Chicago gains a Louis Sullivan-designed Church?
(photo by Lee Bey)
A few months after the 2006 loss of the Adler & Sullivan-designed Pilgrim Baptist Church, Willow Creek Chicago, an offshoot of the massive Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, began holding services in the Auditorium Theater at Congress and Michigan. I visited Sunday and it's something every fan of architecture--let alone Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler--should experience.
The theater looks great, first of all. Sullivan's stunning, organic interior and graceful sightlines coupled with Adler's engineering and accoustics create an ideal space for worship and contemplation. I sat in a box seat--kind of felt like one of those two old men on the Muppet Show--where I could listen and gawk unabated.
I found the message as powerful as the architecture. More so, even.
