Blizzard ravages church in Near West

140-year-old building’s stone tower collapses

02/04/2011 5:31 PM

By Ben Meyerson
Editor

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Massive chunks of concrete tore a hole in the roof of First Baptist Congregational Church during the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011.



Debris from the ravaged roof was splayed across three flights' worth of stairs.

First Baptist Congregational Church’s hulking stone structure has towered over Ashland Avenue and Washington Boulevard since before the Chicago Fire.

This week’s blizzard, though, brought parts of massive chunks of the church’s structure tumbling down, tearing massive holes in the roof of the 140-year-old building and crashing down through several stories.

One of the church’s two towers simply couldn’t hold up during the storm’s high winds, sending stone tumbling down, the church’s pastor, the Rev. George W. Daniels said.

But after staying away from the church during the storm on Tuesday and Wednesday, no one noticed the damage until Thursday, when a custodian walking into the building saw a rock in the street on Ashland.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but we think one of the towers fell and the rocks dispersed,” Daniels said. “We’re waiting to get an estimate on the damage from the structural engineer.”

From the top of the tower to the roof, and then down three stories to where some of the rocks ended up, some fell about 100 feet. They crashed through roofs, windows, floors and staircases on their way down, wreaking havoc to the old building.

Aside from being potentially dangerous, parts of the sanctuary and its vestibule are frigid from the massive hole in the roof.

“It’s like standing outdoors,” Daniels said. “You’ve got a 100-square foot hole in the roof — it’s automatic ventilation.”

In the meantime, they’ll be downgrading their services from the 1,500-seat sanctuary to the 400-seat fellowship hall, he said. But that won’t fit their congregation comfortably in one sitting, so they’re hoping to tarp over the hole as soon as possible and move back into the ornate sanctuary.

They just have to make sure it’s not going to collapse on them first, said church spokeswoman Wanda Washington.

“Sometimes, our services get rather spirited, and if you get to doing a lot of moving and a lot of singing, you want to make sure the rest of it’s not going to fall down,” Washington said. “So as soon as we get the green light that the structure is sound, and all the debris has been cleaned away, then we’ll be back up here.”


2 Comments - Add Your Comment



By prayers from west loop
Posted: 02/07/2011 3:36 PM

Sad to see the distruction of such a beautiful church. Hope the repairs can be made to restore the structure.


By claudea from United Center
Posted: 02/07/2011 3:15 PM

It is so sad. The church (and the people who go there) is very beautiful. The historic significance is also amazing.