St. John's–St. Luke's Evangelical Church is a congregation of the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

located at 2120 Russell Street in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982.

History

St. John's is the oldest German Protestant church in Detroit, founded in 1833 by Rev. Friedrich Schmid, who had been sent to America by the Evangelical Mission Society of Basel, Switzerland. The first worship service took place August 18, 1833 in the carpenter shop of John Hais. Pastor Schmid served the congregation until July 1836. German was the language used exclusively in the worship service until 1938. St. John's was the base from which twelve other German Protestant churches in the city were formed.Saint John's-Saint Luke's Evangelical Church
from the state of Michigan. St. Luke Evangelical church was organized in 1891. St. John's and St. Luke's merged in 1969.

Architecture

The church was originally constructed in 1874, and was designed by architect Julius Hess. The façade features a large tower on one side and a smaller tower on the other, flanking the entranceway. A large lancet window dominates the façade and a gabled vestibule fronts the gabled entrance. The exterior has been extensively altered from its original appearance. The structure of the church is brick, but in 1915 the exterior was completely covered in Formstone, a cast concrete made to resemble limestone. The interior of the church is High Victorian Gothic in design, painted white and gold with elaborate Gothic woodwork. The lighting system is historically significant, and the church features a Votteler organ.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's Saint Luke's Evangelical Church Churches in Detroit German-American culture in Detroit Lutheran churches in Michigan United Church of Christ churches in Michigan Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Churches completed in 1872 19th-century Lutheran churches in the United States Romanesque Revival church buildings in Michigan Gothic Revival church buildings in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit