19th century chicago west side holy bethel church building begins shortly after demolition permit issued

this week sees the impending demolition of the late 1880's holy bethel or "adams street" church situated at the corner of adams and damen, near the united center on chicago's west side. with the excavator set to arrive on thursday, i have all day wednesday to remove anything and everything within the church's interior. since there were countless remuddlings and outright destructive modernization (e.g., removal of nearly all of the original stained glass windows only to be replaced with cement and glass blocks) over the last fifty years, the exterior is greatly disfigured, with only a few remaining (original) cut limestone ornament worthy of salvaging.

the long-neglected romanesque brick and wood church at 1960 w. adams was founded by the seventh evangelical church, later known as the adams street society. the building itself would commonly be referred to as the adams street church, or the evangelical church at adams and robey in the days before robey was renamed "damen." a cornerstone dates the church to 1888, and the property was apparently purchased in 1885, the church being constructed at this location after the congregation tried and failed to obtain another property (the park avenue m.e. church). containing a sub-basement and two floors, it was fitted for a permanent sunday school room with lecture, library, and class primary rooms all united by folding doors, configured to be modified into one room when conducting church services. construction costs totaled to about $160 per foot, and overall cost of $13,200. more recently the church was inhabited by a pentecostal congregation.

the interior salvage process yielded cast iron capitals from the basement, ceylon hardware, and original wooden railings. the building itself has suffered many alterations, with the most visible loss being the upper section of a turret at the corner of the building. barely any stained glass remained, and the windows had been bricked in as well.

research regarding the cast iron columns removed from the basement is ongoing.

in addition to these architectural pieces, several old photographs and pieces of ephemera were found in the attic, and though relatively limited information is available on the church's beginnings, a "time capsule" unearthed from the building's cornerstone has unveiled a glimpse of its founding moment.

due to ongoing research, information about this salvage is subject to change.

update as of 2/21/2016: a small selection of artifacts extracted from the "adams street church" have finally been documented and photographed in the studio. eastlake style hardware (fabricated by bradford lock works, etc.), along with ornamental iron (attributed to the union or dearborn ironworks and varnished oak wood stair railing represent only a few of the "original" elements used to outfit the church building's interior.

rights-managed images taken from the bldg. 51 photoarchive