“The six-story addition has long been topped out, and now looks nearly polished from the outside. All windows are installed and brickwork is done, with open terraces on the corner units still in need of finishing touches.
“Ogden partners is redeveloping the church, which was designed by architect Solon Beman and completed in the early 1900s. Booth Hansen drew up the plans for the construction. The church’s congregation will have 4,700 square feet of space in which to meet once construction is completed.” (Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 8/19/26)
Preservation Chicago had long advocated to save the Second Church of Christ, Scientist and it was a 2019 Chicago 7 Most Endangered. Second Church of Christ was designed by Solon S. Beman in 1901 and was eligible for a Chicago Landmark designation.
While we are happy that the facade is being preserved and incorporated into the new construction, the building’s beautiful interior and magnificent dome presented a unique opportunity. We made significant progress towards a community-oriented, preservation alternative that would have saved and reused the interior and dome.
In 2020, Preservation Chicago was able to secure the interest of a major philanthropic foundation to purchase and restore the magnificent church building and convert it into a community cultural arts center. Additionally, the congregation would have continued to have access for religious services. The congregation flatly rejected the offer, preferring to monetize the value of the land.
Ward Miller, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago, spoke at the public meeting in November 2017 to encourage preservation and landmarking of the historic building and a cultural use for the historic gem. As reported by Peter von Buol in the Skyline:
“‘We do not need another residential high-rise at this site. It will adversely affect the quality of life, sunlight, air and throw shadows on adjacent buildings. What we do need collectively, is a great and amazing resource and cultural center, for an already dense neighborhood. This is a once-in-a-life-time chance. Let’s not blow it, with another embarrassing loss and demolition of one of Chicago’s great architectural treasures.’
“‘The church mentioned they would consider a donation of the building to a good steward, so let that steward be all of us collectively and let’s all advocate for a collective reuse that benefits all Chicagoans, looking to the near future,’ said Miller, who added that Preservation Chicago will work with the congregation and the community to help make the community-center vision a reality.
“Built in 1901, the classical façade of the building recalls one of Beman’s most celebrated designs, the ‘Merchant and Tailors’ Building’ of Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. ‘The World’s Fair building had received numerous awards for its designs. Beman worked with members of the Christian Science Movement and its leaders, including Mary Baker Eddy, the faith’s founder and leader, to design “a most perfect church prototype” for subsequent Christian Science buildings. Beman included few, if any, traditional religious symbols and symbolism, in designing a beautiful light-filled sanctuary and with an auditorium and assembly-space as a sanctuary,’ added Miller.
“‘The sanctuary of the church, with its art glass and gilded dome, its magnificent column-free space, with wide arches and honey-colored art windows; its rare Austin organ, could be an unparalleled space for concerts, cultural events, music, lectures, presentations affiliated with the local museums and institutions, including The Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Lincoln Park Zoo and The Peggy Notebaert Nature Center. This would all be located a mere half-block from Lincoln Park, and would be an amazing resource for the Lincoln Park community, and for all of Chicago,’ suggested Miller.
“‘The Chicago Cultural Center was constructed as the Chicago Public Central Library in 1897. It was rethought as the Chicago Cultural Center in 1977 and has been one of the best reuse projects in the city’s history. It’s still a remarkable center and proof of a visionary series of decisions that were made in the 1970s, by elected officials, city leaders, and philanthropic organizations. Let’s continue to have that visionary outlook and reuse the church building for everything both cultural and imaginative. Let’s ask the church, city, elected officials to work together with our Chicago philanthropy community to make this vision a reality,’ Miller said.” (Von Buol, Skyline, 11/22/17)
Nine years after that meeting, the outcome is a partial one. Beman’s Beaux Arts facades on Pine Grove, Wrightwood, and the west elevation are standing and restored, and they will continue to hold the corner as they have since 1901. The congregation retains a home in the building. Those are real preservation outcomes, and they are better than the demolition that appeared likely when the building was named to our Chicago 7 list in 2019.
What was lost was the interior — the gilded dome, the art glass, the column-free sanctuary, the honey-colored windows, and the rare Austin organ. Beman designed this building with Mary Baker Eddy as the prototype for Christian Science churches, and its interior was the reason. That interior could have become a cultural center for Lincoln Park and for the city, fully funded, with the congregation still worshipping in the building. That offer was on the table and it was declined.
Preservation Chicago will continue to advocate for outcomes that save more than the outer walls. A facade preserved in front of new construction is worth having, and we would rather have it than not. But it is a compromise, and the record should be clear about what a full preservation outcome would have looked like here.
Read the full story at Chicago YIMBY
- Exterior Completion Draws Closer At Second Church Of Christ Scientist Redevelopment; New residences rise behind the old facade of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist in Lincoln Park, Daniel Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 8/19/26
- Steel Endoskeleton Begins To Form At Second Church Of Christ, Scientist Renovation In Lincoln Park, Daniel Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 8/2024
- Residential addition to historic Lincoln Park church is underway; The 1901 church will see three of its exterior facades preserved as redevelopment pairs a new space for the congregation with residential units, Abby Miller, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/31/24
- Second Church Of Christ Scientist’s Conversion To Apartments Gets Key Approval Despite Neighbor Opposition, Block Club Chicago, 12/2/20
- Plan Commission virtually approves destruction of historic church building, Peter von Buol, Inside-Booster, 6/8/22
- Lincoln Park congregation mulls fate of historic Pine Grove Building, Peter von Buol, Skyline, 11/22/17
- Second Church of Christ, Scientist; a Preservation Chicago 2019 Chicago 7 Most Endangered
- PARTIAL WIN: Facade of Second Church of Christ Scientist Incorporated Into New Construction, But Dome and Interior Lost (Chicago 7 2019); Preservation Chicago, 9/2024
- THREATENED: 2nd Christian Science Church Declines Purchase Offer from Major Chicago Foundation to Fully Restore and Convert to Lincoln Park Community Cultural Arts Center; Preservation Chicago
- Preservation Chicago Advocating for Lincoln Park Cultural Center at Second Church of Christ, Scientist; Preservation Chicago