“The Chicago City Council has approved a rezoning for a residential development at 1459 N. Talman. Planned by Mo2 Properties, the vacant church sits at the corner of N. Talman Ave and W. Le Moyne St.
“Designed by SPACE Architects + Planners, the conversion of the church will add eight residential units within the existing shell of the building that stands 46 feet tall. At the back of the site, four parking spaces will be added along the alley with eight bike parking spaces.
“On the ground floor, the building will be split up into four one-bed apartments with three of them having private patios. A residential entry will be located along the north side of the building fronting W. Le Moyne St. On the second floor, there will be four more units that duplex up into a mezzanine level. The four units will be two-bedroom layouts with three of them having private terraces. (Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 11/23/25)
“A tiny denomination in their home country, it was a real surprise that there were once enough Danish Baptists in Chicago to build this brick church in Humboldt Park in 1892. Today, the building is a physical testament to Humboldt Park’s three waves of demographic change, with each incoming group taking over the building and adapting it to their own religious needs. And now, maybe, a fourth—the building sold in May 2025, and the developer hopes to convert it into a nine-unit apartment building.
“While there weren’t many Danish Baptists in Denmark, they thrived in the Midwest–in Chicago, they even started their own seminary in Morgan Park. The first Danish Baptists in Chicago organized in 1864 in present-day West Loop, and for the next few decades—punctuated by a handful of unions, closures, and new organizations—they followed Chicago’s Scandinavian population northwest to Humboldt Park. Humboldt Park was predominantly Danish and Norwegian when, under Rev. Carl Jensen, the First Danish Baptist Church of Chicago was constructed here in 1892. A handsome, sturdy brick church, architecturally it doesn’t look particularly Danish. As the Scandinavian community continued to migrate northwest, in 1918 the congregation sold this building, constructing a new church in Hermosa at Belden & Kildare.
“Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe moved into Humboldt Park as the Scandinavians moved out. An orthodox congregation, Tzemach Tzedek, took over this building and it joined the many synagogues scattered across the neighborhood—their name is still etched in Hebrew above the entryway. A Hasidic shul, Rabbi Abraham Perlstein led the congregation for 40 years until his death in 1961. The neighborhood’s Jewish community began to move north towards West Rogers Park and the suburbs, and Congregation Tzemach Tzedek sold the building in 1966.
“Puerto Ricans made up the next wave of Humboldt Park migration, displaced from “La Clark” in Lincoln Park by urban renewal (Carl Sandburg Village) and Puerto Rico by, well, colonialist renewal (Operation Bootstrap). That discrimination and marginalization obviously extended to media representations as well.
“For the last few decades it housed the Mt. Gilead Bible Church, led by Rev. Johnnie Wright until 2006, then Rev. Tommy Jackson until 2023. The small congregation dispersed after Jackson passed away that year, and the church closed for good in 2024. (Postcard Past / Present Photo)
Read the full story at Urbanize Chicago and Postcard Past / Present Photo