The Christ Episcopal Church was a historic building and former church in Joliet, Illinois.

History

The Episcopal congregation in Joliet, Illinois formed in 1865 and was one of the first five congregations of the denomination in Illinois. The congregation required a larger church in the 1880s.

Frank Shaver Allen Frank Shaver Allen (1860–1930), usually known as F. S. Allen was a significant Joliet, Illinois-based American architect noted for his Richardsonian Romanesque school designs. Early life and career Frank Shaver Allen was born in 1860 in Gales ...

was commissioned to build the church in 1884-1885. Allen was living in

Streator Streator is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, LaSalle and Livingston County, Illinois, Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River (Illinois River tributary), Vermilion River approximately so ...

and had designed several buildings there, including the City Hall. Allen moved to Joliet in 1887 and later constructed many other buildings, including Joliet Township High School. Allen was only 24 when he submitted his plans for the church's construction. The building was recognized by the National Park Service with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The church closed in 2004, and the congregation left for the St. Edward Church. A group of local investors purchased the building in 2006 for use as a concert hall. A fire on October 8, 2006 destroyed most of the building, and the fate of the land remains uncertain.

Architecture

The church was and could seat seven hundred. The building also had a chapel on the west end. It was built with Joliet limestone, largely in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style with some influence from the emerging Romanesque Revival. The parsonage expressed elements of the Queen Anne style. The bell tower at the junction of the parish and church features a castellated turret. The main aisle was not vaulted, but was instead was highly peaked with red oak strips. The altar and pews were also carved from red oak. The parish hall was remodeled in 1925.

References

{{Joliet, Illinois Churches in Joliet, Illinois History of Joliet, Illinois Church fires in the United States Demolished churches in the United States Demolished buildings and structures in Illinois Churches completed in 1885 Buildings and structures demolished in 2006 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Will County, Illinois Episcopal church buildings in Illinois 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in Illinois