Epworth Church

“LATER HISTORY OF EPWORTH CHURCH After the completion of the community house addition, Epworth appears to have sustained a robust congregation for much of the 20th century. In 1935, the Methodist denomination merged the Sheridan Road Methodist Episcopal Church of Uptown into Epworth, substantially increasing its congregation.”

“During the 1960s the congregation at Epworth began to decline. The surrounding neighborhood demographic also began to change with the arrival of immigrants from Cuba and Puerto Rico.”

“Epworth is a manifestation of a community working toward a common goal: the land on which the church building sits was granted to the congregation by John L. Cochran, the developer of Edgewater, the design of the building was donated by architect and congregation member Frederick P. Townsend, and funds for the construction were raised from the community.”

“G. K. Flack. In September of that year the Chicago Tribune reported that architect Frederick B. Townsend, who was also a member of the congregation, was preparing designs for the church pro bono.”

“The double-leaf entrance door is recessed within a cast-stone Gothic-style archivolt. Like the 1930 narthex of the church, gargoyles and a tablet above the doors identify the building as the “community house." The window bays are divided by projecting piers that extend the first two floors.”

“There, Thielbar served as a superintendent of construction and later as a partner. His most significant work while with Holabird & Roche was the Chicago Temple Building, located at Clark and Washington Streets and constructed in 1923 for the First Methodist Episcopal Church.”

“The circa 1920 photo and the current image at the facing page show that Epworth Church possesses remarkable integrity to convey its aesthetic and architectural value. The 1930 community house addition to the building is sympathetic to the church and a change to the building that has, with the passage of time, achieved its own historic significance.”

“The building is located in Edgewater on Chicago's North Side, a neighborhood that initially developed as a suburb outside the city limits of Chicago. Edgewater's suburban growth was led by developer John Lewis Cochran who donated land for the fledgling Epworth Methodist Episcopal congregation to build the church.”

“This method of construction requires a high degree of design and craftsmanship in traditional masonry. As the population of Edgewater and the congregation at Epworth grew in the early decades of the 20th century, the congregation added an addition to the church known as the community house.”

“The land on which the church stands was donated by Cochran to the fledgling congregation, and when the Church was completed, the nearest house was two blocks away.”