Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist
[Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist (1968) Harry Weese & Associates, architects /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Chicago architect Harry Weese has often been referred to as an "enigmatic genius." Weese was never identified with any one school or movement in architecture, he built new, restored and repurposed the old, and designed a subway system for Washington D.C. When the Christian Scientists asked him for a house of worship in downtown Chicago, the architect gave the 17th church an iconoclastic Weesian form.
[Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, 55 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
In 1956 the membership of 17th church purchased a small, triangular piece of property created by the intersecting streets of Wabash, South Water Market and Wacker Drive. Once packed with warehouses lining the Chicago River, the northern edge of the downtown business district had been transformed with the creation of Wacker Drive and the demolition of the old, brick storage buildings. With the removal of the buildings from the riverbank, this intersection became a broad, open plaza.
[Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago /image & Artwork: designslinger]
After holding on to the parcel for the next 10 years, while worshiping in rented auditoriums like Chicago's Orchestra Hall, the congregation was ready to build. Weese gave the followers of Mary Baker Eddy's scientific Christian beliefs, and the city, a building perfectly suited for its site, whose relatively small size takes on a monumental form with its curving, white stone, sculptural shape. In 2006, a developer who owned an adjacent piece of property proposed tearing down the church to make way for a large, new development. 17th Church said they weren't interested, and although the congregation only numbered around 70, had no desire to sell.
See more of Weese in Chicago at: Time & Life and Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago, and a different approach in the design of a Christian Science church: A Temple for Christ, Scientists.
Posted by designslinger at 10/13/2011 2:58 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Architects, History
Tags: Harry Weese churches Chicago Loop downtown Chicago Wacker Drive
Categories: Architecture, Architects, History
Tags: Harry Weese churches Chicago Loop downtown Chicago Wacker Drive
would love to see INSIDE photos of this building.
Maybe, someday.......
My favorite view of this handsome building is one that no longer exists: as a brilliant white backdrop for the bold silhouette of the bronze memorial group by Lorado Taft that used to stand on a traffic island on axis & directly in front of the church, an island whose rounded triangular shape just happened to rhyme perfectly with the shape of Washington's tricorn hat. Now, maybe I'm the only one who ever noticed that little detail, or maybe I was inferring a subtle design feature that was never really intended in the first place. All I know is it was one of the best-sited sculptural groups in town.
Either way, the Taft statue was relocated to a nearby sidewalk during the Wacker Drive reconstruction of a decade ago, and its dark bronze patina was restored at the same time. With the streaks of green corrrosion that used to ooze from George Washington's ghastly black eye sockets removed, at least the guy no longer looks like a zombie in knee breeches but, still, the group has lost the powerful visual impact it had in its former location--even if it was surrounded by constant traffic & you took your life in your hand trying to get close to it.
George and his pals just don't have the same impact they used to. I'd remembered them standing proudly over that intersection back when I was a kid, but when we moved back to Chicago a couple of years ago and took our first walk down the redone Wacker Drive, at first glance I thought, where's George. Then I saw the statue shunted off to the sidelines, next to some trees and a grouping of shrubbery. Nearby, but not nearly as grand.