

Because the original church was among the largest in the nation, 146 feet long and 85 feet wide, it was not complete at the time of dedication, in fact, it is us today, who really get to see the finished church in a way that few of the original parishioners ever saw it. In 1862 the 125 feet wide transept was completed. In 1867, the nave was extended south by some 50 feet for an overall length of 186 feet and the present facade was completed. In 1874 the tower was added. At the time it was the tallest structure in Chicago. Milwaukee bricks and Lemont limestone are the primary building materials of everything we see.

A German wood carver, Anthony Buscher cut the statues, beginning with St. Patrick in 1863. His 52 feet tall altar was dedicated in October 1865. It was electrified, along with the church, in March 1899. Buscher's nephew, also a carver, completed the Last Supper panel in the front of the altar, complete with knives and forks. By 1873 he had completed the side altars, too. The communion rail is the work of Louis E. Wisner, a Lutheran, whose carving was "as sharp as if cast in bronze". The circular windows in the clerestory are the oldest surviving stained glass windows in Chicago. They may be the work of Robert Carse and date from the early 1860s. The beautiful windows to the left (The Adoration of the Magi) and right (The Annunciation) of the side altars were installed for the golden jubilee in 1907 and are by Von Gerichten Art Glass of Columbus, OH. The nave windows depict scenes from the lives of Jesuit saints. They are by an as yet unidentified company.

None of the buildings of Holy Family parish were in the way of the Great Chicago Fire of October 8-9, 1871, even though the fire started only a few blocks away. This turn of events was attributed to the prayers of Arnold Damen who made a vow that if the church were spared he would dedicate seven eternal flames before the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. They still glow today, in a superbly restored interior.

Befitting the splendor of the building, the original great organ was built in 1870 by Louis Mitchell & Son, Co. of Montreal with pipes and reeds imported from Paris. This organ had 64 stops, 3944 pipes, was acoustically perfect, and considered one of the musical masterworks of its day. In 1890 Frank Roosevelt of New York rebuilt it. It was rebuilt and enlarged to 72 stops and 5,142 pipes in 1923 by the Tellers-Kent Organ Co. A new Austin organ was installed in 1949.

Difficulty in acquiring more nearby land for a college and other buildings, the Jesuits purchased land in 1906 on then far north side of the city, what is now Loyola University. In 1927, Robney St. was renamed Damen Ave. This street is one of the longest in the city.

Holy Innocents Church

735 N. Armour Street

Originally Kosciol SS. Mtodziakow

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1911-12, Restoration by George S. Smith, 1962-63

Windows: TGA

A fire caused extensive damage to the interior in 1962. The parish was founded in 1905 for Polish Catholics.

Two heavy towers flank and squeeze the facade which is marked by three entrances and a rose. The exterior is a neo-Spanish Renaissance.

Large mosaic of Our Lady of Czestochova.

Visited with CHN 14XII19.

Holy Name Cathedral

Built 1874-75

Dedicated 21 November 1875

Architect: Patrick Charles Keely (1816-96)

The church was founded 1846 as part of St. Mary of the Lake University one block south of the present site.

The 1854 church had 245 feet tall spire. It burned in Chicago Fire, 1871.

1890 after foundation problems, almost complete reconstruction of the building.

1968 more foundation problems, Cathedral emptied and windows replaced. Vatican II interior introduced.

1969 removal of some of the 43 murals by William Lamprecht (German painter) and Joseph Sibbel’s murals of the four Latin Church Fathers.

Doors by Albert J. Friscia (1911-1989), each valve weighs 1200 lbs, hydraulic system for opening does not work well. Doors represent the Tree of Life.

Pews, cathedra, altar, ambos, side altars, tabernacle, sanctuary panels, stations also put in place.

Holy Nativity Romanian Orthodox Church

6344 N. Paulina St.

Architect: Fugard and Knapp, 1918

Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Cathedral

1447 N. California Ave.

Holy Rosary Church (Catholic)

351 E. 113th St.(11300 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), today city of Roseland

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1887.

Built on Pullman-owned Land for company employees. On December 4, 1887, the basement was opened for service. The corner stone was laid June 1, 1890. The brick edifice was dedicated October 5, 1890. The church reflects Dutch, Irish, German background of congregation, rather than Mr. Pullman's. The church was gutted by fire, March 4, 1937, leaving intact only walls and steeple. The basement was reopened for services on Christmas Day, 1937 and the church was fully refurbished by Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938. For its 90th jubilee, celebrated on April 13, 1972, a detailed history of the parish was written by Dr. George J. Fleming .

Holy Rosary Church (Catholic)

608 N. Western Ave

Built 1920s.

Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral

1121 N. Leavitt (2200 West)

Architect: Louis Sullivan, 1903

A small community of Russian immigrants founded St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox parish in Chicago in 1892. They had come from southern Russian, near the Ukraine and the Carparthian Mountains. The church was consecrated in 1903 by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow. It was designated a cathedral in 1923. Sullivan realized a building of superb proportions, much like a small jewel. It's 47 by 98 feet.

Square vestibule, rectangular narthex, then nave with elaborate iron screen imported from Russia in 1912. There are no pews, the parishioners stand and kneel in a gathering of saints. The building was begun with a gift of $4,000 from Czar Nicholas II.

Holy Trinity Church

1120 N. Noble Street

Architect: Olszewski (Washington, D.C); William Krieg (Chicago), 1905-06

Windows: 2 by FRANZ MAYER, others by Irene Lorentowicz

St. Stanislaus Kostka parish was growing so rapidly in the early 1870s that the pastor of the parish and the parish Council of St. Joseph decided to start a second church within the St. Stanislaus Kostka parish. They decided on the site and the name of the church, St. Joseph. But the German Catholics already had that name on several buildings, so Holy Trinity was selected. It was under the care of the Resurrectionists.

In 1871, Bishop Thomas Foley had placed the Resurrectionists in charge of all Polish missions and parishes to be founded in the Chicago diocese in the next 99 years.

Although the parish was founded in 1873, it was not until 1893 that the parish was established canonically. The parish experienced severe political troubles in the 1870s with the Resurrectionists being ousted and the Polish fathers of the Holy Cross coming in. The Polish priests headed the church from 1893 to 1975. The Resurrectionists again took over in 1975. In 1988 the Society of Christ Fatehrs starterd administering the Church complex.

Archbishop James E. Quigley placed the cornerstone for a new church on 25 June 1905. On 7 October 1906, Archbishop Quigley dedicated the magnificent structure which had cost more than $200,000.00. It was the designed by William Kreig in the neo-Polish Renaissance/Baroque style.

About 1600 families belonged to the parish in 1905 and the school enrolled 1,300 children.

The facade is dominated by a 4 column portico with pediment roof, all of Indiana limestone. Overall it is of brick, with limestone trim emphasizing the capitals and window framing.

Lights dangling from hanging vault with no columnar support divide the very wide nave into three parts and the length into four.

K. Markiewicz did the interior decoration in 1914 and completed the great section of the ceiling with a mural relating to the life of Jesus painted in 1928.

The two windows to the left and right of the sanctuary date from the time of the dedication and are by F. MAYER of Munich. To left is the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise while God the Father, the Son and Mary holding the Christ Child look on from above. Across from it, on the right, is the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, a miracle worked by Jesus..

The stained glass windows of the nave are the designs of the Polish artists, Irena Lorentowicz. They were ordered in 1940, and installed in 1955..

A figure of Our Lady Queen of Emigrants was by Professor Wiktor Zin and was brought to the church and blessed by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1990. In 1992 an urn filled with soil from Kharkiv, Katyn and Mednoye (each of these sites contained mass graves of Poles murdered during WorldWar) was added..

The Black Madonna and Our Lady of the gate of Dawn are important Polish symbols..

The main wooden altar and candle stands (1997?) are by Kenar, a Polish artist living in Chicago.

The Millennium Doors, by artists Jerzy Kenar, began welcoming visitors into the sanctuary in 2000.

The area above the choir received a new mural depicting St. Cecilia in the companyo of an agelic choir. Other new depictions include St Faustina, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and August Hlond (Founder of the Society of Christ Fathers), and St. Pope John II to reflect Saintly cults popular among today's Polish community.

The Catacombs: Casimir Sztuezko CSC, the long-time pastor of Holy Trinity oversaw the building of the church and the so-called catacombs. These contain saintly relics and stones from Biblical sites in the Holy Land. .

Since the 1970s many Spanish families have moved into the neighborhood, yet the parish remains staunchly Polish.

Holy Trinity Croatian Church

1838 S. Throop St. (Pilsen)

Parish closed July, 2005.

Hope Lutheran Church

6416 S. Washtenaw Ave.

Originally Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church

Archutect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1921

Hopewell Primitive Baptist Church

1547 N. Leavitt St.

Built 1890-99.

Hoyne Avenue Wesleyan Church

Humboldt Park United Merthodist Church

2120 N. Mozart St.

Originally Humboldt Park Evangelical Church

Architect: Lampe, 1928-29

St. Hyacinth Church

3635 W. George Street (2900 north)

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1917-21

Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

Decoration: John A. Mallin and Co., 1930s. Dome restored by Conrad Schmitt Studios, 2002. The 3,100 square foot mural has some 156 figures. A large stained glass window is at its center.

In the Avondale neighborhood. Rev. Vincent Barzynski, pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church on Noble Street, organized the new parish to thwart the establishment of an independent Polish national church on Wolfram by Father Francis Kolaszewski.

St. Hyacinth was founded in haste in 1894 when there were very few Catholic families in the area, but a few Poles hired Father Francis Kolaszewski, a schismatic clergyman, acquired a plot of ground, and began construction of a small wooden building. Father Francis Kolaszewski had previously founded an independent Polish national church in Cleveland, Ohio. Only 35 families pledged their financial support to the founding of St. Hyacinth in 1894. The year saw a serious national depression. Of the 35 families less than half did not even live in the parish.

As the original Polish neighborhood along Milwaukee Ave. and Division St. became overcrowded, families from the St. Stanislaus Kostka parish began to buy land around Logan Square to Irving Park. Soon business' began to thrive there also.

In 1902 there were 422 families in the parish. By 1911, there were 1, 632 families in the parish. The following year Archbishop Quigley divided St. Hyacinth parish to form the new Polish parish of St. Wenceslaus.

By 1917, when the present church was started (ground breaking was on 30 April 1917, cornerstone placed 21 October), 2082, mostly Polish Catholic families lived in the neighborhood. By 1920, with 2,500 families, St. Hyacinth had become the largest Polish parish in Chicago.

The Polish community was radically active in its Catholicism. In 1895 a group of parishioners had rioted in front of St. Hedwig rectory, forcing Archbishop Feehan to close St. Hedwig church. When it became apparent that Rev. Anton Kozlowski, an assistant in the parish, would not be appointed pastor of St. Hedwig church, he broke away from the Catholic Church and formed his own congregation, All Saints. Almost the whole parish supported Rev. Kozlowski at first, but eventually returned to St. Hedwig Church.

The first mass, the dedication mass, was celebrated by Archbishop George Mundelein in St. Hyacinth 7 August 1921. At the same time an organ was purchased for $16,500. Bells were blessed 6 April 1924.

The facade is a sort of neo-Polish-Renaissance Revival, with a large central tower flanked by two lesser ones. Paired columns supporting a heavy entablature flank a large, central portal.

The exterior is mostly of pressed red-brown brick with Indiana limestone trim.

Shortly after Father Stephen Kowalczyk, CR, became the ninth pastor of the parish in 1930, he retired the parish debt and raised funds, $35,000.00 for interior decoration by the well known firm of John A. Mallin.

The focal point of the dome is a great art nouveau central rosette of pastel stained glass. At its center is a dove. All around are the implements of Jesus' torture set into vine scrolls. The painting is very good. Around the glass is a mural depicting the Risen Christ crowning the BVM as Queen of Heaven between earthly saints on the left and heavenly saints on the right.

Other murals in the room depict important events in Polish Catholic history.

The 6 nave windows are by F. X. ZETTLER. They seem to have been commissioned and installed in 1921, at the time of the dedication of the building. The transept windows are not by F. X. ZETTLER. The one on the right depicts the risen Christ coming from the tomb, soldiers falling away with a roundel of Jonah and the Whale above. Across the Room is the Nativity with a roundel of the Annunciation.

The parish is predominantly Mexican now though Polish is also common. Run by the Resurrectionist Fathers.

Hyde Park Union Church (Hyde Park Baptist Church)

5600 S. Woodlawn.

Architect: James Gamble Rogers, 1904-06.

Windows: 1 F. X. ZETTLER, 4 LCT like

Many famous people belonged to Hyde park Baptist Church. Among them Burroughs, Harper, Burton, Goodspeed, Gilkey. The First Baptist Church of Hyde Park was founded in 1874 at Dorchester near 53rd. The congregation grew quickly and soon required more space.

Planning was accelerated by a gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1904. James R. Gamble designed the Harkness Quadrangel at Yale.

The red limestone is from Lake Superior. Inside are four windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York, and one by F.X. Zettler of Munich. The rest are by Charles J. Connick of Boston.

The Romanesque arch is a motive throughout, appearing some 200 times. The three-manual, 30 rank pipe organ is by E.M. Skinner from 1914 and was rebuilt by M.P. Möller in 1955.

Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Missionero Hispana

1715 N. Fairfield Ave.

Originally Humboldt Park Community Methodist Episcopal Church

Iglesia Bautista Central

2417 N. Campbell Ave.

Originally Greek Catholic Church

Architect: M.F. Stranch, 1918

Iglesia Bautista Hispana

4401 N. Hermitage Ave.

Originally First Congregational Church

Built 1890-99

Iglesia Dios Pentecostal

1357 N. California Ave.

Iglesia Evangelica Douglas Park

Originally Douglas Park Covenant Church

Built 1912

Iglesia Pentecostal Rehoboth

1901 W. Schiller St.

Originally Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church

Architect: James Pavlovich, 1910-1919

Iglesia de Dios Mission Board

3301 W. LeMoyne Ave

Originally St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Architect: G.A. Eckstrom, 1914

St. Ignatius

Loyola and Glenwood

by Henry J. Schlacks, 1917.

Ground for the new church was broken 390 May 1916. On 27 August 1916, Bishop Edmund M. Dunne of Peoria IL, laid the cornerstone.

Schlacks designed the facade after the Gesu, Rome (facade and plan after Giacomo della Porta, 1575-84, a friend of Michelangelo's) 6 columns of gray Bedford limestone, each cut from a single block, are 30 ft. tall and weigh 30 tons each, support the portico. A six story bell-tower is located at the back of the church. The church is 200 ft. long, 150 ft. wide. The nave windows are by Emil Frei of St. Louis, 1917. The transept commemorative windows are also by Frei, 1919. The south transept window depicts the Holy Family, a reference to the mother parish of St. Ignatius on Roosevelt Rd.

Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, formally approved by Pope Paul III, 1540. Born c. 1491 in Loyola, died, Rome 1556. Saint since 1622. Feast day 31 July.

Immaculate Conception R.C. Church

3101 S. Aberdeen St.

Architect: Hermann J. Gaul and Albert J. Fischer, 1909

Immaculate Conception Church (Catholic)

2944 E. 88th St.

Architect: Martin Carr, 1900-1909

Immaculate Conception Church Passionist Provincial Office

5700 N. Harlem Ave.

The present church was built in 1963 and dedicated in 1964.

At the request of Archbishop James Quigley, Passionist leadership decided to establish a foundation in Chicago. Father Felix Ward found a suitable property 11 miles from downtown Chicago. The Passionists purchased the Burhan Estate, 55 acres of rural land, by the end of 1903. The estate included a country house, two barns, three sheds, a turret, a pump, and a large apple orchard. The Passionists had a small church built to serve the growing number of families moving to the area. The church was dedicated on 5 September 1904. When the present monastery was constructed in 1910, the white-framed church was converted into a school, and the monastery chapel became the parish church. When a new school was built in 1924, the new auditorium became the parish church.

Immaculate Conception Parish Church – Passionist

2745 West 44^th Street, at California

Architects: Belli and Belli

Cornerstone placed 1963, Albert Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop.

The church was organized in 1914 as a national parish to serve 60 Lithuanian families who lived in the Brighton Park district. A combination church and school was built.

Albert Cardinal Meyer approved plans for a new church and ground was broken on 10 February 1963.

Designed by Belli and Belli, The New World wrote “The theme of the church, from the circular Baptistry in front, to the graceful sweep of the nave towards the main altar is to emphasize the Liturgy, and the public and social nature of the Mass.”

Congregation is mostly Mexican with just enough Lithuanian’s to have their own mass. Originally the church was a Lithuanian congregation with a school that still retains its Lithuanian inscription.

Enormous floor to ceiling west windows of chunk glass Immaculate BVM set in epoxy (with sand) framing by? The arcade of nave windows in the same technique. Several nave windows have figurative images. Raised, vast white with black fleck terrazzo flooring in altar area is original. Original wood-grained Formica walls. Original flagstone walls. Sculptures of Mary and Jesus are or brass and aluminum sheeting. Aluminum rods as background.

Immaculate Conception Church

Talcott at Harlem

Architect: Mayer and Cook, 1961

Windows: Michaudel Stained Glass Studio, Chicago, 1963

The church was organized in 1904 by the Passionist fathers of Baltimore MD. Gaining permission for admission into the Chicago diocese, the Passionsit Order of the United States purchased the old Burnham estate in the Norwood (now Norwood Park) section of Chicago. This property, bounded roughly by Talcott Ave on the north; Higgins Road on the south; and Harlem Ave on the east, contained approximately 54 acres of slightly rolling land. On this property were a country residence, two barns, three sheds, a turret, a pump, as well as several other such improvements as well as a large apple orchard. Nichol & Son worked on the repair and enlargement of the Burnham residence. A white frame church was built according to plans by J.J. Glynn of Wilkes Barre PA.

Ground was broken on 13 November 1960 and the cornerstone to the present church was placed on 30 September 1962. Cardinal Meyer blessed Immaculate Conception Church on 26 May 1963.

Elaborate mosaic, marble and wood clad interior of a suite fits together well.

The New World wrote that the 12,000 lb. Statue of the Blessed Mother was carved from a single piece of marble and that the church sanctuary “is an extra large one, as it also serves the Passionist monastery, and has ample room for 54 priests."

Independence Boulevard Seventh Day Adventist Church

3808 W. Polk St.

Originally Anshe Sholom Synagogue

Architect: Newhouse and Bernham, 1921-1926

Israel Samuel A.M.E. Zion Church

1360 W. Erie St.

St. Ita Church

5500 N. Broadway, at Catalpa

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1924-27

Windows: Maumejean Freres of France

Located in Edgewater, the congregation of St. Ita was founded in 1900 with the support of Cardinal Mundelein.

In 1904, the German national parish of St. Gregory was established on Bryn Mawr near Paulina, less than one mile west of St. Ita's.

The Edgewater neighborhood developed rapidly and elegantly in high rises after the completion of the elevated lines from Wilson Ave. to Evanston in 1907 and especially in the 1920s.

A number of lakefront parishes were developed: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Mary of the Lake, St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Ita, St. Gertrude, St. Ignatius and St. Jerome.

The present church is in a neo-French Gothic style said to have been the suggestion of Archbishop Mundelein, and was built for an Irish congregation. The cornerstone was placed 14 September 1924, the first mass celebrated Easter Sunday, 17 April and dedicated 9 October 1927. For inspiration, the pastor, Father Crowe and the architect, Henry J. Schlacks visited churches in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and especially Queen of All Saints Church built while Mundelein was Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn. Probably more telling is that Father Crowe was born in Newton County Ireland, not far from the ruins of a monastic school founded by St. Ita. He also had a stone from the ruins of the convent at Killeedy imbedded into the cornerstone of St. Ita's. The church is said to be only one in the U.S. dedicated to St. Ita.

The plan is mostly a free invention of Schlacks, though it has some latent references to Chartres and Brou in its 15th century Gothic inspired styling. The building seems to be solid Bedford limestone; 3,500 tons were used. The walls are 4 feet thick.

The inside is large, airy, almost Hallenkirche like. The wooden tabernacle is intricately carved. The stations of the Cross are by Max Lenninger of München who based them on the famous ones by Anselm Feuerstein.

The intricate, mosaic styled windows are patterned after Chartres, loosely. There are 6 on each side of the nave. They depict scenes from the Bible. It is said that Father Crowe, the founder of the church, selected the subjects and Schlacks created the designs. They were manufactured by Maumejean Freres in France.

St. James Church (demolished)

2940 S. Wabash

Architect: Patrick C. Keely, 1875-80.

Windows: Destroyed by fire in 1972.

Inter.Decor Destroyed by fire of 22 December 1972. Restored by Paul Straka, 1974-75.

Exterior is of Lemont limestone.

Became an Irish parish in 1855. Then as the need for Irish parishes grew, St. James became the “Mother Church” of many Southside parishes.

Cornerstone placed 10X1875 by Bishop Thomas Foley

St. James Lutheran Church

2048 N. Fremont St.

Originally Evan. Luth. Kirche, UCC

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1916-1917

Fine windows by John J. Kinsella. Archbishop Mundelein saw the interior and windows then commissioned Kinsella to do the windows of Quigley Seminary.

Great windows: Nativity. Gethsemane, Resurrection.

The church was founded by German Lutherans, c1869, active until 1931.

Wangerin Organ with 2-manual stops. Superb hand carved altar and reredos

Visited with CHM 14 XII 19.

St. James Missionary Baptist Church

Orginally St. Stepehn's Methodist Episcopal Church

St. James United Methodist Church

4611 S. Ellis Ave.

Originally St. James Methodist Episcoal Church

Architect: Tallmage and Watson, 1925-1927

St. James Chapel, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary

831 Rush St.

Architect: Gustave E. Steinback of NYC and Zachary T. Davis of Chicago,

1917-20 (Davis was born 1872 in Aurora IL. Died 1946 in Chicago and is know as the Old Comiskey Park (1910) and Wrigley Field (1914), Mount Carmel H.S. (1924) and Quigley (1918)

Windows: Robert Giles of John J. Kinsella Co.

Immediately upon his installation as archbishop of Chicago in 1916, George Mundelein announced the building of a preparatory seminary to be named in honor of predecessor, Archbishop James Quigley. It would be in the French Gothic style with the school modeled after the Palais du Justice in Rouen and the chapel after La Sainte Chapelle in Paris.

The chapel is 130 feet long, 45 feet wide and its rooftop, 100 feet above the sidewalk. The basement housed a cafeteria, the middle portion a gymnasium, the chapel was above. It is faced in gray Bedford Indiana limestone, has 22 buttresses. Until it was damaged in a storm in 1941 and removed, the roof had a tall spire, or fleche. A balcony and great rose window dominate the west front. Flanking the window in niches are statues of St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine. Above them from left to right are statues of St. Thomas Aquinus, St. Patrick, St. James, St. George and St. Francis of Assisi. All statues were carved in Chicago by a Belgian.

It’s the stained glass windows that are most important. Designed by Robert Giles and installed by John Kinsella Co. of Chicago, the windows are comprised of tens of thousands of pieces of cut English antique glass. An estimated 225,00 cut pieces of glass on the south wall alone. Exposed anatomy are painted by Mrs. Giles.

The chapel is a rectangle with no transept.

Seven windows depicting the life of Christ surround the altar. South wall windows present events of Old Testament. Three bays on north wall show saints. Each window is 10 feet wide and 40 feet high, devided into 22 panels, topped by a cinquefoil medallion, then three columns of seven panels each.

The great rose windows is 28 feet in diameter. Dedicated to Mary

The altar of 16 feet long of Caen stone, carved in France. This stone is found in several homes in Chicago and vicinity as fireplace surrounds. Its spire rises 50 feet. A statue of St. James the Greater stands in its central niche. Flanked by six angels each holding symbols of the Lord’s passion.

The organ is a three-manual Wangerin-Weickhardt pipe organ made in Milwaukee. There is a booklet available at the chapel with all the information.

St. Jane de Chantal Church

5251 S. McVicker Ave.

Architect: Pavlecic and Kovacevic, 1962-64

Windows: Richard O’Brien, 1964

Built of brick, glass and wood, the church has a zigzag roof line and floor to ceiling, mostly clear glass, windows. The roof is placed diagonally over the space. The main peak of the roof is supported by a 32-ton laminated wooden beam which was transported from Washington State on three railroad cars, and was reported, at the time, to be the longest laminated beam ever fabricated.

The color scheme of the church interior is black and white. This theme is only broken by orange and red mosaic of the altar panel and the brilliantly colored faceted glass at the corners of the building. Sr. Miriam Gordon, O.P., designed and executed the mosaics and the stations of the cross. The faceted glass work was done by Richard O’Brien of Barrington IL.

Jefferson Park Congregational Church

4733 N. London Ave

Architect: Michaelson and Rognstad, 1926-1929

Jehovah Lutheran Church

3736 W. Belden Ave.

Originally Evangelical Lutheran Jehovah Church

Architect: Worthmann and Steinbach, 1914-1915.

St. Jerome Church

1701 W. Lunt Ave.

Architect: Charles H. Prindeville (1868-1947), 1914-16. Expansion and renovation, 1934.

St. John the Baptist

905 W. 50th Place

Built 1910

Architect: Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

St. John the Baptist Temple

6154 S. Woodlawn Ave.

Originally Ninth Church of Christ, Scientist

Architect: C. Barkhausen, 1916

St. John Berchmans Church

2517 West Logan Boulevard (2600 North)

Architect: J.G. Steinbach, 1906-07

Windows: John KINSELLA Co., designed 1914, installed 1921

Inter. Décor: barrel vault and walls redecorated in 1934, but are beige now.

Ground was broken for this church built for Belgian Catholics, in June 1905. Auxiliary Bishopp Peter J. Muldoon placed the cornerstone 26 August 1906. Archbishop Quigley dedicated the church 15 December 1907.

Dedication services were held in Flemish, French and English.

St. John Berchmans was a Belgian Jesuit in the 17th c. whose community was founded 1905.

The building's exterior is of yellow brick with Indiana limestone trim. The twin towers were not completed.

Originally the church was 116 x 56 feet. In 1949 the apse was enlarged to its present size.

By 1930 about 3,500 people belonged to the Belgian-English parish. Some 500 children attended the school.

John Kinsella selected the window themes and created them in 1914, but died before they were completed and not installed until 1921under the direction of Robert Giles. Giles had also worked on the windows of the Chapel of St. James, Quigley Seminary. The opalescent glass is of high quality and very well assembled into superb color fields and garment patterns.

Facing the altar the window program is as follows:

Left transept

Half-round floral

Deluge and Noah giving thanks (memorial John Kinsella)

Nativity (memorial Desplenter Family)

St. Dominic receiving Rosary (memorial Mr. & Mrs. Philibert

Helena discovering True Cross (memorial Helen Ryan)

Right transept

Transfiguration = fragment

Holy Family (from 1950s?)

Last Supper and Resurrection of Christ (gift of Altar Society)

Jesus and Children (memorial Charles Henrotin)

St. Patrick Converting King and Queen (Gift of Wm Lenon)

Joan of Arc (memorial Mary Quailty)

Rose

John Berchmans in a theological dispute

St. John Cantius Church

825 N. Carpenter 60622

Architect: Adolphus Druiding, 1893-98. Rectory and School by Henry J. Schlacks

Windows: Nave windows by Gawin Co. of Milwaukee, 1893?. Transept windows by F.X. Zettler of Munich, Germany, 1906

The church is under the direction of the Congregation of the Resurrection.

Split from St. Stanislaus Kostka in 1893, the parish reached its peak in 1918 with almost 23,000 members, 2,000 children in the school and 47 sisters of Notre Dame. The Resurrection fathers operate the church.

The church is built of Chicago common brick and faced with rusticated Indiana limestone. The style is decidedly late 19^th century, with a good dose of Renaissance and Baroque. The tower is 129 feet tall, has four clocks and three bells, the largest weighs some 5,000 pounds.

The entrance is elevated above the street level. The facade is symmetrical with the central portal emphasized. Pilasters flank the elongated windows. The central one is tallest, while the two flanking ones have roundels above them.

The entablature translates: For the greater glory of God.

A large quilted/tufted, pediment carries the Polish coat of arms.

The tower has a Polish, Baltic Renaissance clock face and cap.

Three doors of equal size open into the narthex. The interior of the church is large, 230 feet long and 107 wide, and dark. A finely carved, large Baroque/Classical altar dominates the interior. A mural shows John Cantius giving food and drink to the poor of Krakow. Above this mural is an oval picture of St. Ann with her daughter, the BVM. The apse ceiling presents the Risen Christ in glory. The left side altar enshrines a replica of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. The pulpit is hand-carved. Each of the transepts has a balcony and the rear of the church has a double balcony. The second balcony holds a four-manual Kilgen organ.

The nave murals are by Lesiewicz from about 1920.

Eight stucco covered painted “marble” columns support the nave.

The construction of the Kennedy and its feeder ramps had a profound impact on the community. Services are held in Polish, English, Spanish and Latin.

John of Kanti 1390- (24Dec.) 1473. Sainted 1763, Feast day 20 Oct. Cantius was a native of Poland and is widely venerated. Spent his life teaching scriptures at the University of Cracow. He is the model for moderation and manners in controversies.

The Society of St. John Cantius was formally erected and made a Public Association of the Faithful on 23 December (Feast of St. John Cantius), 1999 by Cardinal George and the Congregation of the Resurrection.

St. John of God Church (Catholic)

1234 W. 52nd St.

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1918-1920

St. Josaphat Church

2311 N. Southport (1400 west)

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1900-02

Windows: 7 in apse = FRANZ MAYER, 1900? Nave = F. X. ZETTLER, 1903?

Cornerstone placed: At the time of its dedication it was acclaimed as the most modern church in the U.S. because it was fireproof. It has steel beams and columns. The plaster coffers of the ceiling are applied directly to metal lath. There is no wood in the roof. Its marble altars are by Hahn & Wagner of Milwaukee.

St. Joseph Church

1107 N. Orleans

Architect: ?, 1876-78. Exterior modernized in 1958

Windows: F. X. ZETTLER, 1912

Cornerstone placed 1 Oct 1876. Dedication: 6 Oct. 1878 by Bishop Foley

The congregation was organized in 1846 and a church was commissioned from A. D. Taylor and dedicated on 16 August that year, at Chicago and Rush.

St. Joseph's was Chicago's second German national parish. The first German national parish was St. Peter's, also built by A. D. Taylor, on Washington St. between Wells and Franklin.

In 1895 the Ravenswood "L" was planned to cut through the apse, but was diverted to cut through the church-school yard instead. For this the church received $30,000 with which it could retire its debt, purchase a pipe organ and install a marble and brass altar rail.

Windows:

F. X. ZETTLER provided the windows in 1912. In the center of the apse is St. Joseph and the Christ Child. To the left are St. Ambrosius; St. Hieronymus; St. Kunigunde. To the right are St. Augustine; St. Gregorius; St. Scholastica. The dedicatory texts are in German.

Along the north wall from east to west the windows read:

Sacred Heart Vision: Gift of John Temple in Memory of Peter and Margaret Simon. In memory of Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Susig? Fam.

St. Elisabeth of Hungary ? Healing the sick: Gift of St. Frances of Rome Court No. 33 W.C.O.J.

Jesus blessing/preaching to children: signed F. X. ZETTLER, Gift Holy Childhood Association

Jesus preaching to travelers (lower 1/2 blocked): In Memoriam Peter & Barbara Probst.

St. Anthony of Padua:

The Vision of Lourdes: Gift of Family C. C. Schmall. The visions occurred starting in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous at the Grotto of the Massabielle.

On the south wall from east to west

BVM appearing to St. Dominic: Gift of Rosary Society

St. Joseph: Gift of St. Joseph Society

St. Louis, bishop, monk, Pope, King David:

Holy Family, Joseph as Carpenter: Gift of John Miller in Memory of his parents. Gift of Mary A. Miller in Memory of her parents.

Pope, king, bishop in Romanesque interior:

12 Year old Jesus preaching in Temple: In Memoriam Catherine Merzinger, signed F. X. ZETTLER

Mary Presented in Temple: Gift of Young Ladies Sodality.

2 angels with instruments (lute and harp).

The apse has paintings under the windows that follow themes expressed in other windows. Along the north wall is a Shrine to St. Benedict with relics, among them St. Joseph, the True Cross.

St. Joseph Church

4821 S. Hermitage or 1731 W. 48th St.)

Architect: Joseph Molitor, 1913-1914 who sort of reowrked a church by T. Lewandowski (Polish), 1895

Windows: FXZ, 1910?. They may have been ordered before constructio. Why?

Father Cholewinski broke ground on a new church in 1913 at the southeast corner of 48th and Hermitage.

On 10 August 1913, Auxiliary Bishop Paul P. Rhode laid the cornerstone.

Archbishop James E. Quigley dedicated the imposing structure on 27 September 1914.

St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church

2901 W. Monroe St.

Originally Monroe Street Church of Christ

Architect: J.M. van Osdel, 1901.

St. Joseph and St. Anne Church

38th place and California

Architect: LaPointe and Hickok, 1891-96

Windows: Lascelles & Shroeder

The parish was organized in 1889 as a national parish to serve French Catholics(mainly Canadians) who lived in Brighton Park. Rev. Joseph C. LeSage (ill, retires in 1900, dies 21 Feb 1907, age 53) from the St. George IL, near Joliet, began the work. For some time the church was known only as St. Joseph.

The shrine of St. Anne de Brighton Park, established in the church in 1900, became so well known throughout Chicago that the parish name was changed to St. Joseph and St. Anne. The parish of St. Joseph, French-speaking, was established within the boarders of the parish of St. Agnes, Irish-English-speaking.

On 7 June 1891 the cornerstone of the new church was blessed. The church was in a French provincial Gothic style.

On 10 November 1895, Archbishop Feehan blessed the church bell. On 18 January 1896, it was reported in The New World: "The church has recently been enriched with stained glass windows of artistic design and beautiful workmanship from the firm of Lascelles & Shroeder, 338-340 Wabash avenue, the same firm which has furnished the windows of Notre Dame Church and Holy Name Cathedral of Chicago, and other notable churches throughout the country."

LaSage's successor was Rev. Cyril A. Poissant, Kankakee IL. He established the St. Anne shrine and a novena. In April 1966, a fire in the church destroyed the Stations of the Cross, murals and other religious items. The interior was restored and a modern facade added on to the exterior brick.

St. Joseph Hospital: The Daniel B. Ryan Memorial Chapel

2900 North Lake Shore Drive, 60657

Architect: Belli & Belli, 1963

Windows: Tolleris Studio, Vetrate d'Arts, 1963

The Blessed Martyrs of Arras: four Daughters of Charity who were guillotined in the French Revolution. The Daughters had taught the children and aided the sick of Arras since St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac had sent them there in 1656, four years before they both died. In 1794 the Sisters refused to take the revolutionary oath of "Liberte-Egalite" which was contrary to their faith, symbolized by the Sister upholding the crucifix. After four months of imprisonment, they were beheaded, signified by the soldier's bayonet. In 1920 they were beatified, the final step before their canonization as saints.

St. Louise de Marillac(1591-1660): universal patroness of social work. She is depicted with Daughters of Charity whose order she founded, as a widowed mother of a son, along with St. Vincent de Paul in 1629.

The Miraculous Medal: shown front and back, was revealed by the Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré (1806-76), a novice Daughter of Charity at the Motherhouse in Paris in 1830. The medal was called miraculous by millions of wearers whose devotion to Mary was rewarded by miracles of mercy and healing grace.

St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660): universal patron of all charity organizations. He is depicted with a Daughter of Charity, whose order he founded with St. Louise de Marillac, in 1629.

The Green Scapular: or badge of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was revealed in 1840 near Paris by the Blessed Virgin Mary to a Daughter of Charity, Sister Justine Bisqueyburu (1817-1903). The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a symbol of the motherly love and intercessory power with God for her children on earth.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), the United States' first native-born canonized saint. A wealthy New York socialite, widowed mother of five and a convert, she founded an order Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which affiliated with and became the Daughters of Charity in the United States, as well as five other communities of Sisters of Charity.

Joyce United Methodist Church

2040 W. Byron St

Originally Joyce Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: Edgar O. Blake, 1899.

Jubilee CME Church

119 E. 59th St., Chicago

(former South Side Hebrew Congregation, Kehilath Anshe Dorum = school. The main temple burned in early 1920s so today's bldg. is the former school. CME = Christian Methodist Episcopal whose bishops are administrative superintendants fo the church and appoint ministers to serve local churches as pastors.

St. Jude, St. Thaddeus Dominican Fathers Shrine (formerly St. Pius V Church)

1909 S. Ashland

Architect: James J. Egan (1839-1914), 1885

The predominantly Irish parish was organized in 1874, and a frame church was built.

The cornerstone for a brick church dedicated to St. Pius V was placed 6 Sept. 1885 by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan. The building was completed and dedicated 10 Sept. 1893. At its peak some 2000 families resided in the parish, but by the 1920s the Irish had mostly moved out and the neighborhood was becoming Polish. Within the boundaries of the parish there were several Polish churches, St. Ann (Polish, 18th/Leavitt; St. Adalbert (Polish, 17th/Paulina); St. Vitus (Bohemian, 18th/Paulina); Holy Trinity (Croatian, 1850 S. Throop).

On 29 Oct. 1929 a shrine honoring St. Jude was erected in the church. This shrine was especially popular during the Depression. In 1933 the wooden altar was replaced by a marble shrine to St. Jude, the sanctuary was enlarged, the sacristy remodeled and a chapel to St. Anthony was erected inside the church.

Throughout the 1930s the parish remained predominantly English speaking. By the mid-1960s the congregation was predominantly Spanish speaking. A shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadeloupe was installed in the church in 1972.

K.A.M. - Isaiah Israel Temple

1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd.

Originally Temple Isaiah

Architect Alfred S. Alschuler, 1925 with 1973 addition

Kenwood United Church of Christ

4608 S. Greenwood Ave

Architect: W.W. Boyington and Wheelock, 1887

St. Kilian Church

8725 S. May Ave.

Architect: McCarthy, Smith and Epping, 1931-1937

King David Missionary Baptist Church

735 W. 19th Pl.

Originally Holy David Missionary Baptist Church

Built 1905

Korean Bethany United Presbyterian Church

4850 N. St. Louis Ave.

Originally Albany Park Presbyterian Church

Architect: Pond and Pond, 1920-29

Korean United Church of Christ

4201 N. Troy St.

Originally Emmanuel Congregational Church

Built 1924

Korean United Presbyterian Church

1615 W. Morse Ave.

Originally Temple Mizpah

Built 1920-29

Lake View Presbyterian Church

716 W. Addison at 3600 N. Broadway

Architect: Burnham and Root, 1887/8

Windows: art glass of fine quality. (possibly Healy&Millet)

The present church is the last of a series of changes. The first church is still extant with its steep roof, octagonal tower, all set on a foundation of rusticated Lemont limestone. Its original wood shingles were covered by the present siding in the 1940s. In the 1890s the building was expanded north. This expansion changed the orientation of the building from east - west to north - south. The change is clearly visible on the inside. The fine stained glass windows are most probably from the time of expansion, the 1890s.

The parish hall, of machine made ox-blood bricks, arts and crafts windows, wood trim, was added in 1911.

The Lakeside Japanese Christian Church

954-56 W. Wellington Ave.

Built 1880-89.

LaSalle Street Church

1136 N. LaSalle

Originally Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holyy Trinity

Architect: Christain O. Hansen, 1882-86

Built of Peoria (Lamont) limestone with Indiana limestone trim the steep roofed church is neo-Gothic Revival in flavor. Two impressive capitals, Moissac inspired, flank the central door. The windows are very important examples in Chicago of the uniquely American approach to the British Arts & Crafts-Aesthetic Movement in Chicago. They are by an unidentified designer and fabricator. They are of special interest because of their quality.

St. Laurence

7140 S. Dorchester at 72^nd Street.

Architect: Joseph Molitor, 1911-12

Windows: Emil Frei (Munich branch). Botti Studio repaired great rose July/August 1997.

Organized as a mission church by St. Thomas the Apostle in Hyde Park in 1883, ground for the present building was broken and the cornerstone laid, 11 June 1911. At the time, 1,000 families belonged to the parish. The structure is brick with limestone detailing. The church was dedicated 7 July 1912 by Archbishop James E. Quigley.

In July 1927, Father Tuohy supervised the decoration of the interior of the church. Professor Gonippi Raggi, a graduate of St. Luke's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, completed a series of paintings. Stained glass windows were commissioned from Emil Frei Art Glass Company in Munich. New light fixtures were also installed. In April 1929, Auxiliary Bishop Bernhard J. Sheil dedicated 3 new marble altars.

An African-American parish, the church is scheduled for closing 30 June 2002.

Lawndale Community Presbyterian Church

1908 S. Millard Ave

Built 1901

Leavitt Street Bible Church

1107 N. Leavitt St.

Built 1894, enlarged 1929.

St. Leo the Great Church

7747 S. Emerald at 78^th Street

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1905

Archbishop James E. Quigley placed the cornerstone 30 September 1905. Auxiliary Bishop James E. McGavick dedicated the church 22 April 1906.

An African-American parish, the church is scheduled for closing 30 June 2002.

Liberty Baptist Church

4849 S. king Drive

Architect = William N. Alderman, 1955-56 (with Tideman & Connell).

Windows = Giannini & Hilgart, 1977.

Nativity / Crucifixion / Resurrection

Parabolic arch wood construction. Flagstone and Brick exterior. Steel framed windows

Dr. MartinLuther King used this church as his Chicago headquarters.

All of Dr. Kings marches started here.

Barack Obama gave his first publicly accepted speach when he ran for Senate here.

Lilydale First Baptist Church

649 W. 113rd St.

Lilydale Progressive Missionary Baptist Church

10706 S. Michigan Ave

Originally First Reforme Church of Roseland

Built 1887

Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church

600 W. Fullerton Parkway

Originally Fullerton Parkway Presbyterian Church

Built 1888

Lincoln United Methodist Church

2250 S. Damen

Little Flower Church (Catholic)

1801 W. 80th St.

Originally St. Theresa of the infant Jesus

Architect: Maryer and Cook, 1931.

Living Witness Apostolic Faith Temple (Apostolic)

1455 N. Cleveland Ave.

Built 1925

Logan Square Baptist Church

2301 N Lawndale Ave.

Originally Logan Square Baptist Church

Architect E.E. Roberts, 1913-1914

St. Ludmilla Church

24th and Albany, known as Little Village.

Architect: James Dibleka, 1900

The fifth Bohemian parish established in Chicago. The current cornerstone was placed 17 June 1900.

The dedication of the pressed brick structure with modest limestone trim followed 6 July 1902.

St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church

1500 W. Belmont

Architect: Harold A. Stahl, 1960

The building is constructed of red face brick inside and out, and with Wisconsin Lannon stone trim. The floor is terrazzo. The pews and pulpits are made of African mahogany. The great south facing window is by Giannini and Hilgart. It speaks of Christ as “the Light of the World” and “the Son of Righteousness arising with healing in His wings.”

A Christus figure takes in the full height of the nave. The Christus as well as the 27 foot cross behind the altar, the seven candlesticks, the baptismal font, and the panels decorating the two pulpits, were all done in cloisonné enamel by Harold Martin.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Luke was founded in 1884 by former members of St. James Lutheran Church. When the parish school was dedicated in 1905, it was considered to be Chicago’s first fireproof school building.

St. Lukes Missionary Baptist Church (Former, 18^th Church Christ Scientist)

73^rd and Cole

Architect: Charles D. Faulkner, 1927

Windows: colored glass set in a Roman scale pattern.

The building is a Byzantine inspired octagon of tan stone. Diagonal corner entrance

Luther Memorial Church

2400 W. WIlson

Built 1925.

Madonna della Strada Chapel

6525 N. Sheridan Rd. on Loyola U. campus

Architect: Andrew Rebori, 1938-39

Windows: English glass, installed 1945-50

Madonna della Strada, Our Lady of the Way, is a Roman title for Mary, Mother of Jesus. Mary, under this title was a special devotion of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. The great church of the Society in Rome also carries the name.

The idea for this church goes back to 1925 when Rev. Mertz, S.J. thought of building a chapel for the students of Loyola University.

The chapel parallels the Cudahy Library, also by Rebori. Its style is modern.

The roof over the west end is of special note. Its five glass brick bands help light up the altar and sanctuary.

The great mural is by Mel Steinfels. It depicts all the Jesuit martyrs, except those of North America, which have their own chapel. Steinfels also did the candlesticks, and Stations of the Cross painted on the walls. The organ is a 48-rank Wicks.

St. Malachy R.C. church

2248 W. Washington

Arch: Graham of Cleveland, 1929.

The parish was organized in 1882 for Irish. In the late 1920s the city started to widen Western Ave., so the old church had to make way for new one, just east of Oakley.

Cornerstone placed 12 IX 1029

All brick exterior with large campanile (120’) and Bedford limestone dwarf gallery rose. The stone is well dressed. Interior steep barrel vault. Plaster mural fills apse. Columns painted red. Figurative capitals. Distinctive figurative windows are in the style of Kinsella?

In the later 1930s black families began to move into the parish. In the 1940s the parish grammar school was entirely black.

Nearby St. Patrick Academy remained ALL white until it closed in 1963.

The former Maryville building next to the church has a plaque stating that Peter Townshend of the Who paid for its remodeling.

St. Malachy was an Irish Bishop who traveled to Rome twice and on his second return trip died in Clairveaux, 1148. He was a friend of St. Bernard. His feast day is 3 XI.

St. Malachy is the consolidation parish predominantly Hispanic Precious Blood parish.

Mallinckrodt Chapel of the Immaculate Conception

1041 Ridge Rd., Wilmette, IL 60091

Architect: Herman J. Gaul, 1913-16.

The building is part of Maria Immaculata Convent which is part of Mallinckrodt College which became part of Loyola University Chicago on 1 January 1991. The actual transition is still ongoing. The building and chapel were planned and built by the Sisters of Christian Charity. Mother Eduarda Schmitz, S.C.C., contracted for the building site and bore the chief responsibility for the progress of the work. Herman J. Gaul was the chief architect and John Gebhardt, chief building contractor.

The chapel is an adaptation of German Romanesque Revival. Every other column supports a wide arch, while a column supports the blind arch inside of it. It's a Stützenwechsel arrangement. The wall looks layered. The columns are relatively short, the capitals large and heavy. Putti act as corner volutes.

Blue and tan tiles by Villeroy & Boch cover the entire floor of the chapel, halls, stairs and basement. It may be the most extensive collection of this type of tile in the Chicago area. Their order was placed in 28 June 1914. Two days later, 30 June, World War I started. The tiles were delayed. The correspondence survives and has been cast as a narrative in a booklet.

The Rundbogenstil windows of the nave, paired round topped lights under a central roundel, are repeated throughout the building, especially on the iron stair railings throughout the building. The windows were installed in 1916. The relevant correspondence with F.X. Zettler survives. It is in German and names other installations in the city. The orders resident artist, Sister Servatia Kreutzberger contributed greatly to the look of the windows, probably also to their compositions. Sister Servatia was adamant that Mary wear only blue and white, no other colors and that the red should be ruby-red, not the orange red she noticed the Zettler artists favoring. The painting of the glass is superb. The windows face north and south. There were never windows in the apse until the mid 1960s. Some of the face in the north windows show paint loss and fading, especially around the eyes. The large windows cost $400. each originally, while the roundels in the side aisles, a stock window, cost $35. each.

The subject of the windows is the life of Mary, mostly. Reading from the south side of the apse we first see Mary Receiving Communion from St. John, this is an extra canonical Ephesus event. The large transept window depicts the Immaculate Conception. Mary stands on the serpents head, the moon sickle and the world orb above kind David, Joachim & Ann, St. John and other figures while Christ, God and Dove wait above to crown her. Beautifully painted angels flank her and fill the sky. The inscription reads, in part, Tota Pulchra Maria. The first clerestory window depicts the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. The inscription reads, in part, Laetuo Abtuli Universal. The window was a gift of the Pupils of the Josephinum. Next is the Annunciation, a gift of the Joesphinum Aulumnae. Mary & Elizabeth with Joseph, always in purple and here in peasant gear looks on. The window was a gift of the P. Robling Family. The balcony window is the Nativity. The narrative continues on the north side of the balcony with the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Next is the Holy Family, Mary on the left, Joseph the Carpenter on the right and Jesus in the front, center. This window was a gift of P. Winkelmann & Family. The next scene depicts the Twelve years old Jesus Teaching in the Temple. He is on the right, facing a seated and standing figure on the left. Mary & Joseph appear above and behind him on the left. The dedicatory inscription is faded. Next is a very dramatic and tightly composed Pentecost. The apostles faces show significant paint loss. The transept window is depicts St. Joseph as the Patron Saint of the Humanity. He stands on St. Peter's, his cloak as a Schutzmantel. Below are Pope Pius IX, Bishop Konrad Martin of Paderborn( helped the order), the founders brother, Herman von Mallinckrodt who had been a power politician and advocate of church affairs under Bismarck. The window is dedicated In Memory of J.P. Pfeghar, the chapels principal donor. The last window of the series depicts Sister Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The windows are protected from the elements by protective glazing that is vented by a pipe of maybe 1/2 diameter set in the center of the bottom frame, just above the sill. Sister Irma thinks this PG seems to be documented in the correspondence of 1916. She needs to check the German letters again. She also thinks the windows have never been removed, or altered since their installation. From the exterior the PG looks slightly rippled and securely set into a wooden frame which matches the rest of the window installation. If this is an original PG installation, then is a very early documented use in the U.S.

On a more serious note originally the chapel featured 94 angels, today it has 72. They cluster on capitals and holy water fonts.

The sunburst window, crucifix and altar are from the flood following Vatican II.

The foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity, Daughters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, was Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt. Born 3 June 1817 in Minden, Westphalia, her family's wealth did not close her mind to the hardships of others. As a young woman, she was particularly involved with the poverty-stricken families of the outskirts of Paderborn. She nursed their sick and brought them food. To aid them further, she opened her own day-care center for the children of working mothers - an undertaking which brought to her attention the needs of blind children and led to her founding of a school for the blind. When her works became to extensive for her to manage alone, the Bishop of Paderborn, instructed her to found a religious community She did so in 1849. The Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity followed Ignation Rule, as did the Society of Jesus. In 1871, with the help of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, a number of laws were passed that were aimed directly at Roman Catholic religious orders, including the prohibition against nuns teaching in schools. This action became known as the Kulturkampf. Mother Pauline began to send Sisters of Christian Charity to North and South America and to several European countries where education became the primary apostolate. In Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a provincial house and a normal school were established (a normal school was a teachers education school in which students took classes in general studies and teaching methods. Teachers who where certified in the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s were required to graduate from a normal school). In 1916, the Sisters of Christian Charity moved their provincial house to Gross Point, Ill, now Wilmette. Pauline von Mallinckrodt died 30 April 1881.

St, Margaret of Scottland Church (Catholic)

9837 S. Throop St.

Architect: Charles L. Wallace, 1926-28.

St. Mark Church

1048 N. Campbell Ave.

Architect: Barry & Kay, 1962-1963

Windows: Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France

Dedication: 17 March 1963

Built in 1963, in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. The first church was built in 1894 for English speaking Catholics near the German parish of St. Aloysius and the Bohemian parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The church is within walking distance of St. Helen and St. Fidelis (Polish), Holy Rosary (Italian), Sacred Heart (Slovak) and St. Stephen King of Hungary (Hungarian). The neighborhood became predominantly Polish in the 1950s, and the parish needed a larger school and church. In 1960, a new church was approved by Albert Cardinal Mayer. By 1963, some Puerto Ricans had moved into the neighborhood, followed by many Mexicans so that by 1966 a Spanish mass was required. By 1969, the church sang Polish and Spanish songs.

In 1976, the church celebrated its 25,000 lunch served in Archdiocese, the largest such non-federal program in US. The program was inaugurated in 1970 by Cardinal Cody and became the model for public and private schools throughout the US.

Gabriel Loire was established in 1946. From the start it worked in slab glass and was known as the “master of sculpted glass.”

Born in 1904, near Angers, France, Loire studied painting with Georges Roualt. Loire was inspired by the windows of Chartres and apprenticed at the restoration studio there. Loire first saw slab glass in 1927. He opened his own studio at Chartres in 1946. By 1969, he was internationally known and had glass in some 500 French churches and over 200 US churches and secular buildings as well as in Australia, Japan, Brazil, and 15 other countries.

In Chicago he has seven installations:

St. Thomas More Church, 2825 W. 81^st Street (1958), Chicago

Immaculate Conception Church, 1590 Green Bay Rd, Highland Park

St. John Fisher Church, 10234 S. Washtenaw Ave.

St. Lambert Church, 8148 Karlov Ave. Skokie (847.673.5090)

Loyola Academy Chapel, 1100 Loraine Ave. Wilmette (847.256.1100)

St. Mark Church, 1048 N. Campbell, Chicago

St. Richard Episcopal Church, 5101 W. Devon, Chicago

Inside St. Mark: A large, open hall. The internal supports are a double row of concrete, steel slightly tapering shafts that also act as side aisles. The walls are multi-textured and patterned. The altar is raised on three steps of black marble and the white marble table is placed on the shoulders of a cast bronze Mark as a winged lion. (cast by Greco Studio). The inscription in the book reads: “Why are you fearful?” (Mark 4,40). Designed by Chicago artist, Beatrice Wilcynski who also designed the stations of the cross. A long slab of black marble tops the alter rail set on brass supports which also hold enamel panels of orange ground with wheat bundles. The altar contains the relics of Sts. Concordia and Dilectus.

Behind the altar is a bright orange and gold mosaic screen, a type of reredos.

Above the alter hangs a large corpus carved of Linden in Pietrosanto, Italy. The floor is 2 different patterns of terrazzo, small grained and large grained.

A baffle of metal plates acts as a skylight and a canopy high above. A fan now obstructs the composition.

Windows, south side:

#1.The creation of the world, the hand of God over the day and night; over stars, water, land and plants, over man and woman.

#2. Original sin, Adam’s and Eve’s fall represented by serpent presenting apple. God’s intervention and His leading the chosen people (by Moses) towards the promised land is represented by the waters separating (so Moses could lead the Chosen out of Egypt)

#3. A luminous column, the biblical pillar of fire symbolizes the covenant of God with his people which is represented by David’s City of Jerusalem which flows

#4. For out of the House of David (from the root of Jesse), in the “fullness of time” as St. Paul tells us would bud forth the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

#5. Broken chain and recalls that the Jews had now reached the promised land with the chain of exile and bondage was at last broken

#6. Somber colors representing terrible darkness that covered the earth and filled the hearts of men before the coming of Christ. A bright bird represents the only ray of hope that God would send the Messiah.

North side, rear window:

#7. Glows with reds of new morning. Star of Bethlehem, “ChiRho” through the next two panels.

#8. Eucharist synbol of grapes and wheat. Here the OT passes into the NT. Symbolically, Christ gives us himself as a gift of love in the form of bread and wine.

#9. A bit of cross showing indicates the resurrection. In the symbol of a shining candle (the Risen Light of the World) we find a reminder of our Lord’s pledge of our own resurrection.

#10. The New Jerusalem, the Church which is Christ’s body on earth, guided from above by the Dove (Holy Spirit)

#11. Scales of Justice, commemorating the last judgment, as well as three of the seven seals on the Book of Judgment. Above is the figure of a lamb symbolizing Christ the Redeemer who will return at the end of time as the just judge.

#12. The Hebrew inscription reads (Deut.6,4) “Hear, O Israel, thy God; They God is one,” which symbolizes the acceptance by the Jewish people of Jesus as their Messiah and their union with the Church as indicated in the writings of St. Paul. The tw Greek letters, Chi / Rho, representing Christ. The AΩ remind us that our God from all eternity to all eternity is the beginning and the end of Himself and All He has made. The first window, the beginning joins the last window.

St. Martin (formerly also known as St. Martin de Porres Church (Catholic)

NOW = New Heritage Assembly of God Cathedral, Christian Center.

5842 S. Princeton

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks with Louis A. Becker of Mainz, 1894-95

Windows: Mayer and TGA

The church was built for a German community in a neo German late Gothic style. Its exterior is of Indiana limestone, over a brick structure. The limestone is intricately cut.

The inside was superbly decorated with Stations of the Cross and a painted plaster Pieta from the Mayer Co. The Johnson organ, originally installed in Dankmar Adler's Central Music Hall, dates from 1880. The balcony pews may also be from that time.

The golden sculpture of St. Martin is by Hermann J. Gaul, 1939.

St. Martin de Porres

5112 W. Washington

Closed July, 2005

St. Martini Lutheran Church

1624 W. 51st. St.

Built 1890-1895

St. Mary Church (demolished)

21 E. Van Buren

Architect: Belli & Belli, 1959-61

The original St. Mary congregation, the first Catholic church in Chicago, was located on the south side of Lake, just west of State. At its founding, in 1833, it was known as S. Mary of the Assumption. The second building, on the southwest corner of Madison and Wabash, in a Colonial style, served as the Cathedral from 1843 to 1875. The first building is of great architectural significance. Following an idea by George W. Snow, Anson and Augustine Deodat Taylor designed a 36 feet long x 24 wide x 12 high frame structure assembled in the balloon frame technique, the first of its kind, ever.

St. Mary Church

Buffalo Grove IL

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1898

St. Mary of Perpetual Help

1039 W. 32nd St.

Architect: plans by Joseph Artmaier 1891-92

Windows: said to be German?

Founded as a polish national mission church of St. Adalbert, it became its own polish national parish in 1886. The present brick structure with its large copper dome was dedicated on 28 February 1892.

The mighty dome that towers over Bridgeport is entirely of wood construction clad in copper. The dome is 113 feet high inside. Besides the picture of Our Mary of Perpetual Help above the main altar, Polish saints line the walls (from left to right): St. Stanislaus Kostka, Blessed Kunegunda, St. John Cantius, St. Adalbert, St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr, St. Casimir, St. Hedwig and St. Andrew Bobola

St. Mary of the Angels Church

1825 N. Wood

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1911-20 (so official History of the Parishes, Archdiocese of Chicago). Lane credits Worthman and Steinbach.

Windows: In the style of Munich Studios, Chicago.

Interior: neo-Italian Roman Renaissance style by John A. Mallin.

The parish was formed for a polish-national congregation, mid-way between St. Stanislaus Kostka and St. Hedwig. The parish had its greatest concentration of Poles in the 1920s to 1950s.

Work on the present church began 28 September 1911 under the guidance of Father Gordon of the Resurrectionist Order. The cornerstone was laid on 2 August 1914, while the dedication ceremonies did not occur until 30 May 1920 with Archbishop George W. Mundelein presiding. Said to resemble St. Peter's in Rome, specifically in the dome, this church has been called the finest example of Roman Renaissance Revival church architecture in the US. It has also been called the Polish Basilica of Chicago.

The church itself is very large, 230 feet long, 125 feet wide at the transept. The exterior is uniformly reddish brown brick, with marble and terra cotta trim. Large stairs leading to a large portico, an exonarthex, of eight terra cotta Corinthian columns dominates the front. The portico has a coffered ceiling while the upper walls left and right preserve examples of exterior plaster sculpture depicting the Entry into Jerusalem (south wall) and the Flight to Egypt? (north wall).

The narthex and just inside the nave to the left and right are some good sculptures from the DePrato Studios, a Crucifixion and a St. Michael Archangel are especially interesting. The interior is very elaborate and newly restored. The original decorating scheme was by John A. Mallin whose apse mural depicting Mary in Glory surrounded by angels is the centerpiece of the program. Above the main altar is a painting of St. Francis of Assisi's vision of the BVM with Christ the King in Heaven.

The dome over the transept rises some 135 feet. The 12 windows in the dome represent the apostles and are usually attributed to FXZ, but are more probably in the later style of the Munich Studios of Chicago. They may also have done the windows of the Stations of the Cross of the side aisles. The Station of the Cross windows are unique in Chicago. The transept windows are said to be from Columbus Ohio. The south transept window depicts the vision of Mary and the Christ Child by ?? . The north transept window depicts the stigmata of St. Francis during his vision of the multi-winged Crucified Christ, a Serafim.

St. Mary of the Lake Church

4200 N. Sheridan Rd. (1000 west)

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks (died 1938), 1913-17 (construction cost $127,000)

Windows: some signed FXZettler

Founded as a parish in 1901, St. Mary of the Lake Archbishop James E. Quigley laid the cornerstone of the present church on 29 June 1913. Archbishop Mundelein dedicated the church on 20 May 1917. Work on the interior was completed in time for the XXVIII International Eucharistic Congress in the summer of 1926.

Ferdinando Palla of Piertrasanta, Italy was awarded all the contract for all the marble work. FX Zettler received the window contract.

The church is a pastiche of famous churches of Rome. The terra cotta clad tower is modeled after the campanile of St. Pudentiana in Rome. The terra cotta clad east facade is an inspired replica of S. Paul outside the Walls, Rome. The elaborate interior and ceiling are by Malin Co. and depict Christ the King / Mary Queen of Heaven. It is an inspired replica of St. Mary Major, Rome. The pulpit is of white, Carrara marble and has scenes from the life of St. Francis carved into it. An elaborate Corinthian capital supports the altar. Other Carrara marble statuary stands at the back of the church. Four fine marble columns support an elaborate baldachino with mosaic sky and stars over the traditional altar and tabernacle.

Until 1908 Wilson Ave. was the end of the line for the newly constructed North Western elevated, helping Buena Park-Uptown develop into a major commercial center and residential center. The church was named in honor of St. Mary of the Lake University, the first institution of higher learning in Chicago, open 1846-66.

Maternity, BVM Church

North and Monticello Ave.

Architect: William F. Gubbins, 1910.

Ground was broken on the combination church, school, hall on 13 April, 1910. The first mass was celebrated in the new church Christmas Day, 1910. Archbishop James E. Quigley dedicated Maternity, BVM Church on 8 October 1911.

St. Matthew Lutheran (now S. Mateo)

2108 W.21st Street at S. Hoyne

Construction: 1872 or 1887?

Jackson Pipe Organ Co., Chester, IL.

Founded as a German Lutheran Church in 1872, in a German Gothic Revival style, the building burned in January, 1887. Rebuilt in the same style, within nine months, the present church was dedicated in October, 1887. Today the church is a Mexican-American congregation, the Eglesia San Mateo.

Though the structure is modest, it is important as an early example of its type. The central tower through which the main entrance is pierced, is an indication of its German Protestant heritage. Two towers would have been opulent and too Catholic. The columns to the left and right of the door are a rare survivor of what was once a common architectural element on secular buildings and churches, cast iron pipe with cast iron capitals. Today, the dormers, an important aesthetic element from the exterior, are closed off. Their windows boarded up. Fine, cut fretwork along the gables. A square apse meets the elevated train tracks

St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church

8000 S. Aberdeen

Built 1922.

St. Matthias Church

2310 Ainslie St., Chicago, 60625

Architect: Herman J. Gaul, 1915

Windows: signed A.M....? Could date from late 1940s?

Organized as a German national parish in 1887 in what was then a farming village called Bowmanville in Town of Lake View. The cornerstone of the present church was laid 2 May 1915. Archbishop George W. Mundelein dedicated the red brick with Indiana Limestone trim in a neo-Italian-Romanesque style church on 28 May 1916.

St. Maurice Church

36^th and Hoyne Ave.

Architect: McCarthy, Smith & Eppig, 1936

Organized as an exclusive German national parish in 1890 which lost its German character by the mid-1920s. The present cornerstone was laid on 12 July 1936 followed by dedication ceremonies on 13 June 1937 by George Cardinal Mundelein. The style is a brick collegiate Gothic, with Indiana limestone trim and entrance.

St. Mel-Holy Ghost (now New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Missionary Church)

4301 W. Washington (100 north)

Architect: Charles L. Wallace of Joliet, 1910-11.

Windows: F. X. ZETTLER

The cornerstone was laid on the present church 9 June 1910. On 26 November 1911, Archbishop Quigley dedicated the church. This Indiana limestone church at the corner of Kildare and Washington once housed the largest Irish congregation in Chicago, requiring six masses in the main sanctuary and six in the basement chapel on any given Sunday in the 1930s and 40s. The church was founded in 1878 and combined with the German parish of Holy Ghost, founded in 1896, in 1941.

When the congregation was founded in 1878 it was a mission and built a small brick church, cornerstone 28 July 1878, dedicated to St.Philip Benizi. At the time it was in the city Cicero. Most of the members of the Mission Church were employed in the Chicago and North Western Car Shops which had been established in 1873 at Kinzie and 40th (later Pulaski). The territory of St. Philip Benizi was outside the city limits of Chicago at the time. It was incorporated into the city 1889. At the time there were so many Irish families moving into the areas just to the west that St. Philip Benizi was no longer at the heart of the community, and a new congregation was organized, St. Catherine of Siena at Washington and Park (now Parkside). The area was known as Austin and located outside of the city limits. On 6 Nov. 1893, the Chicago and Oak Park "L" began operating along Lake Street from Laramie to Market. This elevated road was extended from Oak Park to Forest Park in 1906.

In 1893 land was purchased at the southwest corner of Washington and Kildare. but there was not enough money to build a church so services were held in the basement, dedicated 3 May 1896, and named St. Mel, until enough money could be collected.

The exterior is in a northern French Romanesque style while the interior is decidedly auditorium with its wide but short nave and expansive transepts that are also not very deep. The floor slopes towards the altar. The capitals were electrified and light sockets still remain visible. The main altar is of Carrara marble.

Since the late 1950s the church has serves a predominantly Black community, and since the Fall of 1993 a Baptist congregation has owned the building.

Most church members take stained glass windows for granted. They're nice and have always been there. They are just another aspect of the religious experience. And one window is much like the next. How right and wrong they are. Although there are many buildings in Chicago with stained glass windows, few have windows that are as significant as those of the former Catholic church of St. Mel.

Built in 1910-1911, the window program was an integral part of the original plan for the decoration of the interior of St. Mel. The building served a predominantly Irish, with a strong German minority, Catholic congregation. Fitting the medievalized style of the church, the windows sought by the immigrant community were not those offered by the noted American stained glass window producers of the day, Tiffany and Conick to mention only the most famous, but the most important European stained and painted glass manufacturer, Franz Xavier Zettler of Munich, Germany. This company, employing well over 200 artists and craftsmen at the time, worked independently and in partnership with two other companies, Franz Mayer also of Munich and the Tirolian Glass Works (TGA) of Innsbruck, Austria. Zettler, Mayer and TGA presented the north American immigrant community, especially the Catholic Irish, German, Polish, Bohemian with a "look" in stained glass that was familiar to them, yet new. The style is often called medieval, but one searches in vain through known medieval stained glass to find a look similar to the one presented by the Zettler, Mayer of TGA companies. The reason for this is that the style is not medieval, but an important development within painting in the nineteenth century. This art has been little studied, and windows such as those preserved at St. Mel's are very important original documents in this art form.

The experience begins immediately upon entering the sanctuary. This is not incidental, but a part of the interior design of the building. Stepping through the doors we notice the floor sweeping away from us, as in an auditorium, all part of the experience, towards the magnificent altar, of Italian marble from Carara. The altar is from the same quarries Michelangelo used for his unsurpassed sculptures in Florence and Rome in the 16th century.

Above the altar are five elongated (lancet) windows and two roundels, left and right, that depict biblical and religious scenes in which God interceded on behalf of mankind. Their subject is sacrifice, just as the altar is a site of sacrifice and the devout of the congregation sacrifice to maintain their belief and their building. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, only to have his hand stayed at the last moment by an angle acting out the will of God, or the hungry Israelites in the Desert receiving Manna from heaven through the actions of Moses, or a bishop placing the crown of martyrdom upon a young woman as her followers look on.

Still standing in the in the center aisle, the processional entrance to the sanctuary, our eyes take in the windows left and right. The two on the left depict the miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes and Jesus with the Children, respectively. On the right is the Entry into Jerusalem and the Raising of Lazarus. The windows show us in images what the word of Christ teaches.

The visuals focus on the earthly ministry of Christ and the mystery that is Christ. On the right, the Entry into Jerusalem starts the Passion cycle which we know to end with the Crucifixion and the reason for Christ being among us. Diagonally across from, on the left, is Christ with the Children. The devout are the children of Christ who receive the bread, body of Christ and traditionally on Friday's eat fish, flesh but not meat, as a part of their devotion. This aspect is made pictorial, on the left, in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes window. Diagonally across from it is the Raising of Lazarus, a reference to the Resurrection of Christ himself and the mystery of transcending death as only belief in Christ can offer.

These four windows depict central aspects of Christianity. They lead the congregation pictorially to the word as it is spoken in the sanctuary.

In the crossing or transept, the two very large round (or rose) windows, each surrounded by 14 small roundels are unique in Chicago. They are the most important windows of their kind in the city.

The right rose shows Mary and the Christ Child blessing and accepting the rosary from a male and female saint. Since the 1450s the rosary has been an important devotional element among the laity in the Catholic Church and others.

The small roundels remind the viewer of his/her responsibility to others and are subjects of sermons. We are admonished to Shelter the Homeless; Pray for the Captive; Visit the Sick; Bury the Dead; Pray for the Living and the Dead; Comfort the Afflicted; Forgive Offenses Willingly; Suffer Patiently; Admonish Sinners; Console the Doubtful; Instruct the Ignorant; Feed the Hungry; Give Drink to the Thirsty and Clothe the Naked. Below this large wheel we are faced by a row of Apostles, among them, Peter, Paul, Andrew and John.

Across the way, the other great wheel (or rose) shows the Assumption of Mary as witnessed by the Apostles as its center. It is the same scene as the magnificent painting by El Greco in the Art Institute of Chicago. The roundels here present 14 important moments in the Bible as they relate to the life of Jesus.

The scenes start with the Annunciation (in about the 8 o'clock position). From there we read clockwise: the Visitation (Mary visits Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist); Mary crowned in Heaven by Christ and God; the Nativity with the Three Kings; the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple; Jesus Teaching the Elders in the Temple; Jesus Praying on the Mount of Olives where an angel presents him with a chalice; Jesus Scourged at the Pillar; Jesus Crowned with Thorns; The Crucifixion with Mary and John the Apostle; the Resurrection; the Ascension with Jesus appearing to the Apostles; Pentecost. Below stand six saints, each holding the instrument of their torture or their symbol. Among the martyrs is John the Baptist, Bartholomew and Stephen (the first Christian martyr).

Turning around and looking towards the entrance, we see the great rose window over the choir loft and organ. This window is traditionally devoted to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. She is shown here seated at the organ with a choir of angles around here. The roundels show angles playing a variety of musical instruments, including the violin, flute, trumpet, harp, drum and triangle.

In conclusion it should suffice to state that the windows of the former church of St. Mel are an integral part of the structure and preserve a very important aspect of Chicago history that has been much neglected. Interiors such as this one are rare in Chicago and deserve much more attention than they have received.

Metropolitan Community Church

4100 S. Martin Luther King Dr.

(formerly 41st St. Pres. Church and First Presbyterian Church)

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1889

Built as the Forty-first Street Presbyterian Church, it was the First Presbyterian Church 1912 to 1926, when it became the Metropoliltan Cummunity Chruch. The Richardsonian Romanesque exterior is of Lake Superior sandstone.

Metropolitan Missionary Baptist (formerly, Third Church of Christ, Scientist)

2151 W. Washington Blvd.

Architect: Hugh M.G. Garden, 1899-1901

The exterior terra cotta, by the American Terra-Cotta & Ceramic Co., is very important in its designs. The church is almost square in pland and the vast openness of the interior is of great significance given the date of construction. Tan and gray geometric patterned Prairie styled opalescent glass windows give the interior a glow. The vaulting is supported from the four corners by angular ribs that become hard edges. Chevrons fill the vaulting triangles. A great chandelier hangs in the center. The balcony line rises slightly towards the center, lending it lightness and subtlety. The seating is mostly original. The church was built as the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, of Chicago. The present owners, Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1920.

Midwest Presbyterian Church

1713 W. Sunnyside Ave.

(formerly Fourteenth Church of Christ, Scientist

Architect: N. Max Dunning and Clarence A. Jensen, 1917-1918

St. Michael Church (Polish)

8237 South Shore Drive (at 83rd St., 3132 east)

Architect: William J. Brinkman, 1907 - 09.

Parish served Polish Catholics many of whom worked at the nearby steel mills.

The parish was founded in 1892 for Polish Catholics who lived in what was then know as the “Bush.” One its first pastors was Rev. Paul Rhode, who built the church and later was made the first Polish bishop in the Untied States in 1908.

The brick-Gothic with limestone trim of this building follows the Pugin, a-symmetrical Gothic Revival Style favored in the US as during the Second Gothic Revival in the 1890s to 1920s. The steeple rises 250 feet above street level. Very fine interior detailing, especially the altar is exceptional. Note the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The windows are all by the Franz Xavier Zettler Company of Munich and date from 1927-28, though they look pre-World War I.

The organ is a three-manual, 37 rank Möller pipe organ from 1908.

St. Michael Church (Old Town)

1633 N. Cleveland at Eugene.

Architect: John Dillenburg and Augustus Wallbaum, 1866-69. Rebuilt 1871-73, steeple added 1888. Red brick added to exterior façade in 1913, supervised by Hermann J. Gaul.

Windows: Franz Mayer of Munich, installed July 1903.

Interior decoration in 1883 by Karl Lambert of NYC, and in 1921 by A. Weinert of Milwaukee. In 1925 a new Kilgen organ, 37 ranks, 2,236 pipes, was installed. Between 1950-53, the church was redecorated.

This German national church was organized in 1852. Nearby was the Catholic, German cemetery (CHS and the park now there). Michael Diversey of Diversey & Lill Brewery, donated the land. Both men now have streets named for them. Because of feuding between the diocesan priest and the congregation, Bishop James Duggan asked the Redemptorist Fathers (CSsR) from Baltimore to take charge. They did, broke the feud, and were liked.

The cornerstone of the present church was laid 23 September 1866. On 29 September 1869, (the Feast of St. Michael), Bishop Duggan dedicated the church. The church survived total destruction by the Great Chicago Fire of 8-9 October 1871. The damage was repaired, and by 1888 a 280 foot tower was completed. There are five bells in the tower, they range in weight from 6,000 lbs to 2,500 lbs., and each has a name: St. Michael, St. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Alphonsus, St. Theresa. In 1892 St. Michael was the largest German national parish in Chicago.

The reredos of the main altar is by Hacker & Son of La Crosse and was installed in 1902.

The windows are by the Munich firm of Franz Mayer. These may be the largest windows the firm ever delivered to the US. Windows program from left of entrance: Jesus Teaching in the Temple; Jesus Preaching and Blessing Children; Ascension (40 days after Easter); Washing of the Feet; Sacred Heart of Jesus Vision.

Windows from right off entrance: Presentation of Mary in the Temple; Annunciation; Assumption (feast = 15 August); Mary and Elizabeth; Adoration of the Magi.

Single and paired standing Saints fill the apse windows, and single standing painted-on-glass saints are above the three doorways of the church. There are also music and floral theme windows in the choir.

St. Michael Church

2325 W. 22nd Pll

Built 1920s?

Millard Congregational Church, U.C.C.

2301 S. Central Park Ave

Built 1880-1889.

Monumental Baptist Church (formerly Memorial Baptist Church)

729 E. Oakwood Blvd.

Architect: Patton, Fisher and Miller, 1890-99

Mission of Faith Baptist Church

11321 S. Prairie Ave.

Originally Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1910-1911

Monument of Faith Church

7359 S. Chappel Ave.

Originally South SIde Hebrew Congregation

Architect: Morris K. Komar, 1927-1928

Monumental Baptist Church

729 E. Oakwood Blvd.

Originally Memorial Baptist Church

Architect: Patton, Fisher and Miller, 1890-1899

Moody Memorial Church

1609 N. LaSalle St.

Architect: John R. Fugard, 1924-25

A religious calling brought Dwight L. Moody to Chicago in 1856. Two years later, he opened a Sunday school in a saloon on the North Side.

The school quickly developed and the mayor of Chicago offered Moody the North Market Hall. With this start, Moody developed a great following and eventually a church heard around the world.

The present building was dedicated, 8 November 1925. Designed to house people, its a great rectangle 140 x 225 feet with a great round end. Its style is Romanesque inspired. The main auditorium is 120 x 180 feet and rises 68 feet. It has no interior columns. It seat 1,700 in the cantilevered balcony and another 2,300 on the main floor. At the time of its construction, the Moody Church was one of the largest, if not the largest, Protestant churches in the United States.

The organ is a four-manual Reuter with 4,400 pipes divided into 73 ranks.

Fugard is also responsible for the Allerton Hotel and 219&229 E. LSD.

Moorish Science Temple of America

1000 N. Hoyne Ave.

Morgan Park Christian Church

10929 S. Prospect Ave.

Originally Morgan Park Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: H.K. Holsman, 1887-1888 / remodeled 1917

Morgan Park Church of God

11153 S. Hoyne Ave.

Originally Morgan Park Congregational Church

Built 1915-1916

Morgan Park Masonic Lodge

11156 S. Hoyne Ave.

Originally Morgan Park Congregational Church

Built in 1890-1891

Morgan Park Presbyterian Church

11056 S. Longwood Ave

Originally Morgan Park Presbyterian Church

Architect: A.F. Huno, 1934-1940

Morgan Park United Methodist Church

11030 S. Longwood Ave

Originally Morgan Park Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: Perkins, Fellow and Hamilton, 1912-1913 / enlarged in 1927.

Morning Star Baptist Chicago

3993 S. King Drive

Current facade with windows from 1965 remodeling.

Congregation founded 1978 at 3800 S. Vincennes by 21 believers.

Mount Gilead Bible Church

1459 N. Talman Ave.

Built, Cornerstone, 1912.

Mount Hope Missionary Baptist Church (Demolished Feb.04)

6034 S. Princeton

Red brick with large Gothic Revival styled windows.

Some stained glass. Church struck by lightning, fire, 19 April 2002. Roof, apse, and interior destroyed. Church demolished around 9 February 2004.

Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church (formerly, Sinai Congregation)

4622 S. King Dr.

Architect: Alfred S. Alschuler, 1910-12

Alfred Alschuler was a young Jewish architect who graduated from the Armour Institute in 1899 and joined the offices of Dankmar Adler for a year, then worked with Samuel Treat for four years before opening his own studio in 1904. In 1909 he entered the competition for a new Sinai Temple and won. His design would dominate the look of synagogues in the Midwest for the next decade Alschuler wrote that the building was “free and simple,”… expressing the “broad religious views of the congregation.

The lot determined the shape of the building. Its entrance is on its long side. Amphitheater seating in the auditorium has individual seats. There was a skylight.

The Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago’s first reformed synagogue, was organized in 1861. This was their second synagogue. The congregation moved in 1944 and the sold the Temple to Corpus Christi parish, three blocks south who opened it as Corpus Christy High School in 1945. This school operated until 1962 when Hales H.S. opened at 49^th and Cottage Grove. Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, organized in 1929 by the late Rev. G.W. Alexander, purchased the auditorium and community center in 1962. It’s a large and very active community. In 1969, the offices for Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference set up offices in Mt. Pisgah and the church became Chciago's first to give away food through a weekly program.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church

4952 S. Paulina St.

Architect: Worthman and Steinback, 1919-1920

Nativity, BVM Church

69^th and Washtenaw Ave.

Architect: Designed by John Mulokas, 1945-56

The parish, named in honor of the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Siluva in Lithuania, was established 15 May 1927. Ground was broken on a combination church / school building 4 July 1928.

John Mulokas designed the present church sometime after 1945 andobviously before the Dedication in 12 May 1957 by Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago. in which he incorporated elements of Lithuanian folk architecture and Baroque to make a distinctly Chicago-Lithuanian architecture.

Nativity of Our Lord Church

37^th and Union

Founded as Irish parish in 1868.

Cornerstone placed 29XI1876

Architect: Patrick Charles Kelly & Son.

Interior very plain and restored in beige. Round topped windows with catalog roundels in each of the otherwise identical windows. Large polychrome Stations of the Cross. One angel on each capitol. NeoGothic housing around organ.

Nazareth United Church of Christ

2500 N. Talman Ave

Originally: Evengelical Nazareth Church

Architect: Herman J. Gaul, 1905

New Canaan Land Missionary Baptist Church

5959 S. Peoria St.

Originally South Side Swedish CHurch

Architect: SOlon S. Beman, 1908

New Greater St. John COmmunity Missionary Baptist Church

3101 W. Warren Blvd.

Originally First Congregational Church

Architect: Patton and Fisher,1885.

New Heritage Assembly of God Cathedral, Christian Center.

Was St. Martin, also known as St. Martin de Porres Church (Catholic)

5842 S. Princeton

See: St. Martin for historical information

New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Missionary Church, (former St. Mel-Holy Ghost)

4301 W. Washington.

Architect: Charles L. Wallace, 1910-11.

Windows: F. X. Zettler

This Indiana limestone church at the corner of Kildare and Washington once housed the largest Irish congregation in Chicago, requiring six masses in the main sanctuary and six in the basement chapel on any given Sunday in the 1930s and 40s. The church was founded in 1878 and combined with the German parish of Holy Ghost, founded in 1896, in 1941.

When the congregation was founded in 1878 it was a mission and built a small brick church, cornerstone 28 July 1878, dedicated to St.Philip Benizi. At the time it was in the city Cicero. Most of the members of the Mission Church were employed in the Chicago and North Western Car Shops which had been established in 1873 at Kinzie and 40th (later Pulaski). The territory of St. Philip Benizi was outside the city limits of Chicago at the time. It was incorporated into the city 1889. At the time there were so many Irish families moving into the areas just to the west that St. Philip Benizi was no longer at the heart of the community, and a new congregation was organized, St. Catherine of Siena at Washington and Park (now Parkside). The area was known as Austin and located outside of the city limits. On 6 Nov. 1893, the Chicago and Oak Park "L" began operating along Lake st. from Laramie to Market. This elevated road was extended from Oak Park to Forest Park in 1906.

Since the late 1950s the church has serves a predominantly Black Catholic community. In the Fall of 1993 a Baptist congregation purchased the building.

Catholic churchgoers take stained glass windows for granted. They're nice and have always been there. The windows are just another aspect of the religious experience. And one window is much like the next. How right and wrong they are. Although there are many buildings in Chicago with stained glass windows, few have windows that are as significant as those of the former Catholic church of St. Mel.

The experience begins immediately upon entering the sanctuary. This is not incidental, but a part of the interior design of the building. Stepping through the doors we notice the floor sweeping away from us, as in an auditorium, all part of the experience, towards the magnificent altar, of Italian marble from Carrara. The altar is from the same quarries Michelangelo used for his unsurpassed sculptures in Florence and Rome in the 16th century.

The roundel of the upper right shows a kneeling Dominican reading and half turning towards the crucifix behind him. From the crucifix a ray with the words, "Bet-- scriptisti de me -homa" projects towards the reader.

These four windows depict central aspects of Christianity. They lead the congregation pictorially to the word as it is spoken in the sanctuary. Above are painted portraits of religious leaders. On the east side: Aphonsus Liguiri, Bonaventura, Anselm and (?in choir). On the west side Thomnas Aquinas, Francis de Sales, and 2 others.

In the crossing or transept, the two very large round (or rose) windows, each surrounded by 14 small roundels are unique in Chicago. They are the most important windows of their kind in the city.

New Second Hope Missionary Baptist Church

1339 E. 64th St.

Originally Woodlawn Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Architect: Ivar Viehe-Naess and Co, 1923-1925.

New Testament Missionary Baptist Church (Demolished in 1998)

3986 S. Drexel

Originally South Side Congregational Church

Architect: George H. Edbrooke, 1885

The congregation moved out in 1995. EB Smith bought two of the windows in 1998.

New Thought Baptist Church

5506 S. Throop St.

Originally Eighth United Presbyterian Church

Architect: Charles L. Morgan, 1919.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral

2238 W. Rice St.

Architect: Worthmann & I. G. Steinbach, 1913-15, renovation by Zenon Mazurkevich, 1974-77

Serves the Ukrainian Catholic community. At the time of construction, the main Ukrainian community lived just east of Ashland. The Cathedral was built on open farmland.

The building as we see it was inspired by the 11^th c. Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Kiev and late 17^th Baroque.

In 988-9 Russia converted to Christianity. Though their rite is Eastern Christian, Byzantin-Slovic, the Pope became the spiritual leader of the Ukrainian Catholics, after Lithuanian and Polish conquests. In the 16th c. Kiev had some 400 churches.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church has 13 domes, one for each apostle and Christ. The domes also represent the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem / Bethlehem. The interior is not as exuberantly decorated as one might expects from Orthodox Christians, though the depicted saints are predominantly Eastern Christian.

Interior decoration and windows: The current interior design is by Zenon Mazurkevich, the wall paintings are by Boris Makarenko Assoc.

The Apse mural shows Mary in orant, and a Deesis.

The iconostasis shows the saints Josephat, Gabriel, BVM, Evangelists, and Nicholas.

The windows, by Max Guler the Munich Studios of Chicago, were installed after 1928. The windows represent some of the last work of the firm and Max Guler before closing in the Great Depression.

The windows of the north wall depict from east to west: Jacob and Anna, St Peter and St. Paul, the Nativity, Jeremiah and Josephat, St. Dimitrius and St. Barbara,

St. Paraskoria and St. Phrosniet.

The windows of the south wall depict from east to west: Pope Gregory and Pope Clement, St. Methodius and St. Cyril, The Transfiguration, Moses and Noah,

St. Vladimir and St. Olga, St. Anthony and St. Theodosius.

The in the balcony: the Last Judgment; on the left, painting of St. Cyril; on the right painting of St. Methodius.

EXTERIOR: facing the building: left St. Cyril, St. Vladimir, center St. Nicholas, right St. Methodius and St. Olga.

Who were all these saints?

Jacob and Anna were the parents of Mary. Nothing is known of them. Their names derive from the early apocryphal Protoevangelium of James.

St. Nicholas, bishop Fourth century. There was a church dedicated to St. Nicholas in Constantinople in the sixth century. From the ninth century he was popular throughout the East, and in the West since the eleventh century. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, merchants, pawnbrokers, countries, cities...All that is know of him is that he was Bishop of Myra in Lycia (southern Turkey). The most influential legend is that he saved three girls from prostitution by throwing three bags of gold as dowry into their window at night. He is also credited with saving three unjustly condemned men. As the patron saint of children he is the origin of Father Christmas or in Dutch, Sinte Klaas, which in English became Santa Claus. Presents are given on his feast day, December 6. In 1807 Italian merchants stole his “relics” from Myra and enshrined them at Bari in Apulia. They are still there. He is sometimes now called Nicholas of Bari. His emblem is three balls = three bags of gold = pawnbroker.

St. Demetrius of Rostov, Bishop, born Kiev 1651, died 1709. Was Dmitry Tuptalo, son of a wealthy Cossack. Priest-monk and noted scholar.

St. Gregory the Great. First and greatest of all the popes named Gregory. Was Papal Envoy to Constantinople from 579 - 585. First monk to be elected Pope. Fourth of the Latin Church Doctors, first of the medieval popes..

St. Clement is generally thought to have been the third pope. Died end of the first century. He is the first of the Apostolic Fathers.

St. Josophat of Polotsk, Bishop and Marty. 1580 - 1623. As Bishop upheld the union with Rome of the diocese of Kiev in 1595.

St. Vladimir, c.955-1015, and St. Olga, died 969: Olga was Vladimir’s grandmother. She converted to Christianity in Kiev as widow of Prince Igor. She was baptized in Constantinople c. 957. She sought other converts but it was not until her son, Vladimir converted and was baptized in c. 989 and married Ann, sister of the Byzantine emperor, Basil II, that Christianity spread throughout Russia. Kiev was the center of his cult.

St. Cyril, c.827 - 869, and St. Methodius, c. 815 - 885.: Brothers. Known as the “Apostles of the southern slaves.” Both were very well educated and preached in Moravia after c. 863. Here they competed with German missionaries and have difficulties. Cyril introduced alphabet to Slovanic called Glagolitic, to translate the liturgy and much of the Bible. This becomes the foundation of Slavonic literature. The Cyrillic alphabet was probably not invented by Cyril. It seems to be a later invention

St. Anthony of the Caves was born 983 and died in Kiev 1073. From 1028 lived as a hermit in a cave on Mont Athos, northern Greece, then settled in Kiev, in a cave along the river Dnieper. Other soon joined him to create the first purely Russian monastery. The Caves of Kiev (Kievo - Pecherskaya Lavra). Left the caves under Theodosius’ direction and went elsewhere. Anthony returned to Kiev, age 90, and died.

Theodosius of the Caves, abbot. Died in Kiev 1074. Joined the monastic community of the Caves in 1032. Followed a less harsh ascetic rule than Anthony. He found the caves oppressive and built houses, fed the poor, sick, and travelers. He set the standard for monasticism in early Russia.

North Austin Lutheran Church

1500 N. Mason Ave.

Built 1910

Norwegian Lutheran Church

3359 N. Kenmore Ave

Built 1871-1879.

Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church (was Minnekirken Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church)

2614 N. Kedzie Blvd.

Architect: Charles F. Sorenson, 1908-1912

Built of red brick with Indiana limestone trim this single central towered church is in a neo-Romanesque/neo-Gothic style.

The ceiling of the nave is covered in tin. The stained galss windows are simple and all identical except for catalog roundels. Stained glass left and right of altar and great rose in Choir may be by Hooker.

Hooker was metntioned by current Pastor, David Schoenknecht..

Norwood Park Methodist Episcopal Church

6072 N. Nickerson Ave.

Built 1890-1891.

Notre Dame de Chicago

1336 W. Flournoy,

Architect: Gregory A. Vigeant, 1887-92

Windows: Lascelles & Shroeder (active c. 1895 -?

The present church was dedicated 1 May 1892 by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan (Its cost, $100,000, was retired in 1912). By 1912 few French remained in the area, most had moved to the Austin neighborhood or to the suburbs. To retain the French character of the church, the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament took over 19 May 1918 and have remained there since.

In the summer of 1929 the interior of the church was redecorated with a new altar and sanctuary. These were blessed by Cardinal Mundelein, 29 September 1929. Today the building is an octagon with no supporting columns. Its interior is dominated by a 90 feet diameter dome.

Thirty-three windows decorate the sanctuary. The two transept windows each measure 16 x 26 feet and depict the Nativity to the right of the altar and the Crucifixion of Jesus to the left. Both windows are the work of Lascelles & Shroeder (offices: 338-340 Wabash Ave.)

The information on Lascelles & Shroeder is from Erne and Florence Frueh, Chicago Stained Glass and from Charles Kiefer who found it in a Notre Dame parish history(?). The firm also completed windows for St. Joseph and St. Anne, the building was dedicated 1892, a mention of the windows occurs 18 January 1896. There were also windows claimed for Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago?. But these remain unknown. The firm seems to have been organized in 1895. It is otherwise not documented.

The windows of the octagon are all by Lascelles & Shroeder because they are of one style. The 4 windows to the left and right of the altar are from a redecoration of the sanctuary in 1929 and are of one style, by an as yet unidentified firm. In the nave, the image cycle of Mary begins with the Presentation of Mary in the Temple (southeast, left), then the Marriage of Mary and Joseph (southwest, left), then Annunciation (southeast, right), then Rest on the Flight to Egypt (southwest, right), then Nativity to the Shepherds and Kings (large east), then the images focus on the life of Jesus with small windows representing the Baptism (northeast, right), Death of Joseph (northeast, left). The northwest small window right depicts the Vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Sister Margaret, to the northwest, left, an older and younger woman at a railing with roses? beside the younger one. This might be a Visitation presented in a non-tradition way? The sanctuary was enlarged in 1929 and its four windows appear to date from that time. The west, right depicts Father Peter Julian Eymard? founder of the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament (known as Societa du Saint Sacrement or S.S.S.). To the left is the stoning of a Saint, Stephen? or the 3-4c. martyr Tarsicius (feast 15 August) who is associated with S.S.S. and is said to have tried to protect the host from profanation by clutching it to his chest and was killed by his assailants. On the east side left is maybe Cardinal Mundelein or a Papal rep. holding up a monstrance at the Eucharistic council meeting in Chicago, 1929?. To the right is Pope Pius X who lowered the age of communion. He is shown in Tiara and with girls and boys in communion clothing. A rose window, now clear glass, dominates the south wall. It and part of the dome and some of the interior was destroyed in a fire, 7 June 1978.

Since May 1918 the church has been associated with the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament (known as Societa du Saint Sacrement or S.S.S.).

The sculpture is of marble throughout, and is probably by Deprato. A mosaic ball of blue and gold dominates the center of the old high altar, probably representing the world with waves below and clouds above. Today it is the base for a cross traditionally it held a monstrance. To the left of the traditional high altar is BVM, to the right, St. Anthony. The carved wood ornament is mahogany ? with gilt detailing.

Other windows depicting the marriage of Joseph and Mary:

All Saints/St. Anthony, 518 W. 28^th Pl, 1924

St. Alphonsus, 2950 N. Southport, c. 1897

St. Bernard Hospital Chapel, 326 W. 64^th Pl.

Old Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Church

3058-62 W. Palmer Blvd

Originally First English Evangelical Church

Architect: Lowe and Bollenbacher, 1923-24.

Old Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Church

3070 W. Palmer Blvd

Originally First English Evangelical Church

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1910

Old St. Mary's (built as Plymouth Congregational Church)

(Demolished October 1970. Land purchased by American Oil Co.)

911 S. Wabash

Architect: Gourdon P. Randall, 1865 as Plymouth Congregational Church.

Windows: Long and narrow, 20' x 3', with geometric patterns, might have been installed at the time of construction of the church, 1865 or shortly thereafter, when the church was still Plymouth COngregational Church. Several of these long windows have been restored and are in the E.B. Smith Museum collection, but not on display.

Paulist Fathers took over Old St. Mary's 12 October 1903.

A pair of window lancets is depicted in the newspaper, Chicago Today, 1 October 1970, in the context of an auction. The article mentions that Henry C. Foster bought one of the 12 windows, each as 20 x 3 feet for $90.00.

The auction, 30 September 1970, was held by Paul A. William owner of House of William, auctioneers, 32 S. Wabash. Some 300 items were auctioned.

The main altar and crucifix brought $150.00. The four-manual pipe organ, complete with pipes and machinery, sold for $350.00. The pews sold for $20. -40. each.

Rev. John Mary Irenaeus St. Cyr was sent to Chicago from St. Louis to organize the St. Mary's Parish in 1833. The parish is the oldest in Chicago, founded 10 years before the Chicago diocese.

The first St. Mary's, at Lake St. just west of State St., was a frame building measuring 36 by 24 feet. About 100 people attended the first mass.

The second St. Mary's, a brick building at Wabash Ave. and Madison St., was built in 1843. It served as the first cathedral of the new Chicago diocese. Both buildings were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

In 1872 Bishop Thomas Foley purchased the third St. Mary, a Lemont sandstone building at 9^th and Wabash whose cornerstone was placed 18 July 1865 as the Plymouth Congregational Church. The church was dedicated in the fall of 1867 in the presence of most of the city's business and civic leaders.

The design of the church was by Gourdon P. Randall, a native of Boston, where he had studied with Ashar Benjamin. Another Bostonian, Dwight L. Moody, was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church and began his career as an evangelist by directing its Sunday school mission work.

In January 1872, the church was the scene of a mass meeting at which the Chicago Public Library was founded. Mayor Joseph Medill, editor of The Tribune, presided, and well-known Chicagoans perfected the legislation necessary to get the library underway.

The church cost nearly $100,000 to build. In 1872 the Plymouth congregation decided to build a new church nearer to the south side neighborhood in which most of its members. A site at 26^th Street and Michigan Avenue was purchased and the building at 911 S. Wabash was sold for $112,000 to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago. Bishop Thomas Foley designated the church for the use of St. Mary's parish, which had been homeless since its church was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871. In the years as a Roman Catholic church its interior structure was altered, but some of its New England features remained such as the single large room. Another important feature was its sloping floor, an idea popularized by Randall and others.

St. Mary's was the cathedral until Holy Name Cathedral was completed in 1876. Archbishop James E. Quigley invited The Society of Missionary Priests of St. Paul, the Paulist Fathers, to take over St. Mary. They took possession 12 October 1903.

On 5 June 1965 the Chicago Tribune reported that the Chicago City Council had voted the church a city landmark and with much ceremony, attended by Mayor Daley, a bronze plaque was placed on the building. The building was demolished October 1970.

Old St. Patrick Church

140 S. DesPlaines Ave.

Architect: Carter and Bauer, 1852-56

Windows: Thomas A. O'Shaughnessy, 1912+ nave and balcony

The oldest extant church in Chicago. The parish was founded in 1846, second to St. Mary's of 1833. The congregation was mostly English speaking and lived west of the Chicago River. The church building is of Milwaukee common brick set on a Lemont limestone base. The trim is also Lemont stone. Along with the other buildings in Chicago, the church was raised about 8 feet in 1871. The octagonal towers date from 1885. The south steeply pointed southern tower represents the Roman Church of the West; the onion domed Northern one, represents the Byzantine, Orthodox Church of the East. Together they symbolize the universality of the Church.

Originally the walls were stenciled with Irish-Celtic ornamentation. It is being recovered, 1995. Irish-Celtic nationalism stands at the core of this church's decoration.

The windows are of special note and th emost important objects in the church. The nave windows, the skylight over the altar and the windows in and around the apse, show ornamental interlace based on the Book of Kells. The designs and work is by Thomas A. O'Shaughnessy and completed by him in the studios of Kinsella Art Glass Co. of Chicago. They were installed in 1912. Each window depicts one of the great saints of Ireland: Patrick, Bridget, Finbarr, Colman, Sennan, Columbanus, Attracta, Columbkille, Brendan, Carthage and Gall.

The finest window is the Window of Faith a triptych facing east. There is no paint used on this window. Various widths of lead lines are used to indicate features and outlines. The glass is very pale and the juxtaposition of colors is startling at times. It is arguably the finest window of its type in the Midwest.

The statues are carved of solid walnut.

The interior was been redecorated and reconfigured in 1996-97.

Olivet Baptist

405 E. 31st St. (3101 S. King Drive)

Architect: Wilcox & Miller, 1875-76

Windows: contemporary to the construction, the tracery is in need of repair and the amber glass is insignificant.

Wilcox and Miller designed the building in 1875-76 as the First Baptist Church. The exterior is of Joliet (Lemont) limestone with ashlar trim. Its overall look is a rustic neo-Gothic. Its foliated capitals are French Gothic inspired. The square steepled belfry and gaping arches are typical of the 1870s.

The large centralized interior is mostly in tact. It follows the Akron plan. A balcony surrounds three sides of the room. Most of the woodwork is machine carved with hand detailing. The pews, pulpit and capitals are original. A baptismal basin stands behind the pulpit.

The Olivet Baptist congregation was organized in 1853 as Zoar Baptist Church. When it merged with Mt. Zion Baptist in 1860 it became Olivet Baptist with a meeting room in the Loop and then at 27th and Dearborn, near the heart of the African-American community. The Olivet Baptist congregation bought the present building in 1917 from the First Baptist Church.

Operation PUSH Headquarters

930 E. 50th St

Formerly Kehilath Anshe Maarav, K.A.M.(their third home)

Architect: Henry Newhouse and Felix Bernham, 1923-1924 as a Reform synagogue.

It's a Greek temple on the outside. In 1971, KAM merged with nearby Isaiah Israel and moved.

In 1972, the building was purchased by Jesse Jackson's Operartion PUSH.

Our Lady of Fatima Church

3800 S. California

Figures in stained glass windows covered with Lexan.

Our Lady of Grace Church

2448 N. Ridgeway Ave.

Architect: McCarthy, Smith and Epping, 1934-35

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

3208 E. 91st. St.

Architect: James Burn, 1928

Our Lady of Lourdes Church

1444 S. Keeler Ave.

Architect: Louis H. Guenzel, 1931-32

Our Lady of Lourdes Church

4640 N. Ashland Ave.

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1913-1916 with interior renovations 1929 by McCarthy.

Moved from across the street in two parts. The rebuilding, expansion, and interior decoration was done by Joe W. McCarthy in 1929.

In the 1920s the population of Ravenswood expanded greatly and the "traditional" one family homes were replaced by new multifamily constructions.

At the same time Ashland was widened forcing the church to be relocated.

Visited on CHM tour 14 XII 19.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church

690 W. Belmont

Architect: Egan & Prindville, 1913-14, 700 W. Belmont

Windows: John J. Kinsella, opalescent glass.

Window in Organ Loft: St. Cecilia with an Angel on each side.

In Apse: Archangel Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael

Nave: S. Patrick, Paul, James the Greater, John the Evangelist, The Good Shepherd, Mary Immaculate, Joseph the Worker, Peter, Bernard, Elizabeth.

The cornerstone was placed in April 1913 and the formal dedication took place on 11 October 1914. The style of the facade is a Tudor Gothic Revival.

The parish had been organized in 1886 by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan to serve Irish Catholics in the town of Lake View. The next English speaking church was St. Vincent de Paul to the south and St. Mary Church in Evanston to the north.

The architects were James J. Egan (1839-1914) and Charles H. Prindeville (1868-1947).

Mt. Carmel is in Palestine and became famous when the prophet Elias worked a great miracle there. After a drought of many years had destroyed the land, Elias went up to Mt. Carmel to beg the Lord for rain, and his prayer was answered. Many years later, the first Jewish Christians built a shrine on Mt. Carmel in honor of Mary the Mother of God. Those who prayed frequently there became the source of the Carmelite Order.

The Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel does not commemorate Elias, but the apparition of the BVM to Saint Simon Stock on 16 July 1251. He was English and superior of the Carmelite Order. The vision promised special blessings to all who wore the Carmelite scapular.

Our Lady of Peace Church

7851 S. Jeffrey Blvd

Architect: Joseph McCarthy, 1933.

Our Lady of Pompeii Shrine Church

1224 W. Lexington at Lytle St..

Architect: Worthmann & Steinbach, 1923

The present church cornerstone was placed 7 Oct. 1923.

This Italian national congregation was organized in 1910 to serve Italian immigrants residing along Taylor St. and Racine Ave. Under Archbishop Quigley, ground was broken for a combination church-school building under the care of the Scalabrini Fathers. Only one block from the French national parish of Notre Dame The cornerstone was placed for the brick structure 2 October 1910 and the building was dedicated 12 March 1911.

Within a dozen years Our Lady of Pompeii Church proved to be inadequate and the present structure was built in 1923. It is built of brick with Indiana limestone trim in an Italian inspired Romanesque whose tower is to the side, in the style of Pomposa. Until the 1950s the parish was very active, but then nearly two-thirds of the housing in the parish was razed to make way for the Eisenhower Expressway (opened to Ashland Ave. 8 Oct. 1956) and the University of Illinois campus (opened for classes 1966). In keeping with the Italian origins of the neighborhood, the church has traditionally been the gathering point for the Chicago Columbus Day parade.

On October 10, 1994, Joseph Cardinal Bernadine proclaimed Our Lady of Pompeii Church a Shrine dedicated to honor Mary, the Mother of God.

Our Lady of Pompeii derives its name from a basilica in Pompeii dedicated to Our Lady of Pompeii, Queen of the Holy Rosary. The basilica in Pompeii was the work of the Blessed Bartolo Longo, who, as he was walking through Pompeii in 1872 had a vision in which a voice spoke to him: "If you seek salvation, promulgate the Rosary. This is Mary's own promise." Bartolo answered, "If it is true that you did promise St. Dominic that whoever shall promulgate the Rosary shall be saved, then I shall be saved, for I will not leave this valley until I have propagated thy Rosary. "Just then the Angelus rang out from a church and Bartolo confirmed his pledge. The structure Bartolo promised to raise was completed in 1876 and almost immediately, several documented healings occurred. In 1884, Our Lady of Pompeii appeared to a young, dying girl named Fortuna. Our Lady was seated on a high throne, and the infant Jesus was on her lap. Our Lady held a Rosary in her hand and was accompanied by St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. Our Lady said: "Whoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition and three novenas in thanksgiving." Fortuna obeyed and was cured

The church as it stands today has been subject to several renovations and redecoration.

Windows front left to back of church:

Crowning of BVM as Queen of Heaven

Archangel Raphael (healing)

St. Philomena with anchor

Archangel Michael slaying Devil

Martyrdom of St. Francis Xavier, Missionary to China

Child Mary and Ann

John the Baptist

Windows front right to back of church:

Blocked window

Guardian Angel with 2 Children

St. Rock (or Roch in France, San Rocco in Italy, 14^th C.), as a pilgrim (patron saint of the ill, healing), feast day = 16 August

Archangel Michael slaying dragon

Mary Queen of Heaven

Santa Liberata (Crucified woman). There is also a statue of Santa Liberata. Feast Day, 20 July. Officially known as St. Wilgifortis, Liberata is a fictitious saint from Portugal whom legend has her father, the king of Portugal, wanting her to marrying the king of Sicily while she had made of vow of virginity. Her prayers were answered when a beard started to grow on her face. The king of Sicily withdrew his offer and her father became greatly upset and had her crucified. She is depicted crucified and often with a beard. The image is a confused version of Crucified Jesus in a colobium, a long garment. She is invoked against troublesome husbands. She has several names. Officially known as St. Wilgifortis, she is also called Liberata, Livrade, Kümmernis and Uncimber (in England).

Annunciation, Angel approaches from the left.

Our Lady of Sorrows

3121 W. Jackson

Architect: Henry Engelbert (from Detroit), John F. Pope and William J. Brinkman, 1890-1902.

The church received the honorific title of "Minor Basilica" from Pope Pius XII on 8 Jan. 1956 primarily because as the first lines of his Apostolic Proclamation declare: "Foremost Church in America and most important Church in populous Chicago teeming industrial center is the Shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows." It was in this magnificent building that the Sorrowful Mother Novena, a series of nine services, began in 1937 and eventually spread to 2000 other churches and chapels in the US and around the world. At its peak in 1938 there were 38 services every Friday attended by some 70,000 people. The church had become the National Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows The Sorrowful Mother Novena Notes, first published 7 May 1937, quickly had a circulation of over 1 million per week and was the largest Catholic publication in the nation at the time.

The Novena began in January 1937 when Rev. James Keane OSM used the basement chapel with its paintings of the Seven Sorrows of Mary*, to introduce the Perpetual Novena of Our Sorrowful mother. This devotion, led by the dynamic personality of Father Keane attracted thousands.

*[ Sorrows of Mary are those of the Rosary, Agony in the Garden, Scourging, Crowning of Thorns, Carrying Cross, Crucifixion]

The parish was founded 1874 by Servite friars to serve the small but growing community of Irish and Italian immigrants.

Ground was broken at the northwest corner of Jackson and Albany for the present church 17 June 1890 and the cornerstone was placed by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan, 28 September 1890. The substructure was roofed in and opened with a mass 21 Dec. 1890.

The transept and sanctuary were completed in 1896. The stone chapels and part of the facade were in place. In 1899 the facade was completed supervised by the architect John F. Pope who had revised Engelbert's plans. Pope resigned 19 March 1900 and William J. Brinkman was commissioned to provide plans for the interior.

Most of the buildings in the East Garfield Park neighborhood were built during the years 1900 to 1917. Between 1950 and 1960 the neighborhood underwent a racial change. 50% of the whites moved out and the black population increased 4x, most were non-Catholics. By 1960 Puerto Ricans made up about 5% of the population.

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 5 April 1968, violence erupted in the neighborhood and some 60 business were burned and hundreds of families lost their homes.

The building is of Chicago common brick with an Indiana limestone facade. The 200 foot towers were completed in 1900.

The interior, completed December 1901, was designed in a very pure 15thc. Roman Renaissance style, adapted from Donato d'Agnolo Bramante by William J. Brinkman. The barrel vault rises 80 feet above the floor. It is made up of over 1,100 coffers. The nave is 65 feet wide, without the chapels and 180 feet long from the narthex to the main altar (dedicated 16 Feb. 1908 by Archbishop Quigley) which is entirely of Carrara marble. It cost $10,000, collected from the Altar Society each of whose members donated 10 cents per month for 8 years (or $9.60 each, for 1042 members). A life-size pieta is also of Carrara marble. The small balconies to its left and right are modeled after those in Sistine Chapel of the Vatican.

The paintings above the altar are by Frank L. Giusti and depict the Lamb of God in glory. The Eucharistic theme is continued by the two side paintings: The first mass of St. Philip Benizi and the Communion of St. Juliana on her deathbed, by Henry C. Balink (1917).

A four manual Lyon & Healy, probably the oldest installed and still working by the company stands in the balcony.

The marble altar to the left, with Venetian mosaics, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. It "invites" the 7 founders of the Servite order to be her servants. The 2 large murals nearby were painted in 1917 by Guisti. The murals in the east transept were painted by Richard Schmidt in 1956 to commemorate the church as a basilica. Seven oil paintings of the Via Matris by C. Bosseron Chambers were completed in 1939. The large mural of St. Anthony Pucci, O.S.M. was painted by Michelangelo Bendini for the beatification ceremonies at St. Peter's in Rome, 1952.

The stained glass windows are by the Munich Studios of Chicago. The King David window is signed. It is a memorial to John R. Schofield

Our Lady of Tepeyac Parish

2226 S. Whipple (at 22^nd Street

Originally St. Casimir

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1917-1918 (other sources: possibly Joseph Molitor who had designed the temporary church across the street in 1902)

Windows: probably FXZ.

The Parish was founded 1890 for Polish. Today it is Mexican!

The parish grew from 800 families in 1910 to 2,000 in 1917!

Ground was broken on the present church, 9 IX 1917. The church was dedicated 21 XII 1919!

The buildinDrexeg is an octagon with a central dome lantern and two entrance towers in a Polish Baroque. It was one of the first churches to be fully electrified in this part of the city.

Windows Right of altar: Holy family; Resurrection, Preaching; Daughter of Jairus; Priest Kneeling before Crucifix.

Windows Left of altar: Sistine Madonna; Baptism; Healing of Lame; Walk on Water; Vision of Fatima.

The central skylight is fine new glass.

Fine original wooden altar. DePrato sculptures.

Original pews.

A central immersion baptismal font has been installed center of nave.

Paradise Temple Church of God in Christ

11445 S. Forest Ave.

Originally Shomre Hadath Synagogue

Architect: Harry L. Morse, 1929

This synagogue style was popularized by the Grande Synagogue of Paris, in rue de la Victoire, designed by A.P. Aldrophe, built 1874 .

Shomre uses wire cut bricks, exposed concrete as trim and an inset band of multicolored bricks.

Parish of the Holy Covenant

925 W. Diversey Parkway

Originally Diversey Evangleical Church

Built 1894

Park Manor Christian Church

600 E. 73rd St.

Originally Lorimer Memorial Baptist Church

Architect: Guenzel and Drummond, 1914.

St. Pascal Church

6149 West Irving Park Road(also 3935 N. Melvina Ave.)

Architect: B.J. Hotton and Raymond Gregori, 1930-31

Extensive exterior terra cotta ornamentation.

Interior flat roofed basilica. The ceiling is of steel beams plastered over to look like wood. The apse is covered with gold-glass mosaics. The interior has been seriously altered to suit Vatican II ideas.

St. Patrick Church

718 W. Adams

Architect: Carter and Bauer, 1852-56

Windows: THOMAS A. O'SHAUGHNESSY at Kinsella Art Glass Co., 1912 on.

Int.Decor: a mess in the Celtic manner

Exterior is of common Milwaukee brick with Lemont limestone trim at base and windows. Book of Kells inspired ornament of nave windows and skylight above former altar space. Great eastern window is among the finest late Art Nouveau/modern windows in the US.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

60 Akenside Road, Riverside IL

Architect: William LeBaron Jenny, 1888.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is the oldest congregation in Riverside. The church was first organized as a parish in 1887. Designed by architect William LeBaron Jenny, the church was opened in 1888.

St. Paul's Church (Lutheran)

2335 N. Orchard St.

Architect: Benjamin Franklin Olson

Windows: Designed and fabricated by Giannini and Hilgart

The large clerestory windows depict scenes from the life of Christ from the Nativity to the Ascension, with the addition of a windows in honor of St. Paul. The lower windows along the side aisles present great Christian artists, musicians, reformers, missionaries, and martyrs, as well as saints and prophets of the New and Old Testaments.

St. Pauls was founded by German immigrants to Chicago in 1843. IT was a mixed congregation of Lutherans and Reformed Christians under the leadership of Rev. August Selle. Selle was strict Lutheran and eventually the more liberal members of the congregations wanted a more liberal pastor. They found him in Rev. J.A. Fischer and split from First St. Paul’s in 1848.

St. Paul Church

2234 S. Hoyne at 22nd place (2100 west)

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1897-1899.

Windows: F. X. Zettler

Ripley's Believe It or Not once described St. Paul as "the church built without nails". It may be so, but times have changed and the church needs more than nails to hold it together. Recently the building lost some of what might have been better held in place with nails, such as small lanterns at the base of its large steeples. It also gained a rainwater diverting system that runs as well inside the walls as down the gutter. The building is in serious need real of help.

The silhouette of St. Paul has been called French Gothic, most every church with towers is, but its inspiration and planned parent, inside and out, was the 13th Century church of St. Elizabeth in Marburg, Germany. St. Paul is built of brick; its style is Brick-Gothic Revival, probably the first of its kind in the US. This aspect of the German Gothic Revival was popularized by K.F. Schinkel in Berlin and then throughout Germany from the 1810s on, and was thought to represent the true German tradition in architecture.

The parish of St. Paul was organized in 1876 to serve 40 German national families. By 1900, some 4,000 German parishioners were counted and 726 of their children attended school under the guidance of 18 School Sisters of Notre Dame. Mostly they came from Hessen-Nassau and the Trier (German-Luxembourg) area and found work in the nearby McCormick Harvester Works (International Harvester from 1902 on). Other ethnic groups also moved into the neighborhood, among them Slovenian, Italian and Lithuanians.

With its foundations squarely set on bedrock, only 17 feet below grade, St. Paul stood secure. Built almost totally of brick with terra-cotta ornament and steel roof trusses, it was also one of the few fireproof buildings in the city at its dedication, June 25, 1899. The building is 290 feet long and 180 feet wide at the transept. The two landmark towers, completed in 1900, are each 32 feet square at the base and 245 feet tall. The exterior and interior brickwork is superb. Note the custom shaped bricks, some are even glazed for special effects.

Schlacks continued to work on the church for most of his life. In 1910 he completed designs for the Carrara marble altar. It cost $7,000. Two years later Schlacks completed the designs for the altar railings. The marble floor was laid in 1916 and in 1922, the Daprato Statuary Company (of Chicago) installed a pulpit of Carrara marble. The two side altars were also designed by Schlacks and manufactured by the McBride Studio (of Chicago) in 1926. Since the original plans for the building included mosaic decoration, Schlacks was sent to Europe in 1922 to select mosaics. He recommended the Cav. Angelo Gianese Co. of Venice, Italy, who received the commission for 2,500 square feet of mosaic. Shipped in four installments, the mosaics were installed in 1930 by John Martin of Chicago.

The stained glass windows are the work of the F.X. Zettler Company of Munich and were installed in 1904. In the nave they present scenes from the life of St. Paul, (the cycle is unique in the Midwest) and in the transept, scenes from the life of Jesus.

Today the immigrant Germans that build this magnificent structure are long gone, yet it remains to serves another very active immigrant community, since the 1970s, with similar needs, Mexican-Americans. The Claritian Fathers minister to the new immigrants. They and their community understand all to well the importance of St. Paul and that it is in serious need of repair, especially to stop internal water damage, yet, the community's needs are so great all moneys go to them, first.

St. Paul’s Community Church

2215 W. North Ave.

Architect: G. Isaacson, 1890-1891.

StPaulsComChurch@aol.com

The church was built as a Norwegian Lutheran Church, founded 1872 with the current building dating from 1892 or 98?

The windows are fine examples of the Aesthetic Style

St. Paul Congregational United Church of Christ

2255 N. Keeler Ave.

Built 1890.

St. Paul’s Universalist Church (demolished)

3005 S. Prairie, Chicago

Architect: Burling & Whitehouse

A postcard of the church exists in the Harvard Divinity School Andover-Harvard Theological Library: bMS349/1

Peace Lutheran Church

4300 S. California Ave.

Originally Evangelische Lutheranische Friedens Kirche

Built 1911

Pentecostal Church of God

1701 N. Richamond St.

Built 1910

People's Church of Chicago

941 W. Lawrence Ave.

Originally The People's Church of Chicago-Uptown Temple

Architect: J.E.O. Pridmore, 1927

People's Missionary Baptist Church

2127 W. Crystal St.

Originally Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Savior for the Deaf

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1904

St. Peter’s Church

615 W. Belmont Ave.

Architect: William Augustus Otis, 1894-1895

St. Peter’s Church

110 W. Madison St.

Architect: Karl Vitzthum and John Burns, 1951-53

The pink/tan marble façade is dominated by a large crucifix, Christ of the Loop, designed by the Latvian sculptor Arvid Strauss and executed by the Chicago sculptor J. Watts. The Crucifix is 18 feet tall and weighs 26 tons.

The interior of the church is paneled with a highly polished Georgia pink stone. There is only one window in the body of the church, the Gothic inspired stained glass one facing Madison Ave.

Base relief panels represent scenes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Carved by Carlo Vinchessi, an Italian sculptor after designs by Chicago artist, Louis Carraciolo, each panel is an 8 x 15 feet sheet of Botticino marble. Carraciolo also painted the stations of the cross.

St. Peter’s was the first German Catholic parish in Chicago, founded in 1846 on Washington Street between Wells and Franklin.

SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox)

5244 S. Western Blvd.

Architect: J. Bednarik, 1932-33.

St. Petri United Church of Christ

10251 S. Avenue L

Architect: Diethelme and Roy, 1892.

Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church

3329 W. Washington Blvd.

Architect: I.C. Zarbell, 1904

St, Philip Evangelical Lutheran Church

2500 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.

Built 1928

St. Philip Neri

2126 East 72nd Street

Architect: Joe W. McCarthy, 1926-28

Windows: John Terrence O'Duggan

Although South Shore Country Club was organized in 1908, the neighborhood itself did not develop until the 1920s. The church was predominantly Irish-American and the neighborhood was Catholic and Jewish until the 1960s.

Ground was broken in June 1926. The cornerstone was placed 7 Nov. 1926. The first mass was celebrated, Easter Sunday, 8 April 1928, and the church was officially dedicated 7 Oct. 1928.

Built of Plymouth granite and Bedford limestone. The carving around the windows is especially fine. The spire is 164 feet high.

The landscaping around the church is part of the original composition.

The narthex is elaborate - wood, sconces and chandeliers.

The nave is of light yellow marble, as is the permanent altar, and reredos.

Fine walnut wainscoting rises 12 feet along the walls. Hand carved Gothic inspired spires top it. The stations-of-the-cross are of mosaic by P. Dachiardi, Rome, 1930.

At its dedication, the Carrara altar rail was 90 feet long. At the time it was said to be the longest in Chicago.

Philip Neri was born in Florence in 1515 and in Rome in 1595. Declared a saint in 1622, his feast day is 26 May. Eventually known as ‘the apostle of the city of Rome’ Neri came from a well to do Florentine family and had a good education. He fell in with the Dominicans of San Marco, where the teachings of Savonarola were still living memory, and then the Benedictines at Monte Cassino, before leaving for Rome, age 18. For the next 17 years he tutored, wrote poetry and philosophy. Neri then founded a brotherhood of laymen who met together to worship, give help to pilgrims and care for the sick which eventually developed into Trinity Hospital. While praying in the catacombs of S. Sabine in 1544, he experienced an ecstasy of divine love. In 1551 he was ordained a priest and became famous for his gift of reading hearts.

His interest in music led him to hold service consisting of a musical composition on a biblical or other religious theme, sung by solo male voices accompanied by a chorus (thus the name ORATORIO). By 1575 he had formed this concept into the Congregation of the Oratory, an order that does not take vows. Their home is the Chiesa Nuova, at St. Mary’s in Vallicella. He became very famous for his cheerfulness and laughter is associated with him.

Phillipine American Ecumenical, U.C.C.

3848 N. Greenview

Original Norwegian or Swedish

Built 1880s?

St. Philomena Church

1921 N. Kedvale Ave.

Architect: Herman J. Gaul, 1922-1923

Pilgrim Baptist Church

3235 E. 91st. St.

Pilgrim Baptist Church (Former Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue) DESTROYED BY FIRE, 6 JANUARY 2006

3301 S. Indiana.

Architect: Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, 1890-91.

Was originally built as the K.A.M. Synagogue (Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv = Congregation of the Men of the West) was founded in 1847, the oldest Jewish congregation in Chicago. This house of worship, the congregations fourth, was occupied until 1922 when it was sold to the Pilgrim Baptist Church. The Pilgrim Baptist Church was founded in 1915. The church is a very important building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic places. Adler's father had been rabbi to the congregation from 1861 to 1883. The design team had just completed the Auditorium Building and the Ryerson tomb in Graceland Cemetery. The synagogue shows influences from both monuments. The building has outstanding acoustics, an Adler specialty. The street side is all of Bedford (Indiana) limestone) the other sides brick. The ground floor is small rooms while the central meeting room is upstairs. Plans have been proposed to rebuild this very important sanctuary.

Pillar of Fire Church (Cornerstone: Lakeview . . . 1894?)

1115 W. Barry (at Clifton)

Originally Swedish Baptist Church

Built 1894

Fine red bricks with thin mortar-work. Metal (copper?) eves. Round headed windows with ordinary glass, not art glass. Round headed doors.

Pillar's Rock Missionary Baptist Church

1363 N. Sedgwick Ave.

Originally Anshe Emeth Synagogue

Architect: Frederick Ahlschlager, 1893

St. Pius V Church

1901 S. Ashland Ave.

Architect: James J. Egan, 1885 (lower church only).

Plymouth Church, Congregational (sold in 1919, demolished)

Location: 2535 S. Michigan

Architect: Gourdon Randall, died 1884.

The congregation formed in 1873.

Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus (1 Jan 1856 – 17 March 1921) was pastor, 1887-99.

Gunsaulus then became pastor of Central Church from 1899-1919.

Philip D. Armour was Plymouth’s most prominent member. In 1892, Armour hired its pastor, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus to serve as the first president of the newly founded Armour Institute.

The building was sold in 1919.

All its windows were round-topped. The SM is said to have a couple of windows from this church

Precious Blood Parish

2411 W. Congress Parkway

60612

312.733.5331

A very modest church inside a school building. Very poor Mexican.

Presbyterian Church of Roseland

11200 S. State St.

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1910

Presentation Church (Catholic)

758 S. Springfield Ave.

Architect: William F. Gubbins, 1903-04.

Presentation Church

3900 W. Lexington (1 block east of Pulaski)

Architect: Martin A. Carr, 1899 and 1902

The parish was organized in 1898 for Irish.

The first church was designed by Martin A. Carr in a Brick Spanish Renaissance style. It was dedicated 1899.

Ground was broken for the second church 19 X 1902! It was dedicated on 15 VIII 1909! at Polk and Lexington. It was also in a Spanish Renaissance.

Presumably also designed by Martin A. Carr.

Today, the school assembly hall serves as the church. Four small roundels apparently remain from the 1909 church. The pews may also be from the 1909 church.

Primera Iglesia Bautista Fundamental

1042 N. Damen Ave.

St. Procopius Church

1641 S. Allport

Architect: Paul (Julius) Huber, 1882-83

Current brick building with limestone trim dedicated by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan, 23 Sept. 1883. In 1884, Rev. John Nepomucene Jaeger, OSB and Wenceslaus Kocarnik, OSB, members of St. Vincent Abbey in Beatty (now Latrobe), Pennsylvania gave a mission to St. Procopius Church. On this occasion Father Coka, organizer of the parish, proposed that the Benedictine Fathers take charge of this parish and that in return, he be appointed pastor of Father Kocarnik'c parish in Omaha, Nebraska. Negotiations resulted in the Benedictines beginning their work in the parish 2 March 1885. In 1887, St. Procopius was raised to the status of an independent priory with Father Jaeger as its first prior.

By 1892, St. Procopius was the largest Bohemian parish in the U.S. Within the decade the Bohemians started to move out of the area and into other parishes, especially in the industrial areas of Cicero and Berwyn. Since 1914 the Benedictine Abbey has been in Lisle.

Progressive Community Center, The People's Church

56 E. 48th St.

Architect: renovations in 1981 by Leroy Hilliard, Architects.

The church was constructed in 1895 for a Baptist congregation in a modest neo-Gothic Revival style. In 1906, the church was sold to Rodfei Zedek, an Orthodox Jewish congregation. Rodfei Zedek installed the balcony to allow for the practice of separating women from men during worship. At the time the building also served as a meeting hall for the Knight of Zion, the nation's first Zionist organization. Progressive purchased the building in 1922. In 1981, Progressive renovated the sanctuary and built a one-story brick fellowship hall, designed in a modern vernacular style by Leroy Hilliard, Architects.

Providence of God, R.C. Lithuanian Church

1800 S. Union St.

Architect: Joseph Molitor (lower church), Leo Strelka (pper church), 1914 and 1926-1927.

The current building is from 1914. Twin towers. Red brick with limestone trim. Round headed windows under Lombard bands. Figurative windows.

Pullman United Methodist Church (Greenstone Memorial Church)

11211 S. St. Lawrence Ave.

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1882

Queen of Angels Church

2334 W. Sunnyside Ave.

Architec: McCarthy, Smith and Epping, 1938-1940

Queen of All Saints Basilica

6284 N. Sauganash Ave.

Architects: Meyer and Cook, 1956-60

Windows: Leo Cartwright design fabricated by Erhard Stoetter of Esser Co., Milwaukee, WI

The church is 280 feet long, 80 feet wide at the transept and 80 feet high at the roof ridge. Each of its 8-bays contains a 28-foot double-lancet stained glass window.

The church was elevated to rank of basilica by Pope John XXIII in 1962. At the time it was one of only fourteen.

Constructed of rough hewn Wisconsin Lannon stone and Bedford Indiana limestone, the church has a Vermont slate roof.

The altar is hewn of a single piece of Sienna marble. The wall behind it, is an mosaic depicting the Queen of All Saints. The mosaic was designed by Lelio de Ranieri and executed in the Vatican galleries of some 33,000 pieces of Venetian, Murano, glass. On the south wall is a Florentine mosaic with a central motif of the Blessed Trinity. The Sunburst effect is achieved by alternating Sienna yellow and Belgian black marble. Pompeian onyx is used at the outer edges of the burst.

The stained glass windows were designed by Leo Cartwright with the assistance of Erhard Stoettner of the Esser Company, Milwaukee WI. The choir windows presenting the apparitions of Mary, was made with more than 57,000 pieces of glass.

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church

2401 S. Wabash Ave.

Architect: Henry F. Starbuck, 1891-94

Formed in 1844, Quinn Chapel is Chicago's oldest black congregation and second oldest Methodist church. The society was organized as an A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) church in July, 1847, becoming known as "Quinn Chapel" in honor of A.M.E. missionary Bishop William Paul Quinn. Growth of the congregation and dramatic events such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, shifted the church to no less than ten different locations before it purchased the current site in June, 1890. The imposing Indiana limestone and brick building, was designed between 1891 and 1894, by Henry F. Starbuck, an African American architect, and Charles H. McAfee, the interior decorator.

The sanctuary is defined by a sloping wrap-around gallery, stencils and no-Gothic arches in the oak pews, trusses and windows. The interior wall and ceiling surfaces are covered with the most important collection of pressed metal in Chicago. The shallow chancel, set into a proscenium arch, enhances the choir and organ's impressive acoustics.

The William H. Delle pipe organ came from the German Pavilion of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Ravenswood Baptist Church

4455 N. Seely at Sunnyside

Architect: H.K. Holsman, 1902

An octagonal centralized structure with three squared wings, rounded apse facing east. Built completely of Chicago common brick, exposed. Windows are haphazardly installed sheets of clear yellow textured, rippled, glass, probably from the 1960s, set into wooden and metal frames. Makeshift. Entrances face west. Brown asphalt tiles on roof.

Ravenswood United Methodist Church

4511 N. Hermitage Ave.

Originally Ravenswood Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: G.M. Trumbull, 1912

Resurrection Church (Catholic)

5082 W. Jackson Blvd.

Architect: Henry J. Schlacks, 1916-1918

Ressurection Lutheran Church

3303 N. Seminary Ave.

Originally Church of the Messiah

Architect: C.W. Christianson, 1924

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

1160 East 59th St. at S. Woodlawn

Architect: Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, 1924-28

Named for the founder of the University of Chicago, John D. Rockefeller, at his death in 1937, the chapel was originally known as the University of Chicago Chapel.

The chapel is large -- 265 feet long and 120 feet wide at the transept. The towers rise 207 feet. The Chapel is a masonry structure, brick, faced with Bedford Limestone. At their bases, the towers are each eight-feet thick. Only the great arch that supports the west tower is made with reinforced concrete. Steel beams resting on masonry walls, support 800 tons of concrete slabs of the ceiling. Inside the height is 79 feet.

The life-size sculptures on the outside are the work of Lee Lawrie and Ulric Ellerhausen of NYC. Standing are from left to right: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Zoroaster, Plato, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Athanasius, Augustine, St. Francis, Luther and Calvin.

Three great windows, each 43 feet tall, line the nave on each side.

Harold Haydon designed the great cinquefoil in memory of Prof. James Webb Linn. It was dedicated 19 May 1979.

The banners are part of a series of 44 banners designed for the Vatican Pavilion of the New York Worlds Fair of 1964-65 by Norman Laliberte, a Canadian-American artists. Earle Ludgin gave them to the University in memory of his wife, Mary McDonald Ludgin.

The organ is a 103 stop E.M. Skinner. The console to the west of the chancel has four manuals and pedals.. There is an antiphonal organ with 23 stops in the choir gallery. There is also a 73-bell carillon.

Rogers Park Presbyterian Church

7059 N. Greenview

Architect: Ivan Viehe-Naess, 1925

Neo-English Gothic Revival in brown brick with Indiana limestone trim. The interior seats 700.

St. Roman Church

2313 S. Washtenaw Ave.

Built 1929.

Russian Orthodox Congregation of St. George Cathedral

917 N. Wood

Built 1934.

St. Sabina Church

78th Pl. and S. Throop

Architect: Joe W. McCarthy, 1931-33

The parish was founded 3 July 1916 to serve Irish families living in the Auburn Highlands neighborhood. Irish-born Father Thomas F. Egan broke ground 8 December 1916 for a combination church - school building designed by the firm of Steinbach and Davis. The cornerstone of this combination building was placed 13 May 1917. Four months alter, on 10 September 1917, the Sinsinawa Dominicans opened the school.

Auxiliary Bishop Edward F. Hoban laid the cornerstone of the present church of St. Sabina on 14 August 1925. Work stopped after the lower level of the church was completed in 1926. Following the Tudor Gothic design of Joe W. McCarthy, work on the upper level of the church resumed in 1931. Cardinal Mundelein dedicated the church on 18 June 1933.

Sacred Hearth Church (Catholic)

5600-6000 N. Pulaski Rd.

Originally Lewis Memorial Chapel

Architect: H.T. Liebert, 1936

Sacred Heart Church

11652 S. Church St.

Built 1904 and 1922.

Sacred Heart Church

70th and May St.

Architect: Hermann J. Gaul

This large red brick with limestone trim, neo English-Gothic church-school combination had its ground breaking on 1 September 1925 and its cornerstone placed 25 October 1925. The church was dedicated by Cardinal Mundelein 16 October 1927.

Sacred Heart Church

1077 Tower Road

Winnetka IL 60093

Father Bob Ferigan/Father Mike McNulty/Curtis Neblig, 847. 446. 0856

Architect: ? 1925

Windows: TGA Innsbruck, 1925

A second Gothic Revival nave with one aisle church with about 27 TGA windows from about 1925. Almost each window is signed.

Left side

Resurrection / Anastasis (Mt. Tabor) / Gethsemane / Jesus w. Children /

Good Shepherd / Jesus and Lame Man / Loaves and Fishes / Sacred Heart

Choir = Margaret Mary's vision of the Sacred Heart

Right side

BVM Crowned Queen of Heaven / Assumption / Holy Family / Jesus in Temple /

Flight to Egypt / Nativity, shepherds / Annunciation

Salem Baptist Church (former: St. Salomea Church)

11824 S. Indiana Ave.

Architect: Breelman and Son, 1910-19

In the Roseland neighborhood, this parish complex was formed in 1897 to serve Polish immigrants. There is a church, school, convent and rectory.

Altars of walnut.

The church was sold by the Archdiocese in June, 1990 to the Salem Baptist Church, which itself has had a long association with the area.

Salem Evangelical Free Church

2825 W. McLean Ave.

Originally Salem Evangeliske Fri Kirke

Architect: Charles F. SOrenson, 1908.

Samaria Iglesia Evangelica, Inc.

1653 N. Rockwell St.

Built 1908.

Santa Trinidad/ Grace Lutheran Church

4106 W. 28th St.

Originally Ev. Lutheranische Gnaden Kirche

Built 1901.

Scottish Rite Cathedral (former Unity Church)

932 N. Dearborn St.

Architect: Burling and Adler, 1880-89

Second Church of Christ, Scientist

2628 N. Clark St.

Architect: Solon S. Beman, 1899

Second Presbyterian Church

1936 S. Michigan Ave. 60616-1695

Architect: James Renwick, 1872-74; restored interior by Howard Van Doren Shaw, 1900.

Renwick is famous today for St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. This is his Chicago building. It was commissioned by the then powerful congregation including the Armours, Swifts, Fields, Kimballs, Pullmans, Crerars, Ishams and Shaws, and others mostly then living along Prairie Ave.

The building is an American New Gothic Revival style, loosely adapting English Gothic elements. The tan limestone contains bits of tar, thus the spots. The style of cut is called rusticated. It's typical 19th century, not Gothic. High relief medallions of the symbols of the four evangelist flank the great window of the façade, Matthew, as a young man, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox and John as an eagle. After fire damage in 1900, prominent North Shore architect Howard Van Doren Shaw restored the entire interior. Ragdale, in Lake Forest, was his home.

The interior of Second Pres. is the finest of its kind in Chicago. More than two hundred angels greet us in this Arts and Crafts interior. The windows are by Louis C. Tiffany, Louis J. Millet and Sir Edward Burne-Jones for William Morris and Co. The murals are by the painter, Frederic C. Bartlett of Chicago. His 30 by 40 feet Tree of Life mural, with the Rainbow of Hope and a choir of angels in a star filled heaven rises up behind the organ screen. Four bronze Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael look down on us. A balcony makes access to the windows easy and offers spectacular vistas of the interior.

The great "Ascension" window with the five angels was designed by the Church Glass and Decorating Co. of New York, designed by William Fair Kline, A.N.A., copyright, 1906.

The architect of the exterior of Second Presbyterian Church is James Renwick (1818-1895), who designed the church 1872-74 in a Gothic Revival style. Second Church's "Gothic" exterior adapts a 15^th century English look popularized, in part, by A.W. Pugin in England in the 1830s/40s. The spotted limestone blocks, the spots are tar, were quarried just southwest of the church.

Renwick was the most fashionable architect of his day. By the 1870s, he was wealthy, urbane and precocious. He earned his degree in engineering from Columbia at age 17. His first commission, won in a competition, was New York's Grace Church. He was 22.

Renwick's churches are mostly Gothic Revival in style, while he sprinkled the landscape of New York State and New England with Swiss cottage mansions and Tuscan villas. The Smithsonian on the Mall in Washington D.C., his most famous building is an inspired Norman castle. The building he designed in 1859 to house the art collection of William Wilson Corcoran in Washington D.C., was the nation's largest structure to serve solely as a museum of art. Today it is known as the Renwick Gallery.

Fire destroyed the original 1874 "Gothic" nave in 1900. The prominent Chicago architect Howard van Doren Shaw (1869-1926) received the commission to create a new interior for Second Church. Shaw graduated from Yale in 1890, studied two more years at MIT then traveled extensively in Europe, returning to Chicago in 1895 to join the firm of Jenny and Mundie. Shortly thereafter, Shaw set up his firm. Among Shaw's many important commissions are the Quadrangle Club at the University of Chicago, the Chapel of 4^th Presbyterian Church, Lake Forest's Market Square, and many residences along the North Shore.

Among the many features of his renovation at Second Church, Shaw encased the thin iron cluster columns of the "Gothic" interior in cement and made piers. He enlarged the balcony by cantilevering it greatly. Shaw reinstalled several of the surviving windows and designed his own, as he found necessary. He worked on the interior with Frederic Clay Bartlett (1873-1953). Bartlett had studied in Paris with James Whistler and Puvis de Chavannes and in Munich's Royal Academy where he was much acclaimed. Upon his return to Chicago, he opened a studio in the Fine Arts Building and lived for a time with his parents in their Prairie Avenue mansion. Several of his murals can still be seen in the Bartlett Memorial Gymnasium at the University of Chicago; and the Fine Arts Building, upper floor.

Both Shaw and Bartlett were strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts Movement. As a whole, the interior of Second Church is especially well coordinated. Shaw retains some medieval elements in the oak beams that abound with creatures. The grapevines and pomegranate (symbol of the church and its congregation) are a common and universal Christian theme throughout the building. More than 160 references to angels can be found. Bartlett's great Tree of Life mural as well as the angels compositions in the arches of the upper gallery are masterful paintings in the German and English Arts and Crafts tradition, inspired by observations of Köln's late Gothic murals.

The baptismal font, a bunch of lilies and lilies of the Valley, both symbols of purity, was carved of limestone in Florence in the 1880s. There is no finer carving in Chicago from this time. The Ionian Cross, standing on the altar, is from 1957.

Overall, the interior, but with distinct exceptions, may very well have been inspired by Trinity College Chapel, Oxford. Decorated in 1870 in a Gothic Revival within a classical decoration framework, Trinity Chapel is viewed by scholars to be the first and most complete example of ecclesiological decoration in England at the time. The ecclesiological movement spread from England to Germany and the U.S. quickly, but rarely found its architectural mirror.

All the windows of Second Presbyterian Church are very important.

Second Presbyterian Church

The most important windows in Second Presbyterian are those by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and manufactured by Morris & Co. of London. The two windows, St. Margaret and St. Cecilia replicate those designed by Burne-Jones

for Christ Church, Oxford. Purchased and brought to Chicago by the banker Franklin Darius Gray, the pair of windows were first displayed in 1902 by Joseph Twyman in the William Morris Memorial Room of the Tobey Furniture Company before being installed in Second Church and dedicated in 1906.

Several windows are by the firm of Louis Comfort Tiffany Co., New York. The Tiffany windows are superb examples of the firm's masterful work in glass. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) developed a glass with the help of John LaFarge (1835-1910) in the early 1880s, which he called "Favril." Prized for its fogs and wisps of various colors in a single sheet of glass, Favril was much sought after and much copied, but none of the competitors ever achieved Tiffany's level of artistic bravura in color, manipulation and layering of glass. Although the landscape window is a specific Tiffany inspiration, the specially prized window at Second Presbyterian depicts Jesus and the Children. This composition was not a Tiffany original, but done in reaction to the enormous popularity of the Franz Mayer of Munich commissioned paintings displayed in Dresden. In the 1870s, Franz Mayer of Munich commissioned a series of paintings depicting scenes from the Life of Jesus in the then current post-Nazarene style popularized by professors of painting in the art academies of Munich, Dresden and Düsseldorf. Mayer's intention was to have compositions for his stained glass artists and craftsmen to follow and adapt which were Biblical and theologically acceptable. The Bavarian Catholic Church hierarchy approved each academically painted scene, but not necessarily its stained glass equivalent composition, which depended on shape and size of the window. The Mayer windows and those of his son–in-law F.X. Zettler of Munich and those of the firm Tiroler Glas Anstallt of Innsbruck found immediate worldwide acceptance. Within the decade, thousands of windows had been shipped to the U.S. alone. The windows supplying not only both the Catholic and Lutheran German immigrant community, but also the Irish, Italian and Polish Catholics. Tiffany and other companies tried to compete against this Catholic immigrant desire with little success. After all Tiffany represented English style Protestants and so was immediately suspect to immigrant Catholics, especially the Irish.

Tiffany and other US non-Catholic firms approached their Congressmen resulting in a tariff on imported stained glass of 50% then 100%. The Munich based studios understood their popularity in the US and circumvented the tariffs by opening US studios in New York, Chicago and several other locations. Tiffany countered by offering Munich inspired images such as Christ and the Children, but never had any success with the Catholic immigrant congregations.

At Second Church, the finest windows by the Chicago firms of Healy & Millet (1856-1923) and McCully & Miles survive. The finest representative of the Chicago Arts and Crafts style is the great window by Howard van Doren Shaw.

William Fair Kline designed the great Ascension window in 1906 for the Church Glass and Decorating Co. of New York. It replaced a rose window lost in the fire of 1900 which may have been designed by the greatest American stained glass artist, John LaFarge, although this is not confirmed by documentation, yet.

The patterned carpeting up the stairs and throughout balcony of Second Church dates from 1900 was probably chosen by Howard van Doren Shaw and may very well be a design by Christopher Dresser of London or Frank Furness of Philadelphia. Whichever, it's very special and rare. Walk with care.

South Wall windows, East to West

Christ Blessing the Children, LCTiffany, reinstalled in 1900, framing by Chicago firm?

Angel at the Tomb, LCTiffany

Peace, LCTiffany

Mount of the Holy Cross, LCTiffany

Beside the Still Waters (green window), by McCully & Milles, Chicago

St. Paul Preaching to the Athenians, LCTiffany, 1895.

North wall, East to West

Arts & Crafts, Howard van Doren Shaw

Jewelo window, LCTiffany, installed here 1913. Donated by Marshall Field, 1895 to First Presbyterian Church

Angel in the Lilies, LCTiffany

Behold the Lamb of God, LCTiffany

Cast Thy Garment about Thee, Healy & Millet, Chicago in LCT style.

Pastoral window, LCTiffany, 1918, only signed one.

East wall = The Ascension

Seminary Ave. Community Church (UCC) and Covenant Presbyterian Church

1110 W. Lill Ave.

Built 1883 and 1929

Seventh Day Adventist Central Spanish Church

913 N. Hoyne Ave.

Originally St. Johannis Ev. Luth. Kirche

Built 1905

Shepherd's Temple Baptist Church

3411 W. Douglass Blvd.

Originally Anshe Kenesseth Israel

Architect: Aroner and Sommers, 1913

Sister Ann's Miracle Revival Church.

Spirit and Truth Fellowship

1847 N. Humboldt Blvd.

Originally Bethany Presbyterian Church

Built 1890.

St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church (Catholic)

5352 W. Belden Ave.

Architect: Worthman and Steinbach, 1914.

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church

1327 N. Noble Street (1400 west)

Architect: Patrick C. Keely, 1877-81

Windows: F. X. ZETTLER and TGA, 1909

This was the first Polish National Parish in Chicago. Many of the founding families were Kashubes, German speaking Poles.

In 1864 they formed the St. Stanislaus Kostka Benevolent Society and drew up title to the church. This would later prove a problem within the decade because the title was to rest with the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, Corporation Sole.

Soon there was an attempt to get a Polish speaking priest for the congregation. With the help of the Resurrectionist Fathers of Rome, Rev. John Wollowski began to conduct a mission for Polish Catholics in St. Joseph Church (Chicago & Wabash). Shortly thereafter he was appointed in charge of Polish Catholics at St. Stan. K. When he arrived, 1 Nov. 1869, he found Father Juskiewicz, a diocesan priest who was Lithuanian, had been named pastor. The Polish nationalist members of the congregation forced a national split. Followed in 1870 by violence. Father Juskiewicz was beaten and threatened. He left the city. A new pastor was named and he transferred title to Bishop Foley who then dedicated the church, 18 June 1871. The dedication sermons were in English, German and Polish. The General of the Resurrection Order visited with Bishop Foley in July 1871 and was granted permission to staff all Polish parishes formed in the Chicago diocese for the next 99 years.

The cornerstone of the present church was placed 1 July 1877. The first mass in the new building was celebrated in the basement Christmas Eve, 1877. On 10 July 1881 the upper church was dedicated. In 1892 the two towers were completed. At the time, this parish was the largest Polish parish in the world. St. Stanislaus Kostka church continues to be the mother of all Polish churches in Chicago.

In 1906 by F. X. Zettler, the Royal Bavarian Institute for Stained Glass installed sixteen nave windows depicting the mysteries of the rosary.

At the same time several TGA windows were installed in to the left and right of the entrance and balcony. They are not significant. Some of these have cold-paint repair.

The great hanging lights in the nave are possibly by Tiffany Associated Artists of New York. Their glass and construction are in the Tiffany technique and style. The choir apse seating is said to have won a prize at the World's Columbian Exposition.

St. Stanislas Kostka (1550-68) was a Jesuit novice who died in Rome. Sainted since 1726, his feast day is 13 November. His sainthood is related to St. Aloysius Gonzaga and John Berchmans.

St. Stephen Church

1852 W. 22nd Pl.

Originally Ecclesia Sancti Stepahnim

Built 1904

St. Stephen King of Hungary Church

2009 W. Augusta Blvd.

St. Stephens A.M.E. Church

2000 W. Washington Blvd

Originally Eighth Presbyterian Church

Architect: Brown, Burton and Davis, 1900.

The third African Methodist Episcopal church in Chicago. The church helped establish the first interracial congregation in the US. The church has a direct link to Quinn.

St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ

5640 S. Blackstone

Originally Tenth Chruch of Christ, Scietist

Architect: Coolidge and Hodgdon, 1917-1919.

St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church

910 W. 65th St.

Built 1909.

Stone Temple Baptist Church

3622 W. Douglas Blvd.

Originally First Romanian Congregarion/ Anshe Roumania

Architect: J.W. Cohn and Co., 1825-1926.

Stratford Memorial Church of the Seventh Day Adventists

Built 1916

Sure Foundation Missionary Baptist Church

Cornerstone July 3, 1898.

Swedish Evangelical Church

11032 S. Indiana Avd\e.

Built 1890-1891.

Swedish Ev. Luth. Trinity Church

Seminary ave. and Barry ave.

Cornerstone dated September 11, 1887., Petr. 2?

Construction of red brick with thin mortar. Indiana limestone trim. Pointed arched windows with tinted diamond pane glass. Wide transepts. Non-street sides of church of common brick.

Swedish United Methodist Church

11300 S. Indiana Ave.

Originally Swedish Methodist Episacopal Church

Built 1892.

St. Sylvester Catholic Church

2157 N. Humbolt Ave.

Architect: J.E.P.Pridmore, 1906

Temple Sholom

3480 N. Lake Shore Drive

Architect: Loebl Schlossman and Demuth with Coolidge and Hodgdon, 1928-1930.

Templeton Memorial Chapel

1347 W. Erie St.

Architect: Benjamin Franklin Olson, 1935.

The Chicago Temple -First United Methodiast Church

77 W. Washington

Architect: Holabird and Root, 1922-24.

St. Thomas the Apostle Church

5472 S. Kimbark Ave. at 55th St.

Architect: Francis Barry Byrne (1883-1967), 1922-24

Windows: D'Ogier Studio, New Hope CN.

Murals: Schumacher

Without columnar support, St. Thomas the Apostle was the first church built in the U.S. in the modern style; it was dedicated by Cardinal Mundelein, 12 October 1924.

The architect F.Barry Byrne (1883-1967) and the artist Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) collaborated closely on the structure and its decoration. Iannelli was responsible for all the terra cotta of the exterior. The roofline is especially effective. Iannelli's had a falling out with the pastor over the entrances resulting in another artists completing them. The entrances today, are a bit more elaborate than Iannelli had intended them.

Inside:

The Stations of the Cross inside the church, are by Alfeo Faggi (1885-1966). They are highly personal in style. Along the west wall near the altar is Faggi's nearly life-size bronze Pieta from 1916. Mary is realized in volume, while the collapsed figure of Christ is flattened against her.

The interior was, from its inception, simple. The altar is not set back into the apse but brought out into the nave and the pews run up to the sanctuary and begin to encircle it, much in the way Vatican II would stipulate it, many years later.

The stained glass, representing the Greek and Latin Fathers of the early church, is by the D'Ogier Studio of New Hope CN. The faces show figures important to the congregation: Msgr. T.V. Shannon, the pastor, is St. Gregory the Great; Cardinal Mundelein is St. Augustine; President Coolidge is St. Bede; George Washington is St. John Chrysostom; and Thomas Jefferson is St. Bernard.

The chapel windows read from L to R: Vincent Ferrer (open book); Catherine of Sienna (crucifix and book); Dominic (rosary, book, lilly); Rose of Lima (crown of thorns, book, roses); St. Louis Bertrand (Crucifix, palm); Catherine de Ricci (bible, staff); Antoninus(crook, scales); Agnes of Montepulciano (lamb, lilies)

St. Thomas Aquinas Church

5112 W. Washington, at Leclaire (100 north)

Architect: Karl M. Vitzthum (a member of the parish) and Barry Burns, 1923-25. Firm = Vitzthum & Burns

Windows: FXZ

Towering over the Austin neighborhood, the neo-Gothic Tudor Revival tower is a beacon in the community. The church was founded in 1909 to serve Irish Catholics of Austin. When the cornerstone was to be placed, in 1923, Archbishop Mundelein complained that the tower was to high, so Father Luttrell went ahead and dedicated the cornerstone himself without the Archbishop's presence.

The church is a composite of elements including pinnacles, buttresses, gargoyles, Tudor Gothic tower, windows and more. The exterior is of pressed brick with Indiana limestone trim.

The main stained glass window over the three doorway entrance is called the Immaculate Conception window. Many angels surround the BVM. Other windows line the clerestory. These are set into Indiana limestone tracery and are very large. Their style is sort of late French Gothic. All the windows are by the F.X. Zettler Co. of Munich and were ordered in 1920, and installed at the completion of the church, 1924. They are in the mosaic style.

The terra cotta high altar, designed by Henry Schmidt, is one of the magnificent achievements of this medium in Chicago. It was blessed on 7 March 1929.

The walnut reredos screen behind the altar is partially hand-carved.. It depicts the twelve apostles. The mural is a copy after Zurbaran depicting the Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas. Other interior murals are the work of the John A. Mallin Co., Chicago. The ceramic tile Stations of the Cross are by M. Louverse, Deserves, France.

At the close of the World's Fair of 1933, the congregation bought the Kilger organ, it was dedicated 27 Jan 1935. In the early 1960s the south Austin neighborhood began to change racially. By 1970 it was 40% black.

St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican who died in 1274, was buried in St. Sernin, Toulouse, was canonized 1323 and his Feast Day is 28 January.

St Thomas More Church

2825 W 81st St

Architect: Barry&Kay

Windows: Dalle de Verre by Loire of Chartre, 1958

Dedicated: September 13, 1959

Organizing the parish began November 8, 1946 with a small quonset church at the corner of 81st and Talman Ave, with the first mass celebrated on April 27, 1947. April 12, 1948, ground at 8130 S California Ave was broken for the parish school which opened on September 7, 1949 under the direction of the Sisters of St Dominic from Sinsinawa, WI.

The neighborhood boomed with single family houses.

The cornerstone for the present church, the first Catholic Church built after WWII in Chicago, at the southwest corner of 81st and California Ave, was laid on November 3, 1957. The church architects were Barry & Kay. The design is an projecting two-story elliptical sanctuary of orange brick within a one-story rectangular exterior of grayish flagstone. Above the entrance is a large, gray, sculpture of Christ enthroned flanked by crouching lamb, a saint holding a book, a standing standing man clasping his hands, and an angel flying above (an artists signature is not visible) with a thin cross extending over the wall. A wide mosaic covered entrance with a slab of a bell tower to the south covers east side of the church. Inside the entrance rectangle, two elliptical staircases lead to the basement, The walls are clad in perfectly matched red-brown marble. The Baptistry is to the left, behind an aluminum rod screen ornamented with fish. A large window of mostly blue and white dalle de verre, reminding of water has an anchor, snake, and dove on the right. The baptismal font is a joined cone and a cylinder. The central entrance to nave opens into the ellipse. The side aisles are of large dalle de verre windows and the walls are superbly matched red-brown marble. A wide blue ribbon along the base of the ellypse has golden stations of the cross, are were carved in Italy of linden wood and gold leafed? by Deprato Co of Chicago. Starting to the left and culminating to the right of the central altar wall. A figure grouping of the Expulsion from Paradise starts the stations on the left, and a grouping of the Last Judgement ends the stations on the righ. Above this band, piercing the clear story elliptical walls are deeply recessed dalle de verre windows depicting scenes from the life of St Thomas More. The central focus of the ellypse is a floor to ceiling mosaic and mural depicting the Trinity with a monumental God the Father holding an orb in his left while blessing with his right hand, a Dove, and a high relief walnut and enamel bronze crucifixion in the center. Thomas More stands under God's right hand. The Crucifixion was crafted by Rambusch Studio of New York. The mosaic and lighting are probably also by Rambusch. To the left and right are niches with large sheet mosaics for Mary and Joseph. The altar rail is a tour de force in marble. The hanging lights in the nave are also by Rambusch.

The Way of Holiness Church

1243 N. Wolcott Ave.

Originally Tipherith Zion Congregation

Architedt: Maurice Spitzer, 1900.

Thirteenth Church of Christ, Scientist

10317 S. Longwood Dr

Architect H. Shering, 1916-1917.

Trinity Episcopal Church

125 E. 26th St.

Architect: Lloyd and Pearce, 1873-1874 restored 1920 by Tallamdge and Watson

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

1430 W. 100th Pl.

Originally Evang. Luth. Dreieinigkeits Kirche

Built 1891

Trinity Lutheran Church.

1043 N. Francsico Ave.

Originally Danish Trinity Church

Architect: Charles F. Sorenson, 1906

Trinity United Methodist Church

9848 S. Winchester Ave.

Originally Trinity Methodist Epsicopal Church

Architect: Stetzel and Janson, 1939-1940.

Union Tabernacle Baptist Church

6623 S. Stewart Ave.

Built 1896.

United Campus Christian Ministry

5655 S. University Ave.

Originally University Church of the Dsiciples of Christ, University of Chicago

Architect: Howard van doren Shaw, 1922-1924 and 1928.

United Church of Hyde Park

1448 E. 53rd St.

Originally Hyde Park Presbyrterian Church

Architect: Gregory Vigeant, 1889 with sanctuary remodeled in 1923-24

United Church of Rogers Park

1545 W. Morese Ave.

Built 1926-1928

United Church of God in Christ

444 N. Lamon Ave.

Originally 49th Ave. Methodist Episcopal Church

Architect: Wesley Arnold, 1900.

University Church

5655 S. University Ave.

Connick window over Sanctuary and an Arthurian Window, both may be 1921.

Uptown Baptist Church built as North Shore Congregational Church)

1011 W. Wilson

Architect: Patton & Miller, 1906

Windows: simple rectangular tan and green art glass, with some lead-line variations

The sanctuary room is an octagonal arranged in the “Akron” plan, with large stage that opens to a gymnasium for overflow crowds. Pews recently stripped, then stained.

The firm of Patton & Miler existed from 1901-1912. Norman S. Patton (1855-1915) was a Chicago architect of local significance. Among Patton’s better known works are the Armour Institute, 1890; Museum of Natural history, Chicago Academy of Science, 1893; buildings at Oberlin, Wheaton and Carleton College between 1895 and 1915; First Congregational and Pilgrim Congregational Churches in Oak Park; and First Presbyterian Church in Rockford.

The neon sign on the roof of the bell-tower was installed in 1942. Uptown Baptist congregation was established in 1976 and purchased the property in 1981.

St. Viator Church

4160 W. Addison

Architect: Charles L. Wallace, 1927-29.

Windows: Emil Frei

This Catholic congregation is one of the oldest on the Northwest side, founded in 1888 when this area was still known as Jefferson. The original parish encompassed 25 square miles. The Viatorian Fathers serve the church. The cornerstone was placed 13 November 1927 and on 5 May 1929, Cardinal Mundelein dedicated the church. The neo-Tudor Gothic church is of Bedford, Indiana limestone. Its windows are by Emil Frei Art Glass Co. of St. Louis and done in a medievalized mosaic style. In the apse is the Eucharist theme. The east side nave windows present scenes from the New Testament, the west side, Old Testament. The east transept window shows souls being released from purgatory, the west honors the BVM The south window illustrates an inscription on the cornerstone of the church, Jesus' words, "Let the little children come unto Me."

St. Vincent de Paul Church

1010 W. Webster Ave.

Architect: James J. Egan, 1895-97

Windows: by Franz Mayer and TGA, Conrad Schmidt Studios of New Berlin, WI, 1956

Int.Decor: Altar design by Augustine O'Callaghan is of white Carrara marble carved in Pietrasanta, Italy, 1903-09.

On 19 May 1895 Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan laid the cornerstone.

The present facade was completed 21 September 1895. The church was dedicated 2 May 1897.

The exterior is of finely dressed Indiana limestone.

The original rose window, by F. Mayer showed St. Cecilia at the organ. It was destroyed during a fire 15 May 1955. The current rose is by Conrad Schmidt Studios.

Aspects of the Windows of St. Vincent de Paul

This commentary is part of a study of the stained glass windows undertaken by Neal Vogel and Inspired Partnerships.

Maybe it's that so many stained glass windows are marking a centennial and that so many people feel a loss and are seeking to know more about traditions that stained glass windows, which have been carefully neglected in Chicago's church histories, are now subject of interest. Maybe it's a time of greater awareness, a time of the visual, a time of accounting for the past and seeing how it may fill what has been lost. Maybe it's just the visualization of a mental note, a story, the narrative that is visual and not just words.

Whichever, even for the most casual of viewer who professes to know nothing about religion or art, the windows of St. Vincent de Paul are obviously not just another element of the decoration, but are impressive, beautiful and, maybe, important.

On 19 May 1895 Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan laid the cornerstone for the present St. Vincent de Paul Church. Four months later, 21 September 1895, the exterior as we now know it was completed. The completion of the interior followed rapidly and the church was dedicated 1 May 1897.

Sometime in 1896, seven windows were ordered from the Franz Mayer Company of Munich, Germany, followed by another order in 1901. Also, in 1900 and 1901 windows were ordered from the Tiroler Glasmalerei und Mosaik-Anstalt (in short, TGA) of Innsbruck, Austria. The windows are the subject of this brief discussion.

At the time of completion, St. Vincent de Paul church served a predominantly immigrant German and Irish Catholic congregation, in what was then an outlying neighborhood just being accessed by the elevated train system. The building, credited to James J. Egan by George Lane, Chicago Churches and Synagogues, 1981, p.72 and the AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture, 1993, p.184 , and to J.E.O Pridmore in A History of the Parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago, 1980, vol. 2, p.963, is unique in Chicago. Its style is commonly called neo-Romanesque, but in an this interpretation it harkens back to a historicizing style which had became popular in the 1820s and 30s throughout Europe, but especially in Munich.

Though not specifically germane to our discussion of the windows, St. Vincent de Paul Church may also have architectural connections to Munich of note. The style of the two tower facade, placement of doorways and round arched windows and their overall use of smoothly dressed Bedford limestone (near Bloomington, IN) lends the exterior of St. Vincent de Paul Church an appearance resembling, closely, the neo-Romanesque church of St. Ludwig (1828-44) by Friedrich Gärtner in downtown Munich, Germany. This church, wide facade flanked by square, twin towers with pointed roof, also of smoothly dressed limestone, was a key commission from the young King Ludwig of Bavaria (famous later for his patronage of Richard Wagner) to establish a new parish in the newest expansion area of Munich, the University. Four years after the dedication of this church, in 1848, King Ludwig commissioned very large stained glass windows for the revived interest in the great Cathedral of Köln (Cologne). These windows established the Franz Mayer company and their style, the "Munich style". Although the inventive medievalized interior of St. Vincent de Paul Church is modest next to St. Ludwig's in Munich, the circumstantial connections are fascinating and may even be relevant.

Like comparable immigrant foundations elsewhere in Chicago and the nation, the congregation and its pastor sought a building style, windows and other interior decoration with which they were familiar. It was also important to the Catholic immigrants, that the firm that supplied the work be Catholic. For this reason and probably for this reason alone, the noted American stained glass window producers of the day, such as Tiffany, to mention only the most famous, found it very difficult to compete in Catholic immigrant communities, be they German, Irish, Bohemian, Polish, or Italian against the most important German and Austrian stained glass manufacturers, Franz Mayer and F.X. Zettler, both of Munich, Germany and Tiroler Glasmalerei und Mosaik-Anstalt (in short, TGA) of Innsbruck, Austria. Even German Evangelical Lutherans preferred Munich/Innsbruck made windows to Anglican-American productions.

From the 1880s to the onset of World War I, stained glass manufacturing was big business in both Munich and Innsbruck. Franz Mayer and F. X. Zettler employed over 500 artists and craftsmen each during those years, while TGA employed some 200. Other companies in Munich and Germany, France, England, and the U.S.A. also produced windows for Catholic churches in the United States at the time, but did not gain the following nor distribution and sheer quantity that these three firms did.

In fact, these three companies became so popular and their style so pervasive that it became known as the Munich style. This style was soon copied by firms in the United States, the most successful being Von Gerichten Art Glass Co. (first of Munich, then from 1898 of Columbus OH, and also New Orleans from 1901); Max Guler and his Munich Studio in Chicago, founded 1903; and Emil Frei Associates, founded 1904 in St. Louis MO, then with workshops in Munich, too.

Franz Mayer, F.X. Zettler and TGA worked independently with their own staff of artists and craftsmen, but when orders were sizable or needed to be completed quickly, a subcontracting partnership was not unknown. In collaborative efforts, the work of each company is impossible to distill because of the nature of the style; every artist could and did imitate the other at will. Adding to the difficulty has been the loss of most documentation in World War II. Only TGA retains its records.

All three firms had sales offices and workshops in New York City, while Franz Mayer and F.X. Zettler maintained offices in Newark, New Jersey and Chicago, too. Very little factual material exists on these North American divisions, but is seems they may have been responsible for presentation drawings and scaling of compositions and some installation, though these might have been subcontracted locally. The actual manufacturing of the glass, its cutting, paintings, firing and most of the leading were finished in the respective home workshop and then shipped in sections to the local representative for installation.

There is some evidence that the Franz Mayer firm was also represented in New York and Chicago by the De Prado Company. This association encompassed windows, statuary and general interior decoration. The Stations of the Cross and some, if not all of the statuary in St. Vincent de Paul Church is evidence of this relationship.

Although the style of the windows is very specific, it is often called medieval, one searches in vain through known medieval stained glass to find a similar inspirations. The reason for this is that the style is representative of Italian or Northern Renaissance paintings, such as those of Titian or Dürer, or Baroque paintings by Rubens, and as such represents an important development within stained glass painting of the Nineteenth century. Though there are many windows representing this development, they and their artists have been little studied. Each window presents a single composition, which is the result of some two thousand years of inspired editing and education. All the windows that survive are very important original documents of this art form, including those of St. Vincent de Paul Church

A few words on the manufacturers will help place the significance of the windows.

The Franz Mayer Co. was founded in Munich, Germany in about 1846 as an art academy specializing in the production of church decoration, altars, and sculptures. The production of stained glass windows was not introduced until the later 1870s, even though the firm had produced the great windows of 1848 in the Köln Cathedral. From the later 1870s on, Franz Mayer quickly became recognized as the leading producer of quality liturgical vestments, woodcarving, metalwork, paintings, sculptures and stained glass windows in Germany and then in England.

In the course of the 1860s a daughter of Franz Mayer married the firms rising young star in charge of stained glass production, Franz Xavier Zettler. He soon established a style that became known around the world as the Munich style. Its focus is a sentimental mystical realism in which all the figures are rendered life-like and exceptionally rich in color and features. The painting was of the highest quality and within a few years, F.X. Zettler established himself as a competitor to his father-in-law, Franz Mayer, taking with him the glass painting style, which soon won him wide acclaim, too. But, unlike Franz Mayer, F.X. Zettler focused almost exclusively on windows. He sold these aggressively worldwide. He did well, too and the firm continued in business until the 1930s when it became a department within the Franz Mayer organization. Today, Franz Mayer's worldwide fame and historical significance rests securely on stained glass window.

By the 1860s, Franz Mayer employed professors of art from the Munich Academy of Art, at the time the most famous art school in Europe, to sketch, draw, render and model vestments and statuary. By the later 1870s, they drew and painted the necessary cartoons and images for the windows. Although few of these artists are widely known today, their paintings and reproductions were the measure of Catholic images from the 1860s on, worldwide.

Meanwhile, in Innsbruck, Austria, Georg Mader was organizing the Tiroler Glasmalerei und Mosaik-Anstalt in 1861. Their logo is TGA on a shield, with or without Innsbruck. TGA sough out the international market and has, to date, installed windows in some 3,000 churches worldwide.

In St. Vincent de Paul Church, the experience begins immediately upon entering the sanctuary, in the narthex. This is not incidental, but a part of the interior design of the building.

The Narthex Windows

Pairs of windows flank the entrance. Three of these windows depict an angel holding a disc or orb while the lower portions, the vents, carry a symbol surrounded by neo-Gothic ornamentation. The fourth window is in what was the Baptistry. The furthest west window is visible in the west-stairwell. This angel holds a disc with the letters S e s SPTUS (Sanctissime Spiritus).On the vents below, the left one presents the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the right one an open book with an A (Alpha) on the left page and an Ω (Omega) the right page, the beginning and the end. The angel of the window in the woman's washroom can now be seen only on the exterior while its vents show an IHS (Jesus) and a XP (Chi-Rho, Christ). The Sacred Heart of Jesus and a lost image, probably the Sacred Heart of Mary, decorates its counterpart to the east, the vent of the men's washroom window.

Though these windows are unsigned and not listed in an inventory, the vivid coloration of the wings and the fine painting of facial details as well as the attention to details indicated that at least the angel of the stairwell is the work of Franz Mayer & Co. or F.X. Zettler.

The East Narthex, the Baptistry

At one time, the east side of the narthex served as a baptistry, if the windows are any indication. Although the central window depicts The Baptism of Jesus with John the Baptist's wimple proclaiming, Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God). A dove, the Holy Spirit, emerges from a ray of light above the event. The inscription commemorates Rev. John W. Downing, CM.

The composition actually begins on the left with the Kneeling Angle. The roundel above the angle presents two cherub heads and the inscription which reads: In Memory of then to the middle window Rev. John W. Downing, CM. and continues on the right window, also held up by two cherubs, with St. Anns Sodality. This window depicts an Angel Holding a Drape, in preparation of Jesus emerging from the River Jordan.

The fourth window of the room, immediately on the right of the entrance to the Baptistry, is actually the fourth narthex window and is not related to the other three in style or pigmentation. Its painting has deteriorated severely. The upper roundel carries a profile image of the BVM. This profile image of Mary is known as the "Mater Dolorosa," the sorrowful mother, the Mother of Christ sorrowing for her son, and is copied after a mid-nineteenth century painting by Carlo Dolci, which was and may still be in a collection in Dresden, Germany. In many installations, the Sorrowful Virgin is countered by the Suffering Christ.

An inscription banner meanders down through each of the lower two panels. The left band reads: [In] Memory of Rev. James More, CM. and the right one reads: Saint Anns Sodality. Simple red roses on a yellow ground frame both windows.

The style, pigments and painting technique of the Baptistry windows is unlike any other in the church. They are similar to some windows produced by the Munich Studios of Chicago, a local interpreter of the "International Munich Style" whose output varied in quality greatly. A general date of around 1900, associated with the overall decoration of the church seems most plausible for these windows. Based on in-house church records, the Rev. James More, CM. and Rev. John W. Downing, CM seem to have been associated with the church in the mid 1880s, otherwise they do not appear to be documented.

The Nave Windows

Entering the sanctuary proper the viewer is immediately confronted from both sides by superbly rendered biblical narrative. These windows are unsigned, but two are shown in extant photo-reproductions of their cartoons, indicating that they are the work of Franz Mayer & Co., Munich and date from 1896.

The first scene on the west wall, left side of nave, is the

Wedding at Cana: The couple sits under a Baldachino while attendants and onlookers watch the miracle occurring in the lower left hand of the composition. Here the flow of white water is turning to red wine at the command of Jesus seated to the right. Mary and others are seated to the left. An attendant juggles a stack of dishes in the upper right hand corner.

Below the scene, a banner spreads across the two vent windows, each end held up by an angel. The painting of these angels is superb. The banner for the Wedding of Cana window reads: There was a Marriage in Cana of Galilee The Mother of Jesus saith to Him they have no wine And to the waiters whatsoever He shall say to you do ye. John II, 1,3,5

There might also be a text on the baldachino's rim, but it remains enigmatic. An angel in prayer fills the roundel above the great composition.

The scene is framed by Romanesque inspired metal ornamentation of a kind commonly found on reliquaries, especially in Köln. Elaborate interpretations of this ornament was very popular from the 1820s on.

In the Franz Mayer archives in Munich, a photo-reduction of the cartoon for this image is extant.

Continuing along the west wall, the middle window presents the

Transfiguration: Jesus, in a burst of light, is flanked on the left by a horned Moses and on the right by Elijah. At His feet are from left to right, are the apostles, John, Peter and James. The faces are masterpieces of human emotions and the garments are superbly ornamented with stenciled patterns.

The text band reads: He was transfigured before them There appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him and lo, a voice out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son, hear ye Him Matt. XVII, 2, 3 5

An angel in prayer fills the roundel above the great composition.

The third and last scene on the west side is the

Last Supper: In this tight composition, Jesus is seated in the center, holding a gold chalice and blessing with his right hand while the apostles crowd around him. Judas, clutching a moneybag, stands at the front right looking away from the scene and towards the viewer.

The banner across the two vents reads: Whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and gave to his disciples and said take ye and eat this is my body and taking the Chalice He gave thanks and gave to them saying This is my blood Do this for a commemoration of me Matt. XXVI, Mark XIII, Luke XXII, I Cor. XI

An angel in prayer fills the roundel above the great composition.

The windows on the right side as we enter present the

Sermon on the Mount: A composition similar to the Last Supper, with Jesus standing in the center with right hand raised and left lowered in blessing, while the apostles cluster around. In the foreground, kneeling, John, on the left and Peter, on the right.

The banner reads across the vents reads: Receive ye the Holy Ghost..... Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them John XX 22. 23 Going therefore teach ye all nations and behold I am with you all days Matt. XXXIII. 19. He that heareth you heareth me Luke X. 16.

An angel in prayer fills the roundel above the scene.

Next on the left, the middle image is the

Traditio Legis, Jesus Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter: Peter, dressed in magnificently patterned gold and blue garments, kneels before the standing Jesus who gives him the keys. A lamb stands behind Jesus, while a grouping of two apostles on the left and two on the right look on. The center of the scene is dominated by a Romanesque styled church, maybe in Assisi.

The angels of the vents hold a banner reading: Though art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church. I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. XVI, 18.19.

Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep John XXI, 16. 17.

An angel in prayer fill the roundel above the great composition.

A photo-reduction of the cartoon for this image is also extant in the Franz Mayer archives, Munich. The image is stamped Mayer & Co. so that it could be assumed without incurring much risk, that the window is by the Mayer Co.

The windows on the east side conclude with

Christ Teaching in the Temple: Enthroned in the center of the composition, the 12 year-old Jesus preaches to the elders in the Temple of Jerusalem while his mother and father seek him. They are approaching in the upper right. The pigmentation of the rabbi's garments is superb.

The two angels hold a text band that reads: They found Him in the Temple I must be about my Fathers work He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them Luke II 46, 49, 51

The incident is described in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, 46, 49, 51. 'On the third day, [Mary and Joseph] came upon him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. All who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and his answers."

This set of six windows presents a unified image program in which each scene is related to its opposite across the room and on the diagonal. The result is a conceptual parallelogram and chi-rho, the first two letters of the Greek word, "Christos". The Wedding at Cana presents worldly promises focused on a miracle, water to wine; a sacrament, marriage and commitment, while the Sermon of the Mount, presents God's promise through Jesus of sacraments and the teachings of His Church. The Transfiguration is a core miracle and the foundation on which the church stands. Its counterpart, the Tradition Legis, is the continuance of the teachings of Jesus through Peter and the founding of the Church. In the Last Supper, in which Jesus enacts the mysteries that would become the center of the liturgy, Judas is our contact with these events. Across the room The 12 years old Jesus Teaches the rabbis and us the words of God. To form the chi, diagonally the Wedding at Cana relates to the Teaching in the Temple; the Last Supper relates to the Sermon on the Mount; and the Transfiguration relates to the Tradition Legis to form the rho.
Three TGA windows face the transept on each side. Each window present a single image in some action or with their attribute, sometimes standing on a gathering of flowers . The painting, coloration and staining of the glass is distinctly different from those of the nave.
The west side windows present St. Anne, wife of Joachim and mother of the BVM, according to apocryphal writings called the Protoevangelium of James . She holds a book in her left hand. Behind her, a Doric columns is indicated. Her feast day is 26 July. The window is documented in the TGA, records and dates from 1901.
Next is St. Helena whose attribute is the True Cross and a crown. She stand on a rocky ledge over a gathering of large flowers. Helena was a Christian and the mother of Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor who legalized Christianity and received communion on his deathbed. She protected many of the sites relevant to the life of Jesus and collected implements associated with His last days on earth, such as the Cross, the nails, the lance, sponge etc. Her feast day is 18 August and her attribute is the True Cross. The window is documented in the TGA archives as having been delivered in 1901.
The third window of this set depicts a figure clad in white holding a staff and fish. According to TGA records, this depiction represents the Archangel Raphael whose feast day is 24 October. The name Raphael means, "God heals," and he is assumed to be the angel who troubled the water (John 5, 2-4). The window dates from 1901
Their counterparts on the east side of the transept are:
Christ with outstretched arms over St. Peter's, an image associating Christ with the Church of Rome known since the 17th century. The window is not documented in the TGA records. It must be a replacement for a St. Joseph window which was ordered in 1901, but does not appear to be in the church.
St. John on the Island of Patmos is listed on the TGA inventory as ordered and delivered in 1901. John, the apostle and evangelist, also called 'the Divine', is shown standing on the island of Patmos to which he was exiled late in life and where he wrote his gospels and Revelations. He wears a blood red tunic and hold a chalice from which a snake emerges. His attribute, an eagle, stands at his feet. Flowers of yellow-orange and red bloom on the right. Yellow and green thistles adorn the left. His feast day is 27 December.
The Archangel St. Michael is not signed TGA, but is listed in the records as having been delivered in 1901). St. Michael, whose feast day is 29 September, is shown slaying a dragon and a snake, both symbols for Lucifer. His shield carries the inscription: Quis uf (?) Deis (Who is like God).
The Great Transept Rose Windows
The great eastern transept window depicts Christ enthroned as King of Heaven. This window is signed, F. Mayer & Co, Munich, New York, in the lower right margin. To my knowledge, this window is not documented in the Franz Mayer archives. Angles with trumpets, a golden palm branch (symbol of martyrdom) and an open book (the word of the Lord) surround Christ enthroned. To His upper left, eagle (John) and lion (mark), and right, angel (Matthew) and ox (Luke), the symbols of the evangelists. Centered below the great roundel is the key scene from the life of the protomartyr, St. Stephen, his stoning (Acts 7: 57-60). His feast day is 26 December. To the ;left and right are four scenes from the life of St. Paul, apostle to the Gentiles whose feast day is 29 June. St. Paul was present when St. Stephen was stoned to death. In the scene it might be him, in white, looking on from the background, while others throw stones. On the right we see Saul, astride a stumbling horses, having a sudden vision in which Jesus Christ rebukes him and tell him he was destined to take the Christian faith to the Gentiles (Acts 22). Next on the right, we see St. Paul, complete with halo, proclaiming before a seated man and woman under a baldachino while three other men look on. Roman columns dominate the skyline. This could be St. Paul defending himself before King Agrippa and Bernice (Acts 25 -26). To the left, we see a night scene set outside a city gate. St. Paul, in company of a disciple, gives alms to a crippled man (crutches) while a rich one looks on. On the far left, we see St. Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, preaching the Sermon on an Unknown God to the Athenians (Acts, 17) on the Hill of Hill. The Temple of Hephaistos is the background, along with numerous men of wealth, a scholar (maybe it's Dionysius "the Areopagite" who became the city's patron saint), children and basket of fruit.
The great rose of the west presents St. Vincent de Paul, feast day 19 July, enthroned on a cloud surrounded by angels. He devoted his whole life to the service of the poor. The five scenes probably read from left to right. 1. St. Vincent de Paul is shown preaching to a gathering of wealthy lay people (noble? women ) inside a church.
2. He is preaching in a boat to convicts, while two well dressed noblemen look on. 3. The center scene, St. Vincent de Paul preaches to a group of soldiers. 4. Standing before a bed, he blesses a child and talks to a gathering of wealthy women. A wealthy man enters the room on the left. This could be the founding of the Daughters of Charity in 1633, with St. Louise de Marillac (here without a halo, though). 5. St. Vincent de Paul lies in a glass sarcophagus. The poor, ill and women with children come to the shrine.
Two Small Windows by TGA
St. Brigid of Ireland (the window is not signed, but documented in TGA records and dated 1901), also known as 'the Mary of the Gael', stands second only to St. Patrick in importance. She is said to have founded a community of women at Kildare. She is shown wearing a Benedictine habit and holds in her right a cross, crown, book, and in her left a staff (abbess), indicating that she is seen as the initiator and abbess of the first women's religious community among the Irish. She is said to be buried with St. Patrick at Downpatrick. Her feast day is 1 February.
To the right next is a signed TGA window depicting the
Martyrdom of John Gabriel Perboyre (documented and signed TGA, with a delivery date of 1901). The dedicatory inscription painted on canvas below this window gives us all the pertinent information. It reads:
Blessed John Gabriel Perboyre C.M.
Priest of the Congregation of the Mission
Born January 6th, 1802
Martyred in China September 11th, 1840
Declared Blessed by Pope Leo XIII A.D. 1889
Feast observed November 7th of each year
Blessed Gabriel Pray for us!
Across the nave, on the east side, opposite St. Bridgit stands
St. Patrick (feast day is 17 March) in full bishops garb, driving the snakes from Ireland , while the sun is rising behind him, over some buildings under construction. The window is documented in TGA records and was delivered in 1900).
To the left is the
Martyrdom of the Blessed St. Francis Regis Clet , (1749-1820). The window is documented in TGA records and was delivered in 1901. The inscription on canvas below the window reads:
Blessed Francis Regis Clet C.M.
Priest of the Congregation of the Mission
Born A. D. 1749.
Martyred in China A.D. 1820.
Declared Blessed by Pope Leo XIII A D 1900
Feast observed February 17th of each year
Blessed Clet pray for us!
The record of the TGA archive indicate that the windows were ordered by Rev. P.V. Byrne in 1900 and 1901 respectively, through Theodore Rose, TGA's sales agent in New York. The price of each window, installed ! was $150.00. There seem to have been three orders, each was filled in about three months.
Also, as already noted above, in the TGA records there is an order for a St. Joseph window, but no such window is extant. Instead, there is a Christ over St. Peter's Church in Rome composition which is not listed as an order. For a now unknown reason, a substitution must have been made. This was not uncommon.
The Windows of the Apse
The windows of the apse depict the key scenes from the Life of Jesus. This selection of images was very popular across the United States from the 1880s to the 1920s.
The windows of St. Vincent de Paul are not signed, nor, to my knowledge, are they listed or reproduced in the Franz Mayer archive, Munich. But their style, painting technique and overall craftsmanship point towards Franz Mayer & Co. as their creator.
The sequence of scenes reads from left to right, starting with the
Annunciation, (the memorial dedication reads: To the Memory of Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Anne Lynch by the Family). The Archangel Gabriel, God's chief messenger, is shown announcing to Mary that she will conceive and bear God's son. The composition is traditional. Gabriel is shown approaching Mary from the upper left behind her. He carries a stem of lilies in his left hand. Mary, kneeling next to potted lilies, wears a blue tunic, color of royalty, over white, color of purity. She turn partially around, having been interrupted in her reading of a small book which lies open on her kneeler. A ray of golden light emanates from the Dove, the Holy Spirit, above.
Next is the:
Nativity, (the memorial inscription reads: Donated by Miss Margaret A. Mc Guire) The scene follows the tradition image as suggested in the Gospel of Luke, but without the shepherd. Two angels hover overhead holding a banner, Holy, Holy, Holy. Joseph stands to the left, Mary kneels on the right while cradling the Infant Jesus in the Manger. Joseph wears a red cloak over a gold garment. Red signifies life, blood. Mary wears a red under garment with a blue cloak over it. She is Flesh made divine.
The focus of the composition is the central
Crucifixion. (The memorial inscription is obscured by the altar)
To the left of the crucifix stands Mary and an older woman with a halo. A soldier, Longinus (?), stand on the right behind the apostle John (the favorite) and a kneeling, beseeching Mary Magdalen. A darkened sky accents the white of Jesus' body. His steeply up stretched arms are reminiscent of a compositional style popular in the fifteenth, early sixteenth century Northern Renaissance.
To the right, the next scene presents the
Resurrection (The memorial inscription: reads Donated by Mrs. Bridget Horan in Memory of John and Mary Gallagher). Roman soldiers are asleep on the lower left and right as Jesus, dressed in white with a red cape and holding the cross and wimple of the Resurrection, rises from the tomb. The background is a mountain and blue sky fading toward dawn.
The last scene, on the far right is
Pentecost (The memorial dedication reads: To the Memory of Mr. Martin Mc Nulty by his wife Mrs. B. Mc Nulty). The scene was inspired by Acts 2: 2-4; "Suddenly from up in the sky came a noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all through the house where [the apostles] were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared ... All were filled with the Holy Spirit" The apostles sit, gathered tightly about Mary, licks of fire atop their heads, before their halos. Above, the Holy Spirit glows in a golden aureole against a vividly blue sky. The message of the windows is made complete.
The Altar
A brief note should also be made of the magnificent altar, of Italian marble from Carara. It is the work of an otherwise obscure sculptor, Augustine O'Callaghan and was worked in the years 1903 to 1909. The marble is from the same quarries Michelangelo used for his unsurpassed sculptures in Florence and Rome in the 16th century, but much whiter. Its high relief sculptured scenes relate to sacrifice.
The Organ Loft Rose Window
The rose window over the choir loft and flanked by the organ is the work of the Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin WI and was installed in 1956, after a fire on 15 May 1955, which destroyed the traditional window devoted to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music since the 17th century. If other windows and traditions were followed, she was shown seated at the organ with a choir of angles around her. Angels playing a variety of musical instruments, including the violin, flute, trumpet, harp, drum and triangle may have surrounded her. Since this window was comparable to the transept windows it can be assumed that it too was the work of the Franz Mayer & Co., though no records for it survive to my knowledge.
The Conrad Schmitt window is of magnificent blue glass alternating with various pale tonalities whose composition of a dozen angels, eight doves and many chevrons pointing towards a central sunburst.

Visitation Catholic Church
855 W. Garfield Blvd. at Peoria St
Architect: Martin Carr, 1899.
The Parish was organized 2 July 1886. The present rusticated limestone, neo-French Gothic inspired church, designed by Martin A. Carr, had its cornerstone placed 26 June 1898 by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan. The church was dedicated 19 November 1899.

St.Vitus
1818 S. Paulina St.
Architect: Joseph Molitor and Kallal, 1896-1897

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church
739 N. Oakley (2300 West) at Superior
Architect: Jaroslaw Korsunsky, 1973-5
Splitting from the original congregation of neighboring cathedral of St. Nicholas, in 1968, with the consent of the local Ukrainian Catholic Bishop when the cathedral changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar observes Christmas 7-9 JanuaryThe congregation observes and preserves the national ethnic heritage and Eastern Rite in the Catholic church.
Constructed of brick in the traditional style the church building itself is 121 feet long and 89 feet wide.The body of the church is in a traditional Greek Cross. A large, gold anodized-aluminum dome covers the crossing some 70 feet over the sanctuary floor. Typical of the Eastern church plan, four lesser domes fill in each crossing corner.
Above the main entrance is a large mosaic by Hordynsky, Makarenko and Baransky showing St. Volodymyr the Great baptizing the people of Kiev in the Dnipro River. The year was A. D. 988. This event and year marks the conversion of the Unkrainian people to Christianity.
The interior is fully painted in traditional Byzantine iconography. The imagery by Ivan Diky, is strictly prescribed. The sanctuary is divided from the body of the church by a hand-carved iconostasis, a separation screen with holy icons on it. The marble of the sanctuary is from Italy. The great central chandelier was made in Greece. The stained glass windows are the creation of Baransky Studios, Yonkers, N.Y. The parish is very active in community, local and national affairs.

Walls Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
200 S. Sacramento Blvd.
Originally Jackson Street Methodist Episcopal Church
Architect: W.A. Arnold, 1888

Way of Truth Baptist Church
3600 S. Vincennes Ave.
Originally Grace Presbyterian Church
Built 1871

Wayman A.M.E. Church
501-505 E. Elm St
Built 1889

Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ
615 W. Wellington Ave.
Orignally Wellington Avenue Congregational Church
Architect: Patton and Miler, 1910

West Side Community Church
1937 W. Adams St.
Built 1880-1890

Wicker Park Lutheran Church
1502 N. Hoyne Ave.
Originally Wicker Park Evangelical Lutheran Church
Architect: Christian A. Eckstrom, 1906

St. Willibard Church
11406 S. Edbrooks (parallel to Michigan Ave.)
Is said to have Dutch glass windows.
This national parish served Catholic Hollanders in the Roseland area of Chicago. The present church had been originally built as St. Louis of France Church in 1889 for French Catholics in the area. The Norbertine Fathers (a religious order that left Holland in 1893 to established its community in De Pere, WI) celebrated their first Dutch mass in St. Willibrord on 4 July 1900.

Woodlawn Union Missionary Baptist Church
6359 S. Eberhart Ave.
Originally St. Stefan's Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church
Architect: Charles F. SOrenson, 1907

Zion Lutheran Church
2255-2259 N. Lawndale Ave.
Orignally Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Architect: William C. Jones, 1914

Zion Lutheran Church
9901 S. WInston Ave.
Orignally Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Built 1937-1938