{"nrhp_refnum":"74000754","name":"Second Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1936 S. Michigan Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.85577010000003,"lon":-87.62426224899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-12-27","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2013-02-27","areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A church and attached parish house at 1936 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, built 1872-74 from plans by architect James Renwick and remodelled inside in 1900-01 by Howard Van Doren Shaw.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church served one of Chicago's most prestigious congregations and holds some of the city's finest stained glass, including windows by Tiffany Studios and two Burne-Jones designs executed by William Morris. Renwick's exterior is described as correct Puginian Gothic, and Shaw's interior as a very early and important English Arts & Crafts example. Murals and stencils are by Frederic Clay Bartlett.","narrative":"Second Presbyterian Church and its parish house stand at 1936 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The congregation formed in 1842, lost its second building in the Great Fire of 1871, and bought this site that year. The present church, designed by New York architect James Renwick, was finished in 1874. Its masonry exterior is faced with local mottled limestone and reflects correct Gothic design. After a fire gutted the nave in 1900, Howard Van Doren Shaw rebuilt the interior in 1901 in a stylized English Gothic Revival with Arts & Crafts touches. The nave is surrounded by balconies and filled with art glass, including windows by Tiffany Studios, McCully & Miles, and two small windows from Burne-Jones designs made by William Morris. Frederic Clay Bartlett painted the murals and stencils. The building is regarded as the oldest Presbyterian church building in Chicago and as one of the city's most significant church interiors.","period_of_significance":"1872-74, 1900-01","architect_builder":"James Renwick (Renwick & Sands); Howard Van Doren Shaw (interior remodelling)","architectural_style":"Puginian Gothic exterior; English Gothic Revival / Arts & Crafts interior","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered, occupied and in active religious use; the congregation was repairing the buildings and growing at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.551774-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/8921/28892198/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/74000754.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000754/bb7688eaa5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000754/bb7688eaa5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Presbyterian_Church_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Presbyterian_Church_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892198","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Presbyterian_Church_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3477011"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/second-presbyterian-church-74000754/"}