Deirdre ColganDeirdre Colgan

Executive Director, Sacred Space International

Pre-Congress Tour:

Sacred Architecture of Chicago: A walking tour of sacred spaces in the Chicago Loop

Deirdre Colgan, Executive Director of Sacred Space International, will lead walking tour of sacred spaces in the Chicago Loop as a special Pre-Congress tour. The mission of Sacred Space International is to encourage interfaith dialogue on cultural diversity by sharing sacred space. As a secular organization, they seek to draw awareness to the diversity of faith traditions by bringing sacred spaces to light for an expanding public. They create programs that reach across disciplinary, cultural, religious, and geographic boundaries in order to explore the architectural implications of sacred space in an increasingly pluralistic society.

Sacred Architecture of Chicago Tour

A walking tour of sacred spaces in the Chicago Loop

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Overview of the walking tour of sacred spaces in the Chicago Loop

First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple

Located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop, First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple is the oldest congregation in Chicago. In 1923, church leaders engaged renowned architectural firm, Holabird & Roche, to design The Chicago Temple, a 21-story office tower with an 8-story spire. At the time of its completion, it was the highest building in Chicago. It remains the tallest church in the world. The first-floor sanctuary seats 1,000 people. The tour will explore this stunning urban sanctuary as well as the soaring Sky Chapel located under the spire, 400 feet above the streets of Chicago.

Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist

Located at 55 East Wacker Drive at Wabash Avenue, The Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist has been a distinctive landmark along the Chicago River since 1968. Join us on a tour of the interior of this noted example of “humanist modernism” by celebrated Chicago architect Harry Weese. We will provide an objective view of how the Christian Scientists’ beliefs in faith healing, spiritual study, and democratic community-run leadership informed and resonates with the architecture. The tour will focus on the significance of the Church’s 764-seat circular auditorium, including its unique skylight illumination, towering organ, and its unifying emphasis on geometric form.

Downtown Islamic Center

The Downtown Islamic Center (DIC) is located in a five-story building near the intersection of Jackson and State streets. Rented retail space on the ground floor allows the Center to meld with its urban surroundings while offering visitors a calm escape from the city’s activity. While the mosque was created to address the prayer needs of its 700 congregants, the DIC serves more broadly as a community center and a space for interfaith dialogue. On one floor is the fellowship area and another floor is the sacred space of the mosque. The mirhab or center focus of the mosque always faces Mecca and so here it is located in the northeast corner of the rectangular space. This orients all the people praying here so that they are facing Mecca. The tour explores this unassuming sacred space.

St. Peter’s in the Loop – Catholic Church

Located on the north-south dividing line of downtown Chicago, St. Peter’s in the Loop on Madison Street was built in 1953 to fulfill its Franciscan friars’ mission to serve the city’s mobile and ever-evolving workforce. Today, the church continues to be an oasis in the urban landscape for the faithful and visitors alike. From the striking effect of Latvian sculptor Arvid Strauss’s three-story crucifix on the building’s façade to the deco aesthetic of the Church’s marble interior, St. Peter’s in the Loop stands as testament to the creative adaptation of traditional Catholic architecture to the innovations of modern design and the challenges of an urban environment.

What to look for while on the tour:

  • Arrangement of worship space for the congregants
  • Identification and education of the faith tradition
  • Importance of light and orientation - what is illuminated?
  • National and cultural influences
  • Place for singing or chanting
  • Place of authority for the priest / imam / rabbi
  • Places for reading and proclaiming the liturgy
  • Sanctuary - where is it and what does it mean?
  • Space for community formation

“ Encouraging interfaith dialogue on cultural understanding by sharing sacred space. ”

~ From Sacred Space International’s mission statement

Meet the RCCongress 2010 Speakers and Leaders

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