First Congregational Church, Des Plaines

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

First Congregational Church, Des Plaines is a church building at 766 Graceland Ave. in Des Plaines, Cook County, built in 1929 in the Arts & Crafts style and designed by Pond & Pond, Martin and Lloyd.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion C, with criteria consideration A, and has local-level significance in architecture and art. The nomination gives its period of significance as 1929 to 1947, spanning the building's 1929 construction to Edgar Miller's 1947 remodeling with stained glass.

Physical character

The building has a steel and concrete frame, brick walls on a limestone base, and limestone banding, buttresses and foliate carvings. Its roof is green terra cotta and imitation slate, with Tudor arches framing windows of leaded colored glass, including a stained glass Life of Christ window that Miller installed in 1947 with a frieze, reredos and dossal.

Historical context

First Congregational Church was established in 1869; the present building went up in 1929, as the city underwent numerous 1920s subdivisions and, in 1924, annexed the Village of Riverview and adopted city government. In 1956 architect Charles Edward Stade added a twenty-foot addition to the music room, part of alterations made from 1947 to 1958 to meet the congregation's changing needs.