St. John's-St. Luke's Evangelical Church is a congregation of the United Church of Christ

United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

 located at 2120 Russell Street in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1982.

History

St. John's - St. Luke's is the oldest German Protestant church in Detroit, founded in 1833 by Rev. Fredrich Schmidt, a missionary from Basel Switzerland. It was the base from which twelve other German Protestant churches in the city were formed.

Architecture

The church was originally constructed in 1874, and was designed by architect Julius Hess. The facade features a large tower on one side and a smaller tower on the other, flanking the entranceway. A large lancet window dominates the facade 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.