500px provided description: The Chicago Temple Building is a 173-meter (568 foot) tall skyscraper church located at 77 W. Washington Street in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the congregation of the First United Methodist Church of Chicago. It was completed in 1924 and has 23 floors dedicated to religious and office use. It is by one measure the tallest church building in the world based on the distance from the church's street level entrance to the top of the church's spire or steeple. Although by stipulating that a church building's usage be entirely or almost entirely devoted to religious purposes, then, by that standard, Ulm Minster in Ulm, Germany at 530 feet in height is the tallest church in the world.

It was the tallest building in Chicago from 1924 until 1930, when it was surpassed by the Chicago Board of Trade Building. This claim included the height of the steeple to maintain the title over the 35 East Wacker Building which opened in 1927.

The building is constructed on a steel frame faced with limestone and is designed in the neo-gothic style by the firm of Holabird & Roche. During planning and construction, the building was called City Temple, however by the time of completion, the name was changed to Chicago Temple.

The building houses three sanctuaries:

Sanctuary 1 is four stories tall on the ground floor with seating available for 1,000 people. Sanctuary 2 is also known as the "Dixon Chapel" and is on the second floor. Sanctuary 3 also known as the "Sky Chapel" is the smallest sanctuary and is situated at the base of the steeple with seating for 30 people. I have been in this chapel and it is very unique with wonderful views from the patio a floor below of the surrounding downtown area.

The Sky Chapel was created in 1952 as a gift from the Walgreen family in memory of Charles Walgreen, the founder of the eponymous pharmacy chain.[2] At 400 ft (120 m) above ground level, it is considered the world's highest worship space and contains 16 stained glass windows. Four depict scenes from the Old Testament, four from the life of Jesus, four represent the history of the Christian Church in the Old World, and the final four the church in the New World.[5] The carved wood altar-front depicts Jesus looking over the city of Chicago (specifically a view from the top of the church building in 1952), mirroring the front of the sanctuary altar, which shows Jesus looking over Jerusalem. [#city ,#church ,#cityscape ,#skyscraper ,#pedestrian ,#financial district ,#city life ,#street light ,#rush hour ,#loop ,#office building ,#downtown district ,#city street ,#Chicago]