First Presbyterian Church
- Architects
- Thomas Tallmadge Vernon Spencer Watson
- Year
- 1927
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
First Presbyterian Church traces back to a schooner that landed near the mouth of the Chicago River on May 12, 1833, carrying missionary Jeremiah Porter and the nucleus of the city's first Presbyterian congregation — making it the oldest continuously operating institution in Chicago, founded roughly two months before Chicago itself became a town. The congregation's current home, a Gothic Revival cathedral at 6400 South Kimbark Avenue in Hyde Park, was built in 1927 by architects Thomas Tallmadge and Vernon Spencer Watson.
the building
A congregation of firsts. Early members included Chicago's first pharmacist, its first public school teacher, and the founders of the city's first regional abolitionist society. The church's buildings also hosted the region's first public school and, generations later, its first Head Start programs.
the style
The 1927 building is cast as a Gothic Revival cathedral, giving one of Chicago's oldest congregations a fittingly monumental home in Hyde Park.
More on Gothic Revivalthe architect
Thomas Tallmadge was a noted Chicago architect and architectural historian; he designed the 1927 church building with partner Vernon Spencer Watson.
significance
The congregation is considered the oldest continuously operating institution in Chicago, founded about two months before Chicago's own founding as a town in 1833.
nearby
- St. Gelasius Church Building
- Strand Hotel
- Stony Island Trust and Savings Bank Building
- Lorado Taft's Midway Studios
- Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
- Frank R. Lillie House