Check out Chicago Temple exterior stained glass
Where: First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple, West exterior, 77 W. Washington St., 312.236.4548
First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple has some beautiful stained glass on the exterior of their building. There are also magnificent interior stained glass windows. Those will be covered in another post. The best time to see it is at night. I’ve looked at it before during the day and it’s beautiful but at night it’s lit up and really spectacular. They aren’t actual windows. They are stained glass that is artificially lit. I was catching the bus at Dearborn and noticed them lit up one night.
There isn’t any information about these windows on their website and I sent an email but they never responded so here’s what I know. The windows are all located on the west side of the building. Starting at the right (north) the windows, with descriptive plaques, tell the story of the church from it’s initial founding (June 16, 1831) through the current (fourth) church built 1922. I used my phone light to read the plaques.
I don’t know when the windows were created or by whom but they are fantastic. Head over in the evening and take a look.
Check out Chicago Temple exterior stained glass
First church 1831
Third church burning down in the Chicago Fire 1871
Fourth church dedicated 1922
History
First United Methodist Church is the oldest church in Chicago. It was founded by Methodist circuit riders in 1831, six years before the City of Chicago was incorporated.
For more than 175-years, the congregation has gathered for worship in five buildings. Its first services were held in the homes of its members. But in 1834 the growing congregation built a log cabin north of the Chicago River.
Four years later, Chicago’s first Methodists floated the cabin across the river and rolled it on logs to its present site at the corner of Washington and Clark Streets. A conventional brick church with a 148-foot spire replaced the log cabin in 1845.
That building served the church until 1858 when the congregation dedicated a four-story, multi-use structure that stood until the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Days after the fire the congregation voted to stay and dedicated another building that served the congregation until 1924 when the present skyscraper was dedicated. During the two years of construction, the original name “City Temple” was changed to “The Chicago Temple.” It was then the tallest building in Chicago.
Architecture
When planning the current building church leaders followed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham’s dictum “Make no little plans.
They engaged the renowned architectural firm of Holabird & Roche and gave them instructions to design a building that would be “Gothic in structure, with a churchly tower, a radiant cross at its pinnacle.”Now the congregation stills gathers for worship in the first-floor sanctuary that seats about 500 people. The focal point is the altar with its wood carving that depicts Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem.
Free tour First United Methodist Church
