Tag Archives: Open House Chicago
We are the change that we seek: Chicago’s New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church
From around 1910 through the 1970’s, Chicago was a destination for many African Americans from the rural South who moved here seeking better opportunities in an urban environment. This movement, known as The Great Migration, resulted in a cultural and demographic shifting of communities. New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, located in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, consciously […]
Our Lady of Peace, South Shore’s street art, and Minister Farrakhan doesn’t like us
Our Lady of Peace, a Roman Catholic church in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, is a neo-Renaissance class act. Completed in 1933 during the depression, the church was initially meant to be Gothic in style—the turn towards Renaissance was a money saving measure. The finished church doesn’t seem like a compromise to me, however, because wait until […]
Corpus Christi Catholic Church: grand architecture, Bavarian stained glass and a chance to say WOW! like true Americans
We set out from home on a rainy Saturday morning with our dorky matching backpacks and a thermos of bean soup bound for Bronzeville. Our first stop on Chicago Architecture Foundation’s’ Open House Chicago itinerary was Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Normally HOB and I tried to hold back on the gape-mouthed WOW! exclamations when travelling in […]
First Church of Deliverance in Chicago: an electrifying encounter in lime green
We walked around the corner onto S. Wabash, clutching a map from Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago, and OH HECK YESSSSSSSSS, there was this delightful architectural surprise: a Streamline Moderne church! With it’s twin towers of terra cotta and glass block, the First Church of Deliverance nods to traditional church structure, but don’t be deceived–there’s nothing traditional […]
Cutural tourism at home–great practice, no jet lag
One of the best ways to be a great traveler is to practice–like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. Yeah, I know, you don’t have a trust fund or infinite amounts of vacation time, so you can’t just fly over to Europe whenever you feel like it. But you can […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 