“The city-funded $1.2 million restoration of the crumbling bell tower of Pullman’s historic 144-year-old Greenstone United Methodist Church is set to begin after a five-year delay.

“A team from Berglund Construction began surrounding the landmark church’s 92-foot tower with scaffolding and swing stages this month. The equipment will allow workers to get close enough to document, remove and restore the building’s distinctive, but weathered, green serpentine stone cladding. The project is the first substantial exterior repair the building has seen since its 1882 construction.

“I’m just so thrilled to have it kicking off,” said Greenstone’s pastor, the Rev. Luther Mason. “It’s been a long time.”

“Oddly enough, the bell tower doesn’t actually have a bell. ‘We think there was one in there at one time,’ Mason said. ‘I was told a long time ago that there was somebody who supposedly had the original bell or had a bell that they were willing to donate. But it would be lovely to get a bell in there.’

“The church, at 11211 S. St. Lawrence Ave., in Pullman National Historical Park, was awarded a $1 million grant to restore the tower in 2021, through the Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s Adopt-a-Landmark program.

“Pullman Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) tabled the City Council’s approval of the funds over Beale’s concerns about the congregation’s financial viability. The cash was finally released last year — with a $200,000 bump-up.

“The work will involve the painstaking removal of all of the tower’s weathered stone, down to the structure’s brick substrate, said architect Nicole Declet, senior associate at the engineering firm Wiss Janney Elstner.

“Under an agreement with the city, 25% of the original serpentine will be returned to the tower. The rest will be replaced with cast stone that will be designed to resemble the original cladding, Declet said. The brick substrate beneath the stone will also be repaired.

“Greenstone is the work of Solon Beman, the architect railroad car manufacturer George Pullman hired to design the entirety of what was then a factory town outside Chicago’s southern border on the west banks of Lake Calumet.

“‘I think this will be a good sign for the community,’ said Ed Torrez, president of Arda, a restoration architecture firm that is working with Greenstone. ‘Pullman’s just had so much going on — of positive progress, with the [creation of the] national park and the state is going to be doing the hotel. And now we have this.’ (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/26/26)

Read the full story at Chizcago Sun-Times

• Work starts on the $1.2 million restoration of landmark Pullman church’s troubled but iconic bell tower; The project is the first substantial exterior repair the Greenstone United Methodist Church has seen since its 1882 construction, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/26/26
• Pullman’s Landmark Greenstone Church Awaits City Funding To Repair Bell Tower; The Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved a $1.2 million grant for restoration of the bell tower. The vast majority of the 143-year-old church needs repairs, church leaders said, Hunter Oberst, Block Club Chicago, 5/20/25
• Pullman Neighbors Rally To Help Landmark Greenstone Church As Utility Bills Pile Up; The Historic Pullman Foundation has launched a GoFundMe to raise money to help the 143-year-old church pay its utility bills and make needed repairs, Hunter Oberst, Block Club Chicago, 3/25/25
• Pullman community steps on the gas to reopen historic Greenstone Church, Janice Neumann, Daily Southtown, 4/14/25
• St. Thomas More Catholic church closing on SW Side; money raised for Greenstone Church in Pullman, Sarah Schulte, ABC 7 Chicago, 4/18/25
• Community effort to help historic Greenstone Church in Pullman, Michelle Gallardo, ABC7 Chicago, 4/13/25
• Landmark Pullman church sits after $1 million city repair grant was sent to aldermanic purgatory; Ald. Anthony Beale and Ald. Ray Lopez tabled approval to fix Greenstone Church’s aged bell tower. It’s time to release the funds, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/2/24
• Greenstone Church (Greenstone United Methodist Church) Pullman National Historical Park