Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist
Chicago, United States
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
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Built in 1968 in Chicago's Loop district, the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist exemplifies the brutalist vocabulary that architect Harry Weese brought to the city's skyline. Located at 55 East Wacker Drive, the circular concrete structure by Sumner Sollitt Construction Company abandons conventional fenestration for a remarkable interior: a windowless amphitheater lit instead by a skylight opening through an oculus in its conical roof, with additional illumination entering an adjacent sunken garden that serves the subterranean Sunday School. The semicircular auditorium accommodates 764 worshippers in an ingenious design ensuring no seat exceeds 54 feet from the Readers' Platform, the traditional focal point of Christian Science worship. An advanced hidden sound system with 350 microphones enables congregants to offer Wednesday testimonies without leaving their seats. The building includes a subterranean parking garage and features a 2001 acrylic painting by Chicago artist Anne Farley Gaines in its lower lobby. The church received the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects' 25 Year Award in 1996 and was recognized as an Illinois Great Place by AIA Illinois during the state's bicentennial celebration in 2018.
Architect
Movement
- Type
- temple
- Place
- Chicago, United States
This building on
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