“Not all former churches that sell for residential use get demolished. A Christian Science church in Kenwood got new condos tucked inside its limestone walls.
“And work got underway in recent months on converting the historic Wayman AME Church at Elm Street and Cleveland Avenue, which long served residents of the Chicago Housing Authority development Cabrini-Green, into apartments.
“Once likely to be demolished and later proving difficult to get sold, the four-story red brick structure that opened in 1889 as the First Swedish Baptist Church and later became Wayman African Methodist Episcopal sold in 2023 for an amount that is not clear in public records.
“Ed Janusz, one of three partners in Cabrini LLC, the development entity that bought the old church, said its interior will become seven condos, each a two-story unit. The prices are not set yet, Janusz said, but the condos should be ready to put on the market in August. Wayman AME is in the image below.
“The church does not have official landmark status that would have prohibited demolition, but it’s an informal landmark given its long tenure in a changing neighborhood. Jansuz said, “The brick walls, the arched windows make it a nice project. It’s heavy-duty walls, five bricks thick, not like new churches.”
“It’s not clear from public records what Janusz’s group paid for the church building. On empty land south of it, the developer of the Parkside of Old Town mixed-income redevelopment of Cabrini-Green sites is building its fourth and final phase, another step in reducing the desolation of the blocks surrounding Wayman where CHA demolished numerous buildings.” (Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/7/25)
Preservation Chicago has been advocating for the protection, preservation and adaptive reuse ff Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church/First Swedish Baptist Church for many years. We are thrilled that this historic church building is being converted to a residential use.
The former church building is an excellent example of the Romanesque Church construction and despite some deferred maintenance is in surprisingly good and stable condition. The historic buildings from the Cabrini-Green Neighborhood have almost all been demolished, so this is one of the last standing survivors and should be protected.
Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business