First Baptist Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ and Baptist congregation currently located at 60 N. Ashland Blvd. in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The church building is an Illinois Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was designed by architect Gurdon P. Randall for the Union Park Congregational Church, founded in 1860, and was built between 1869 and 1871. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Mayor's Office, City Council, and General Relief Committee of Chicago were temporarily headquartered in the church. In 1910, the building of nearby First Congregational Church (founded in 1851) burnt down. Union Park Congregational then merged with First Congregational to form (New) First Congregational Church. Two other congregations would eventually merge into the new First Congregational Church: Leavitt Street Congregational Church (founded in 1868) in 1917 and Bethany Congregational Church in the 1920s.
On August 6, 1944, the Mozart Baptist Church was founded at 114 N. Mozart Street in Chicago. In 1951, the growing congregation moved to a building at 2900 W. Adams Street. In 1970, the majority-black Mozart Baptist merged with First Congregational to form First Congregational Baptist Church. The merged congregation continued to meet in the First Congregational building.
The Lemont limestone building, which has a slate roof, is nearly square in plan except for shallow transepts barely a few feet deep at the north and south sides. The interior was designed by Randall in amphitheater style, with a nod to the sermon-centered Congregational service. Randall is often credited with originating this seating design, which has been widely imitated over the years.[1] Immediately adjacent to the south is the smaller Carpenter Chapel, a long rectangular space with a simpler plastered and wood-trimmed interior; its exterior is also of Lemont limestone and is built in a similar style.[2] The Carpenter Chapel's spire, the church's thin south spire, and the steeple together form a line of increasing height from left to right, visually joining the two structures. Part of the main church building's roof and interior were severely damaged in the February 2, 2011 blizzard.[3]
The church is highlighted in many books on church architecture, among them, "Chicago Churches: A Photographic Essay" by Elizabeth Johnson (Uppercase Books Inc, 1999) as well as "Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage" by George A. Lane, SJ and Algimantas Kezys, SJ (Loyola Press, 1982). The building is an Illinois Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on January 21, 1982.[4]
^Lane, George A. and Kezys, Algimantas, "Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage," Loyola Press, Chicago: 1982, pp. 30-31.
^"First Baptist Congregational Church - Physical Description". 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
^Rhodes, Dawn. "Blizzard damage to historic church put at $1M". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2012-10-26. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
^"First Baptist Congregational Church". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
and 24 Related for: First Baptist Congregational Church information
FirstBaptistCongregationalChurch is a United Church of Christ and Baptist congregation currently located at 60 N. Ashland Blvd. in Chicago, Illinois...
The FirstBaptist Meetinghouse, also known as the FirstBaptistChurch in America is the oldest Baptistchurch congregation in the United States. The Church...
as the American Baptist Convention. It traces its history to the FirstBaptistChurch in America (1638) and the Baptistcongregational associations which...
congregationalism include Quakerism, the Baptistchurches, the Congregational Methodist Church, and Congregationalchurches known by the Congregationalist name...
Abington CongregationalChurch, oldest church building, built in 1751 (Congregational/United Church of Christ) FirstChurch of Windsor, oldest church congregation...
following the dissolution of the Congregational Christian Churches. It is a member of the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship and the National Association...
Union Park CongregationalChurch and Carpenter Chapel (also known as FirstBaptistCongregationalChurch) is a historic church building at 60 N. Ashland...
North CongregationalChurch was built in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1872-73, and was one of the early works by noted American architect Henry Hobson...
Congregationalist churches or Congregationalchurches) is a Protestant, Reformed (Calvinist) tradition in which churches practice congregational government....
The Congregational Christian Churches was a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most...
Bellevue BaptistChurch is a Baptist megachurch in the Cordova area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention...
may vary due to the congregational governance system that gives autonomy to individual local Baptistchurches. Historically, Baptists have played a key...
Evangelical Methodist ChurchFirstCongregational Methodist Church Free Methodist Church Global Methodist Church United Methodist Church Aladura Apostles of...
polity is the government of a church. There are local (congregational) forms of organization as well as denominational. A church's polity may describe its ministerial...
autonomous, independent churches with commonly held essential beliefs that pool some resources for missions. In 1845, the Southern Baptists separated from the...
Wooddale Church is a Baptist multi-site evangelical Christian church located in Eden Prairie, Edina and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is affiliated...
media related to Ruggles BaptistChurch. The Second Church in Boston (also known as the Ruggles BaptistChurch) is a historic church building at 874 Beacon...
Christian Church: The Design for the Christian Church (1968) The Cambridge Platform (1648) Savoy Declaration (1658) The Declaration of the Congregational Union...
Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa Reformed BaptistChurches in Namibia United CongregationalChurch of Southern...
Winslow CongregationalChurch was a historic church building located at 61 Winthrop Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The church was built in 1897 and...
Ebenezer BaptistChurch is a Baptist megachurch located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with the Progressive National Baptist Convention...
census published in 2023, the CBF claimed 1,800 churches and 750,000 members. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has its origins in a meeting in Atlanta...
India: Church of North India, the 1970 union of Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, Congregational, and the Church of the...
confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran traditions, and with approximately 4,600 churches and 712,000 members...
Global Information