The First Congregational Church building, of

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, is a former church building listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It was built in 1925. Also known as the Old Congregational Church and more recently as the Willcox Building, it includes Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals and

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references to Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

architecture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Having ceased to be used as a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, the building was sold in 1956. It then served as a memorial

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

from 1956 to 1979. and After being sold again in 1979, to Associated Management, Inc., it was put to use for other activities. It was renamed the Willcox Building, after the architect who designed it, Walter R. B. Willcox (1869–1947). From 1980, the building was occupied by a theater known as the Bijou Art Cinema. The Bijou permanently closed in 2021.Bijou-cinemas.com According to its NRHP nomination, it "is significant for its architectural excellence. It is the best of the remaining local structures designed by Walter R. B. Willcox, a Northwest architect and educator of considerable renown, and considered to be his only ecclesiastic building in Oregon."

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Oregon 1925 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Eugene, Oregon Churches completed in 1925 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Congregational churches in Oregon Mediterranean Revival architecture in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Eugene, Oregon