Chicago Temple First United Methodist Church in Chicago

• Construction start: 1922
• Construction finish: 1923
• Designed by: Holabird & Roche
• Type: Holy Place
• Stories: 29
• Maximum Height: 568 feet / 173 meters

• Seating capacity: 1,000 people

• 1834: A log cabin ws built just north of the Chicago River for this congregation.
• 1837: The cabin was moved to the corner of Clark and Washington Streets, which is also the location of the present building.
• 1845: A brick building was erected to replace the log cabin.
• 1858: A four-story building was built to replace the earlier brick structure. The church was on the upper two floors.
• 1871: The building was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire. It was immediately rebuilt.
• 1922: Construction began on this building.
• 1924: This building was dedicated.
• 1952: The sky chapel was dedicated

• At the time of its completion, this was the tallest building in Chicago.
• This building is faced with grey and white Bedford oolitic limestone from Indiana.
• The stained glass windows were created by the Giannini & Hilgart Studios.
• The main altar in the first floor sanctuary was carved by Alois Lang in Oberammergau, Germany. It shows Jesus weeping over Jerusalem as he descends from the Mount of Olives.
• The altar in the sky chapel depicts Jesus looking over the skyline of Chicago.
• The sky chapel's structural beams are in the shape of Saint Andrew's crosses.
• The organ has 92 ranks with four manuals.

• The sky chapel was a gift to the congregation from the Walgreen family of Walgreen's drug stores.

• A stained glass window on the west wall which depicts the Chicago Temple, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, the Methodist Home for Children, Northwestern University, and Wesley Hospital.

• 69 West Washington
• Miss Chicago
• 33 North Dearborn Building
• The Burnham Center
• 20 North Clark Street
• Three First National Plaza
• Commonwealth Edison Substation
• Plug Bug
• Daley Center
• Chase Tower

There is one comment.

  Tours of the sky chapel are conducted at 2PM weekdays. (It's worth seeing). The offices were constructed in hopes that the rents would support the church.

David Perry - Monday, February 9th, 2009 @ 4:58pm