“The pending doom of demolition fencing surrounds the Ravenswood Presbyterian Church at 4300 North Hermitage Avenue in the Ravenswood neighborhood. Sources confirm that a developer plans to tear down the 110-year-old church and replace it with a half-dozen or so single-family homes.
“The two-bedroom caretaker house on the alley will also be demolished. The church has a cornerstone etched with 1914 as its building date, while the consensus of online resources says it was completed in 1915. The cornerstone also cites the church’s 1949 rebuilding. The congregation left the building and moved to Mayfair in fall 2024, according to Block Club.
“The church was designed by the Chicago architectural firm Pond & Pond. The stone-faced building was extensively remodeled in 1949 by architect Benjamin Franklin Olson, who replaced the earlier parish house and modernized the sanctuary.
“Pond & Pond, founded by Michigan brothers Irving and Allen Pond, are perhaps best known in Chicago for the Jane Addams Residents’ Dining Hall on South Halsted Street. Irving Pond was a founding member and the first president of the Cliff Dwellers Club, which was open to the public again during Open House Chicago this year.” (Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 10/23/25)
Read the full story at Chicago YIMBY
- With Two Permits Issued, The Erasure Of The Ravenswood Presbyterian Church Is Underway, Daniel Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 12/10/25
- Demolition Imminent For Former Ravenswood Presbyterian Church, Daniel Schell, Chicago YIMBY, 10/23/25
- Ravenswood Presbyterian Church Property For Sale As Parish Plans Move To Mayfair, The property is listed for $4.75 million. With membership dwindling and most congregants living farther west, church leaders said the move makes sense, Alex V. Hernandez, Block Club Chicago, 10/4/24