A
Brief History
This
congregation has a long history in Chicago, dating back to 1880, when the
Reverend Hiram Washington Thomas brought members of his church into a new
congregation called the Peoples Church of Chicago. Rev. Thomas was
evidently too advanced for his Methodist denomination, which had tried to
oust him from his ministry. He was one of a handful of progressive
ministers in Chicago in the late 1800s who were part of an ecumenical
peace group, and helped to create the first Parliament of the World's
Religions in 1893.
This
progressive spirit, this spirit of free-thinking, has always been a part
of the history of Peoples Church, exemplified in the 20th century by the
Rev. Dr. Preston Bradley. The young Bradley was similarly invited to
resign from the Presbyterian ministry in 1912, when he preached that
unbaptized infants would surely not be condemned to hell by the God he
worshiped.
Ahead
of their time...
Bradley,
like Thomas, was certainly ahead of his time, in preaching a form of
"positive thinking" (later made popular by Norman Vincent Peale)
long before pop psychology was even conceived of, and in issues of justice
- he spoke out against the KKK, marched with Jane Addams for women's
rights, and with Martin Luther King for civil rights. Bradley also
was one of the founders of the early conservation/environmentalist group,
the Izaak Walton League.
Bradley
and the Peoples Church congregation built the structure at 941 W. Lawrence
Avenue in 1925-26, and the church has held services here continually ever
since. It was built as the "Uptown Temple" with a hall
designed for the Masons on the 4th floor, which instead has been
frequently used as a theater by many different groups over the years,
including one in which Bradley's adopted son played an important role.
Historic
Art and Architecture
Edgewater
architect J.E.O. Pridmore was selected to design the temple. Pridmore’s
notable works include the Vic, Princess, Clark, and Nortown theatres, the
recently demolished Adelphi Theatre, and the strikingly beautiful Manor
House on Bryn Mawr. The temple he created for the Peoples Church has, as
Bradley put it, “none of the architectural trappings of bygone
ecclesiastical attitudes. There is no tower, no medieval chancels and
naves.” Instead, the sanctuary was “an open room, airy, warm, inviting
fellowship and the breezes of fresh ideas.”
The
main Auditorium has perhaps the last mural painted by well-known Chicago
muralist Louis Grell, finished in 1959, of an allegorical Jesus preaching
to a crowd of contemporary rural people, with faces from around the world,
representing the welcoming spirit of the church.
Mason
Hall boasts a set of murals painted at the time the building was built, in
neo-classical style, of scenes from an unnamed Middle Eastern site - a
popular theme, in the 1920s.
Landmark
Status - applied for
In
the fall of 2013, Peoples
Church sent the staff of the Landmarks Commission a request for our
building to be considered for Chicago landmark status, and followed up
with the nomination form in January. Commission staff made a site
visit here, January 22nd, and we were then invited to present our
nomination to a subset of the Commission on February 5th. After some
time, we received a letter from the staff advising us that they were not
going to recommend our building for Landmark status to the full
Commission. That letter
is attached.
How
You Can Help
Nonetheless,
this building has both architectural and historic significance, and we are
asking our friends to send us letters of support. If you do, please
give personal reasons why you support the Peoples Church - why it is
important to you that its heritage and integrity in Uptown be
preserved. You're welcome to use any information on this website, of
course!
Send
letters of support to:
Peoples
Church of Chicago
attn:
Landmark Support
941
W. Lawrence Avenue
Chicago,
IL 60640
Thanks!
Pastor
Jean
The Peoples Church of Chicago
