Office of the City Clerk - Record #: O2011-5495

Record #:

O2011-5495

Type:

Ordinance

Status:

Passed

Intro date:

7/6/2011

Current Controlling Legislative Body:

Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards

Final action:

7/28/2011

Title:

Historical landmark designation for Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church at 4501 S Vincennes Ave

Sponsors:

Misc. Transmittal

Topic:

HISTORICAL LANDMARKS - Designation

Attachments:

1. O2011-5495.pdf

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result	Action Details	Meeting Details	Captions
7/28/2011	5514	City Council	Passed	Pass	Action details	Meeting details	Not available
7/26/2011		Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards	Recommended to Pass	Pass	Action details	Meeting details	Not available
7/6/2011	2044	City Council	Referred		Action details	Meeting details	Not available

Department of Housing and Economic Development

July 1,2011

The Honorable Susana Mendoza City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60602

RE: Recommendation for Chicago Landmark Designation of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

Dear Clerk Mendoza:

We are filing with your office for introduction at the July 6, 2011, City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks that the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church be designated as a Chicago Landmark.

The material being submitted to you for this proposal includes the:

1. Recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks; and

2. Proposed Ordinance.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Eleanor Esser Gorski, AIA Assistant Commissioner Historic Preservation Division

ends.

cc: Alderman Pat Dowell, 3^ld Ward (w/out end., via email)

CITY OF CHICAGO

Sincerely,

121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602

ORDINANCE

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-630 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, located at 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, as more precisely described in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein (the "Building"), meets five criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Sections 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (7) of the Municipal Code; and

WHEREAS, with its purchase in 1921 by a Christian African American congregation, the Building reflects the expansion of the African American community in the same South Side neighborhoods during the early 20^th century as part of the so-called "Great Migration," when approximately a half million African Americans left the South and journeyed to cities in the North and West seeking employment and greater individual freedom; and

WHEREAS, the Building commemorates the progressive shifts in religious expression, including the introduction of gospel music at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. James Howard Lorenzo Smith, which exemplify a broader transformation occurring in the African American religious community during the migration era; and

WHEREAS, as part of that transformation, the African American religious community embraced vibrant music and spiritual vigor as a way for migrants to sustain their Southern identities in the urban North; and

WHEREAS, in 1931, the first modern gospel choir was organized at the Building. The choir's ground-breaking first performance in 1932 has been called "the most stunning departure from traditional music in urban black churches of the time." Drawing from the spirit of traditional Southern black church music, the introduction of this new type of sacred song infused with "bluesy" rhythms resulted in the emergence of the uniquely-American 20^th-century musical style known as "gospel"; and

WHEREAS, the Building is associated with many of gospel music's greatest musicians, composers, and choral directors, including Thomas A. Dorsey, Professor Theodore R. Frye, Roberta Martin, Professor John E. Rogers, Jr., and Willa Saunders Jones. Numerous other pioneering gospel singers and musicians frequently performed at the Building including Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, Dinah Washington, and the rock and blues innovator Bo Diddley; and

WHEREAS, the Building commemorates the influence of Thomas Andrew Dorsey ("Dorsey"), the "Father of Gospel Music," who is credited with creating the genre of gospel music. Through his talent as a singer, writer, composer, pianist, publisher and choral director, Dorsey influenced nearly every aspect of the establishment of the modern gospel music tradition. Composing more than 500 songs throughout his seventy-five year career, Dorsey

became so closely associated with the genre that gospel songs written in this "new" style were often referred to as "Dorseys"; and

WHEREAS, during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Rev. Dr. Frank K. Sims and the congregation of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church participated in many religious and civic activities on a local, national and international level; and

WHEREAS, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church hosted several prominent civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Jesse Owens, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Andrew Young; and

WHEREAS, the Building was designed by nationally-significant architect and engineer Dankmar Adler ("Adler"), a leading figure in the Chicago School of Architecture; and

WHEREAS, the Chicago School of Architecture was an influential and important movement which strived to create a strong relationship between a building's form and function and an original architecture for America that was not bound by precedent; and

WHEREAS, the Building is the last and one of the most significant structures to be designed by Adler; and

WHEREAS, Adler was known as an expert in acoustically-designed long-span auditorium spaces; and

WHEREAS, the Building's interior exhibits the following characteristic features of Adler's renowned auditorium designs meant to enhance sightlines and acoustics: raked floor and curved seating arrangement, absence of columns or other obstructions, and barrel-vaulted ceiling articulated with recessed coffers and projecting beams to control the reflection of sound from the ceiling; and

WHEREAS, the Building is one of only three-surviving auditoriums designed by Adler, along with the Auditorium Building (a designated Chicago Landmark) and the reconstruction of the Scottish Rite Cathedral (in the Washington Square Landmark District); and

WHEREAS, the Building exhibits distinguished and high-quality interior design and an exceptionally high degree of craftsmanship in its stained glass windows, decorative plaster, fret-sawn organ screen, brass light fixtures, and other features; and

WHEREAS, originally built as Isaiah Temple, the Building is the only example of a group of four synagogues designed by Adler that survives intact. As a successful architect and the son of an influential rabbi, Adler was a prominent member of Chicago's progressive Reform Jewish community. Jewish congregations turned to Adler to design their synagogues. Those synagogues represent some of the most significant examples of his work. In addition to the Building, he designed the following three synagogues in Chicago: Sinai Temple (designed with Burling in 1876, demolished circa 1912), Zion Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1885, demolished 1954), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv or K. A. M. Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1890-1891, later known as Pilgrim Baptist Church, and designated as a Chicago Landmark; destroyed by fire in 2006, exterior walls still standing); and

overall massing, form and use of symmetry and proportion, is an excellent and distinguished example of the Classical Revival style of architecture applied to a religious building; and

WHEREAS, the Building, which was the first synagogue in Chicago to include a purpose-built Sabbath School and also includes classrooms, a library and other auxiliary rooms in the rear annex portion of the Building, reflects Adler's skill as a planner of multifunctional interiors; and

WHEREAS, Adler hired and formed a partnership with Louis Sullivan. That partnership lasted fifteen years and produced many of the 19^th century's most important and influential buildings, including such designated Chicago Landmarks as the Jewelers' Building (1881), the Kaufmann Store and Flats (1883,1887), the Auditorium Building (1890), the James Charnley House (1891); the Mathilde Eliel House (1886), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (1891). Outside Chicago, Adler & Sullivan designed such significant and major buildings as the Wainwright Building (1892) in St. Louis, Missouri and the Guaranty Building (1896) in Buffalo, New York; and

WHEREAS, with its planar wall surfaces and simplified ornamentation, the Building's design exhibits the straightforward and refined character of Adler's architectural designs, particularly those produced before and after his association with Louis Sullivan; and

WHEREAS, several details of the Building display Louis Sullivan's aesthetic influence on Adler's later career, particularly the tracery pattern in the window arches, the beaded molding found beneath the gallery and at the ceiling coffers, and the distinctive swirling organic ornamentation at the gallery fascia; and

WHEREAS, the Building with its refined Classical Revival-styling, prominent roofline, large stained-glass windows, carved limestone portico, and overall scale, massing, symmetry and proportion, stands out as a distinctive and prominent visual feature within the context of homes and flat buildings in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood; and

WHEREAS, Adler made important contributions to the field of engineering, particularly in his pioneering designs for the foundations of tall buildings in Chicago's unstable soil, including the floating raft foundation of the Auditorium Building, the timber pile foundation of the Schiller Building, and the caisson foundation for the Stock Exchange Building. Adler also embraced new modern technologies including the skeletal steel frame, large plate glass windows, and electric lighting and mechanical systems, essential to the high-rise commercial and multi-use buildings he designed throughout his career; and

WHEREAS, the Building retains more than sufficient physical integrity to express its "historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value" as required by § 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, through its site, context, and overall design quality. The Building retains the great majority of its historic materials, design, and detailing to convey its architectural and historic values; and

WHEREAS, Section 2-120-660 of the Municipal Code requires owner consent for the landmark designation of a building that is owned by a religious organization and is used primarily as a place for the conduct of religious ceremonies; and

WHEREAS, the owner of the Building, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, has consented to the landmark designation of the Building; and

WHEREAS, on June 2, 2011, the Commission adopted a resolution recommending to the City Council of the City of Chicago that the Building be designated a Chicago Landmark; now, therefore,

Be It Ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago:

SECTION 1. The above recitals are expressly incorporated in and made a part of this ordinance as though fully set forth herein.

SECTION 2. The Building is hereby designated a Chicago Landmark in accordance with Section 2-120-700 of the Municipal Code.

SECTION 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the Building are: (a) all exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building (including the attached two-story annex, originally built as the Isaiah Temple Sabbath School); and (b) the following major historic interior spaces of the Building ("Interior Spaces") in their entirety (as indicated in Exhibit B and Exhibit C): the first-floor entrance lobby, including its attached stairway vestibules leading from the first floor to the gallery level; and the sanctuary interior including the auditorium, "horseshoe" gallery, choir loft, and apse. The Interior Spaces include, but are not limited to: the overall historic spatial volume; historic decorative wall, floor, and ceiling materials, finishes and ornamentation; historic light fixtures; and other historic decorative features. The adjacent Dr. Frank K. Sims Education Center building constructed in 1965 to the south of the Building is explicitly excluded from this landmark designation.

SECTION 4. The Commission is hereby directed to create a suitable plaque appropriately identifying said landmark and to affix the plaque on or near the property designated as a Chicago Landmark in accordance with the provisions of Section 2-120-700 of the Municipal Code.

SECTION 5. The Commission is directed to comply with the provisions of Section 2-120-720 of the Municipal Code, regarding notification of said designation.

SECTION 6. If any provision of this ordinance shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision shall not affect any of the other provisions of this ordinance.

SECTION 7. All ordinances, resolutions, motions or orders in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.

SECTION 8. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.

Exhibit A

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Property Description

Legal Description

Lots 1,2,3, and the North Twelve Feet of Lot 4 in Block 2 in John Wilson's Subdivision of the North 4 Acres of Lot 1 of Cleaver & Taylor's Subdivision of the North ¹/₂ of the South ¹/₂ of the East Vfe of the Southwest Va and the North ¹/₂ of the South ¹/₂ of the West ¹/₂ of the Southeast % of Section 3, Township 38 North, Range 14, East of the Third Principal Meridian, in Cook County, Illinois.

P.I.N.:

20-03-416-001

Address Commonly known as:

4501 S. Vincennes Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

Exhibit B

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (originally Isaiah Temple) First Floor Plan

Significant Historical and Architectural Interior Features

Exhibit C

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church

(originally Isaiah Temple)

Gallery Level Plan N(^)

Significant Historical and Architectural Interior Features

CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS

June 2, 2011

RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE

EBENEZER MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH (ORIGINALLY ISAIAH TEMPLE)

4501 S. VINCENNES AVENUE

Docket No. 2011-05

To the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago:

Pursuant to § 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (Originally Isaiah Temple) (the "Building"), located at 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue, is worthy of Chicago Landmark designation. On the basis of careful consideration of the history and architecture of the Building, the Commission has found that it meets the following criteria set forth in § 2-120-620 of the Municipal Code:

1. Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.

3. Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the development of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.

4. Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.

5. Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States.

7. Its unique location or distinctive physical appearance or presence representing an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the City of Chicago.

I. BACKGROUND

The formal landmark designation process for the Building began on February 3, 2011, when the Commission received a "preliminary summary of information" at the Commission's regular meeting of February 3^rd from the Department of Housing and Economic Development ("HED") summarizing the historical and architectural background of the Building. At said meeting, the Commission voted to approve a "preliminary landmark recommendation" for the Building, based on

its finding that it appeared to meet five of the seven criteria for designation, as well as the integrity criterion, listed in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (the "Landmarks Ordinance''').

The Commission's Landmark Designation Report for the Building, initially adopted by the Commission on February 3, 2011, and revised as of this date, which contains specific information about the Building's architectural and historical significance, is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit A (the "Designation Report").

At its regular meeting of April 7, 2011, the Commission received a report from Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner of the HED, stating that the proposed landmark designation of the Building supports the City's overall planning goals and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans. This report is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit B (the "HED Report").

On April 18, 2011, the Commission officially requested consent to the proposed landmark designation from the owner of the Building. On May 16, 2011, the Commission received a consent form, dated May 12, 2011, and signed by Deacon Thomas L. Wilson, on behalf of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, the owner of the Building, consenting to the proposed landmark designation of the Building.

II. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS

WHEREAS, the Building exemplifies the important role that ethnic groups and religious institutions played in the history and development of Chicago's neighborhoods in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Originally constructed as the Isaiah Temple synagogue, the Building conveys important aspects of the history of the Jewish community in Chicago, particularly the movement in the 1890s of the German Jewish community from the Near West Side to lakefront neighborhoods on the South Side such as Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Kenwood and Hyde Park. With its purchase in 1921 by a Christian African American congregation, the Building reflects the later expansion of the African American community in the same South Side neighborhoods during the early 20^th century as part of the so-called "Great Migration," when approximately a half million African Americans left the South and journeyed to cities in the North and West seeking employment and greater individual freedom; and

WHEREAS, the Building is the last and one of the most significant structures to be designed by nationally-significant architect and engineer Dankmar Adler, a leading figure in the Chicago School of Architecture. Adler was known in particular as an expert in acoustically-designed auditorium spaces, and the Building is one of only three-surviving auditoriums designed by Adler, along with the Auditorium Building (a designated Chicago Landmark) and the reconstruction of the Scottish Rite Cathedral (in the Washington Square Landmark District) following the Great Fire; and

WHEREAS, the Building is the venue where, in 1931, the first modern gospel choir was organized. The choir's ground-breaking first performance in 1932 has been called "the most stunning departure from traditional music in urban black churches of the time." Drawing from the

spirit of traditional Southern black church music, the introduction of this new type of sacred song infused with "bluesy" rhythms resulted in the emergence of the uniquely-American 20^lh-century musical style known as Gospel; and

WHEREAS, the Building is associated with many of gospel music's greatest musicians, composers, and choral directors, including Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music," who is credited with creating the genre of gospel music, Professor Theodore R. Frye, Roberta Martin, Professor John E. Rogers, Jr., and Willa Saunders Jones. Numerous other pioneering gospel singers and musicians frequently performed at the Building including Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, Dinah Washington, and the rock and blues innovator Bo Diddley; and

WHEREAS, the Building is representative of the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Frank K. Sims and the congregation of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, including participating in many religious and civic activities on a local, national and international level and hosting dignitaries at the Building including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Jesse Owens, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Andrew Young, and other prominent civil rights leaders; and

WHEREAS, the Building commemorates the influence of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the creation and promotion of modern gospel music. Through his talent as a singer, writer, composer, pianist, publisher and choral director, Dorsey influenced nearly every aspect of the establishment of the modern gospel music tradition. Composing more than 500 songs throughout his seventy-five year career, Thomas Dorsey became so closely associated with the genre that gospel songs written in this "new" style were often referred to as "Dorseys"; and

WHEREAS, the architect of the Building, Dankmar Adler, is renowned as a designer of long-span interiors with outstanding acoustics, and only three of these spaces survive in Chicago: the Building, the Auditorium Building (a designated Chicago Landmark); and the reconstructed interior of the Scottish Rite Cathedral (in the Chicago Landmark Washington Square District), following the Great Fire; and

WHEREAS, the Building's interior exhibits the characteristic features of Dankmar Adler's renowned auditorium designs meant to enhance sightlines and acoustics: the raked floor and the curved seating arrangement, the absence of columns or other obstructions, and the barrel-vaulted ceiling articulated with recessed coffers and projecting beams to control the reflection of sound from the ceiling; and

WHEREAS, the Building, with such features as its Ionic columns, entablature, and balustrade at the entrance portico, prominent pedimented gables at the center of the facades, arched window openings with quoined voussoirs, the vaulted and coffered auditorium ceiling, and overall massing, form and use of symmetry and proportion, is an excellent and distinguished example of the Classical Revival style of architecture applied to a religious building; and

WHEREAS, originally built as Isaiah Temple, the Building is the only example of a group of four synagogues designed by Dankmar Adler that survives intact. Adler was a prominent figure in Chicago's Jewish community, and his synagogues were known for their clear acoustics, open floor plans, and progressive architectural treatments; and

WHEREAS, with its planar wall surfaces and simplified ornamentation, the design of the Building exhibits the straightforward and refined character of Dankmar Adler's architectural designs, particularly those produced before and after his association with Louis Sullivan; and

WHEREAS, several details of the Building display Louis Sullivan's aesthetic influence on Dankmar Adler's later career, particularly the tracery pattern in the window arches, the beaded

molding found beneath the gallery and at the ceiling coffers, and the distinctive swirling organic ornamentation at the gallery fascia; and

WHEREAS, the Building was the first synagogue in Chicago to include a purpose-built Sabbath School, and the classrooms, library and other auxiliary rooms in the rear annex portion of the building reflect Adler's skill as a planner of multifunctional interiors; and

WHEREAS, the Building was the last work of Dankmar Adler, an influential architect and engineer at both the local and national level who was a leader in the Chicago School of Architecture, an influential and important movement which strived to create a strong relationship between a building's form and function and an original architecture for America that was not bound by precedent; and

WHEREAS, Dankmar Adler hired and formed a partnership with Louis Sullivan, an architectural practice that lasted fifteen years and produced many of the 19^th century's most important and influential buildings, including such designated Chicago Landmarks as the Jewelers' Building (1881), the Kaufmann Store and Flats (1883, 1887), the Auditorium Building (1890), the James Chamley House (1891); the Mathilde Eliel House (1886), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (1891). Outside Chicago, Adler & Sullivan designed such significant and major buildings as the Wainwright Building (1892) in St. Louis and the Guaranty Building (1896) in Buffalo; and

WHEREAS, Dankmar Adler made important contributions to the field of engineering, particularly in his pioneering designs for the foundations of tall buildings in Chicago's unstable soil, including the floating raft foundation of the Auditorium Building, the timber pile foundation of the Schiller Building, and the caisson foundation for the Stock Exchange Building. Adler also embraced new modern technologies including the skeletal steel frame, large plate glass windows, and electric lighting and mechanical systems, essential to the high-rise commercial and multi-use buildings he designed throughout his career; and

WHEREAS, following his successful design of the Central Music Hall in 1879, Dankmar Adler became known as an expert designer of theaters and synagogues with large clear span interiors, fine acoustics and superb sightline planning; and the Building is only one of only three of Adler's acoustic designs which survive in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, as a successful architect and the son of an influential rabbi, Dankmar Adler was a prominent member of Chicago's progressive Reform Jewish community, as were many of his clients. Jewish congregations turned to Adler to design their synagogues, and they included some of the most significant examples of his work; in addition to Isaiah Temple (the Building), he designed three synagogues in Chicago, including Sinai Temple (designed with Burling in 1876, demolished circa 1912), Zion Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1885, demolished 1954), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv or K. A. M. Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1890-1891, later known as Pilgrim Baptist Church, designated as a Chicago Landmark; destroyed by fire in 2006, exterior walls still standing); and

WHEREAS, the Building with its refined Classical Revival-styling, prominent roofline, large stained-glass windows, carved limestone portico, and overall scale, massing, symmetry and proportion, stands out as a distinctive and prominent visual feature within its context of homes and flat buildings in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood

WHEREAS, the Building meets at least five criteria for landmark designation as set forth in § 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (7) of the Municipal Code; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to § 2-120-660 of the Municipal Code, requiring owner consent for the landmark designation of a building that is owned by a religious organization and is used primarily as a place for the conduct of religious ceremonies, the owner of the building, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, has consented to the landmark designation of the Building; and now, therefore

THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:

1. Incorporates the preamble and Sections I and II into its finding; and

2. Adopts the Designation Report, as revised, and dated as of this 2^nd day of June 2011; and

3. Finds, based on the Designation Report, HED Report, and the entire record before the Commission, that the Building meets five out of seven of the criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (7) of the Municipal Code; and

4. Finds that the Building satisfies the historic integrity requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code; and

5. Finds that the consent form, dated May 12, 2011, and signed by Deacon Thomas L. Wilson, on behalf of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, the owner of the Building, satisfies the requirement set forth in Section 2-120-660 of the Municipal Code; and

6. Finds that the significant historical and architectural features of the Building are identified as

all exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building (including the attached two-story annex, originally built as the Isaiah Temple Sabbath School); and

the following major historic interior spaces ("Interior Spaces") of the Building in their entirety (as indicated in Exhibits C and D): the first-floor entrance lobby, including its attached stairway vestibules leading from the first floor to the gallery level; and the sanctuary interior including the auditorium, "horseshoe" gallery, choir loft, and apse. The Interior Spaces include, but are not limited to, the overall historic spatial volume; historic decorative wall, floor, and ceiling materials, finishes and ornamentation; historic light fixtures; and other historic decorative features.

The adjacent Dr. Frank K. Sims Education Center building constructed in 1965 to the south of the Building is explicitly excluded from this landmark recommendation.

This recommendation was adopted U/ULf) I p^fll k

follows:

Rafael M. Leon, Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks

EXHIBIT A

enezer Missionary Baptist Church

(Originally Isaiah Temple) 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, June 2, 2011

. V^! :, CITY OF CHICAGO '■'⁷;~ : _ri^-!' Rahm Emanuel, Mayor

Department of Housing and Economic Development Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner

Bureau of Planning and Zoning Historic Preservation Division

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law.

The landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminary summary of information related to the potential designation criteria. The next step is a preliminary vote by the. landmarks commission as to whether the proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the formal designation process, but it places the review of city permits for the property under the jurisdiction of the Commission until a final landmark recommendation is acted on by the City Council.

This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church

(Originally Isaiah Temple) 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

Built: 1898-1899 Architect: Dankmar Adler

Period of Significance: 1898 - c.l930s

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was originally constructed in 1899 as a synagogue for the Isaiah Temple congregation. The building, in a refined variation of the Classical Revivial style, has a 1,200-seat auditorium and two-story attached classroom annex and was designed by pioneering architect Dankmar Adler. With a commanding presence on the southeast corner of 45^th Street and Vincennes Avenue in the Grand Boulevard community, the building is long-admired for its distinctive form and fine acoustics and exhibits many characteristics associated with the work of Dankmar Adler who is best known for such works as the Auditorium Building and the Garrick Theater, both designed in partnership with Louis Sullivan. The building's prominent entrance portico, with Ionic columns, entablature, and balustrade, leads to a dramatic auditorium with a vaulted and coffered ceiling and a "horseshoe" gallery. This soaring clear-span space reflects Adler's preeminent expertise as an engineer and acoustician.

The importance of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, however, is equally due to its historical associations that illustrate the dynamic cultural and social development of the city's Douglas, Grand Boulevard, and Washington Park communities, an area that today is often collectively referred to as "Bronzeville." The construction of the Isaiah Temple synagogue, for what was at the time the third largest congregation of Reform Judaism in

-Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (originally Isaiah Temple) 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

Thp 1865 0', Ffsnk K, Sim* Eduratton Csntsr (unshadad) scrth at the 1899 bulWiig la specifically not idswffled as part of the significant historical or awnsssctuial fBMurea.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is located at 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood within the larger Grand Boulevard community area.

Chicago, was indicative of the settlement of the large German Jewish community in the lakefront neighborhoods on the South Side such as Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Kenwood and Hyde Park in the 1890s. The purchase of the building by the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in 1921 similarly reflects the expansion of the African American community in these same South Side neighborhoods during the 1910s as part of the so-called "Great Migration," when approximately a half-million African Americans left the South and journeyed to cities in the North and West seeking employment and greater individual freedom. Continued large-scale migrations during the 1920s and 1930s led to unprecedented political and social changes within Chicago's African American community. During this time, transition and innovation within the mainline churches of the black religious community in Chicago resulted in the emergence of the 20^th-century American musical form known as Gospel.

In 1931 the first modern gospel choir is credited with having been assembled at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, and with it came the introduction of a new type of sacred song infused with "bluesy" rhythms. Under the direction of musical pioneers Professor Theodore R. Frye, Roberta Martin, and Thomas Andrew Dorsey, himself known as the "Father of Gospel Music," Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church's groundbreaking gospel choir filled the church with this new style of American music. The introduction and enthusiastic reception of gospel music at Ebenezer played a pivotal role in transforming African American worship services and establishing the careers of such legendary singers as Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, Ruth Jones and Dinah Washington.

Building Design and Construction

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (formerly Isaiah Temple) is a handsome Classical Revival-style house of worship with a prominent pedimented roofline and a dramatic clear-span auditorium. The building also includes an attached two-story annex, built at the same time as the synagogue and originally used as a Sabbath school, containing classroom, library, office and dining facilities. Both parts of the building have rough-coursed Joliet limestone foundations and wood-framed roof, ceiling and floors. The exterior walls are load-bearing masonry faced with tan face brick. Characteristic of Dankmar Adler's work from this period, the exterior walls have a very planar quality with limited use of limestone trim. The complex also includes the Dr. Frank K. Sims Education Center from 1965. Located to the south of the church building, with a small hyphenated attachment, the education building is explicitly excluded from the designation.

The Church Building

The church building is a 42-foot-tall structure with a square footprint measuring approximately 93 feet on each side. Facing west onto Vincennes Avenue, the primary facade features a central bay topped with a prominent gable flanked on either side by a pair of two-story pavilions with arched windows and balustradcd parapets. Entry to the

NEW ISAIAH TEMPLE TO B£ DEDICATED ON NEXT FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

A rendering (top right) was published in an announcement of the building's construction in the Spring of 1898.

The front elevation (middle right) is dominated by a pedimented gable over a Classical Revival-style entrance portico in carved limestone. The flanking lower pavilions contain original stained glass windows. The large arched opening has been infilled with brick, though the original stained glass window remains behind.

Like the front, the side elevation (lower left) has a pedimented roofline. The three large arched openings contain stained-glass windows which light the auditorium with a sunburst mullion pattern.

The attached annex building (lower right) was originally designed to house a Sabbath School for Isaiah Temple and continues to provide space for Ebenezer Baptist Church's programs.

(upper left) with its distinctive mullion pattern that recalls similar motifs found in Adler's earlier works with Sullivan. The entrance portico (upper right) features Ionic columns and an entablature and projects slightly from the front facade. A detail of the portico balustrade (middle left) shows both the original signage for Isaiah Temple and that of Ebenezer Baptist Missionary Church. A detail from Adler's original drawings (bottom) shows the mullion pattern of the currently-obscured window at the front facade, with notes indicating a marble and glass mosaic in the center panel.

building is through a Classical Revival-style portico with four Ionic columns topped with an entablature and balustrade, all in carved limestone. This portico frames three arched entrances, each containing a pair of doors topped with half-round stained-glass transom windows. The words "Isaiah Temple" are carved in a limestone panel above the portico. Above the central portico is a large arch with quoined limestone voussoirs. This arch was infilled with brick at some point in the more recent past, however, the original stained-glass window remains behind the brick and is visible from the organ loft.

The north elevation of the church building facing 45^th Street contains three tall stained-glass windows topped with quoined arches. Like the front, this elevation rests on a limestone plinth and is topped with a prominent gable. The corresponding south elevation has the same fenestration pattern as the north. However, it is clad in common brick, as it was historically obscured by a neighboring building. Similarly, the east elevation of the church building is mostly obscured by the attached classroom annex, though the upper portion of this elevation reveals a projecting semicircular clerestory bay above the apse with five sash windows with clear glazing.

Though it was converted from a synagogue to a church early in its history, the original drawings of the building show that the auditorium interior has changed little from its original design. The auditorium's main floor and "horseshoe" gallery combine to seat 1,200. The focal point of the interior is a raised dais framed by a half-domed apse. Later changes to the auditorium include the removal of the Torah ark at the center of the apse and the addition of a painting in the dome of the apse with a Christian religious theme. The apse is decorated with a painted image of Christ and the Apostles, which, while not original to the building, appears to date from early in Ebenezer's ownership of the building. A separate lobby with attached vestibules is located between the auditorium and the entrance portico.

The auditorium ceiling consists of a large elliptical vault with a cross-barrel vault, set perpendicularly to each other. The large vault spans north to south across the seating area and has large corbelled brackets where the ceiling and walls meet. The smaller vault spans east to west between the organ and choir loft and the apsidal dome above the sanctuary. With wood-framed structural members with minimal steel-rod reinforcements, these soaring clear-span vaults reflect Adler's pioneering expertise as an engineer.

The auditorium interior exhibits three particular characteristics of such Adler-designed spaces: first, the seating is raked, in an incline that rises upward, with the rows curved in an arc around the raised dais. Second, the interior is free of columns or other obstructions between the seating and the raised dais (the small steel columns carrying the gallery are located behind the last row of seating). Third, the barrel-vaulted ceiling is articulated with recessed coffers and projecting beams to control the volume and diffuse the reflection of sound within the space. All of these aspects were intended to maximize the audible and visual connection between the auditorium and the raised dais.

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The photograph of the auditorium at top left shows a raised dais within the half-round apse, with rows of seating curving around it. At middle left is a view of the long ceiling vault with its projecting and recessed surfaces designed to control sound. At top right is a view toward the back of the auditorium showing the choir loft and organ screen at the gallery level.

Original details in the annex include a wood and tile mantelpiece (bottom left) and a leather-covered passage door (bottom right) with studded nails forming a Star of David symbol.

The first-floor plan of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (above) is dominated by the large auditorium with seating curved around the raised dais in the half-round apse. The entrance lobby and vestibules are to the right of the auditorium; the first floor of the annex is to the left, with rooms labeled as library, parlor, classroom, and assembly room. The second floor plan (below) shows the "horseshoe-shaped" gallery above the auditorium; the second floor of the annex consisted of classrooms with "Wilson Shutter" partitions that allowed these spaces to be divided or joined together as needed. These original drawings were published by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989.

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Original details in the auditorium include the spindled and fret-sawn ^_rX J screen for the organ loft at the rear of the gallery (top left); large brackets (middle left) covered in ornamental plaster, that include structural sup-i ports for the ceiling vault; 1 a chandelier composed of I a brass sphere entwined 9 with bare bulbs (middle J right); and the cast-plaster 1 decoration (bottom left) at I the gallery fascia with its I Sullivanesque whorls and tendrils.

The stained-glass windows at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church are made of colored and opalescent glass with a rippled surface set in lead came. The design of the large windows in the auditorium employs naturalistic ornament, including green acanthus leaves and white flowers and other botanical forms set on a rich yellow background with a Greek-key border. The only reference to religious iconography in the windows is the Star of David, repeated in a band of blue and purple glass in the half-round arches of the six auditorium windows.

The wood-mullioned tracery of the windows, particularly the half-round transom portion of the auditorium windows, as well as the large bricked-up window and the entrance-door transoms, features a lively geometric sunburst pattern with a border of overlapping circles. This decorative motif is found at Adler & Sullivan's earlier Auditorium Building, and it clearly shows Sullivan's aesthetic influence on Dankmar Adler's later career. Other decorative motifs on the interior which show Sullivan's influence are the bead molding found beneath the gallery and at the ceiling coffers, as well as the distinctive swirling, high relief organic ornamentation at the gallery fascia.

Illumination in the auditorium is provided by seven distinctive spherical chandeliers surrounded with bare incandescent bulbs, with additional exposed bulb lighting at the gallery fascia and columns. Other noteworthy features of the auditorium include the fret-sawn ornament of the organ screen and the historic millwork and light fixtures of the choir loft railing.

The Annex Building

The two-story annex to the east of the church building measures approximately 33 by 93 feet and is accessible by passage doors from the main floor of the auditorium and the gallery level. It was built at the same time as the synagogue and was designed to serve as a Sabbath school for the original Isaiah Temple, and it continues to provide educational, office, and meeting space for Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church. Architectural ornamentation, confined to the front of the building facing Vincennes Avenue and part of the return on the east elevation facing the alley, continues the vocabulary of the church building using the same face brick and limestone plinth. The entrance is located up a flight of stairs at the center of the front facade and is flanked on either side by a pair of arched windows with square-headed windows on the second floor. The parapet is relieved with a series of recessed square panels, a signature feature of Adler's later work also visible in his commercial loft building designed for Charles Yondorf (1898) at 404-406 S. Wells Street and in his one-story addition for the M. L. Barrett Company building (1896) at 233 W. Lake Street in the Chicago Landmark Lake-Franklin Group. The less-visible portions of the annex facing both the alley and the 1965 education building are clad with unadorned common brick. The interior of the annex retains much of its original plan, finishes and fixtures, including mantel pieces, interior doors decorated with the Star of David, and movable partitions which allow flexible classroom spaces.

The Classical Revival Style of Architecture

Dankmar Adler chose a refined variation of the Classical Revival style of architecture for the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (formerly Isaiah Temple). It was a departure from the exotic Moorish and Middle Eastern styles of architecture that were popular for synagogue architecture at the time and reflects the Isaiah congregation's embrace of Reform Judaism, a progressive movement which sought to update and adapt the religion to American society.

Inspired by the buildings of ancient Greece and Rome, buildings constructed in this style utilize Classical forms and details derived from a variety of sources, including the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as such later, Classically-influenced eras as the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods. Classically-inspired architecture was revived again during the 19^th and early-20^th centuries in America, particularly after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago for which architects adapted Classical forms and ornament to create a dignified, refined and seemingly timeless ensemble of buildings.

The Classical Revival style, in all of its forms and variations, is an important architectural style for Chicago's houses of worship. Beginning in the 1890s and extending into the 1930s and beyond, synagogue and church buildings in Chicago often were designed with Classically-inspired forms and/or details. In addition to Isaiah Temple, other examples of Jewish synagogues influenced by the Classical Revival style include Sinai Temple (1912, now Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church) at 4600 S. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. Drive and the former K.A.M. Synagogue (1924, now Operation PUSH Headquarters) at 4945 S. Drexel Boulevard. Christian denominations also chose the Classical Revival style, especially the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, which built in styles reflecting the Classicism of the Renaissance and Baroque periods of the 15^th through 17^th centuries illustrated by such buildings as St. Gelasius Church from 1927 at 6401-09 S. Woodlawn Avenue (a designated at Chicago Landmark); St. Mary of the Angels Church from 1920 at 1844 N. Hermitage Avenue; St. Hyacinth Church from 1921 at 3635 W. George Street; St. Adalbert Church from 1914 at 1656 W. 17^th Street; and SS. Cyril and Methodius Church from 1913 at 5001 S. Hermitage Avenue. Similarly, the Classical Revival dominated the church architecture of the Christian Science denomination, particularly due to the influence of architect S. S. Beman, who designed many of the denomination's earliest buildings, including the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist from 1905 at 6657-59 S. Harvard Avenue (now Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, a designated Chicago Landmark).

Features typical of the Classical Revival style evident at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church include the overall square plan and massing of the church building, which allowed for an arced seating arrangement in the auditorium and maximized the acoustic and visual qualities of the space. The design of the two street-facing elevations are also typical of the Classical Revival style, with their symmetrical arrangement of a central pediment flanked on either side by low pavilions. Classical details on the exterior

The Classical Revival style of architecture, in all its variations, is perhaps second only to the Gothic Revival in popularity for religious buildings in Chicago. In addition to Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, other examples of the style include: Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church (top left, originally Sinai Temple, 1910-12, Alfred S. Alschuler architect); Anshe Emet Synagogue (top right, 1910-11, Alfred S. Alschuler architect); Canaan Baptist Church of Christ (middle right, originally the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, 1905, S. S. Beman architect, and a designated Chicago Land-mark); Operation PUSH Headquarters ^ (bottom left, originally K. A. M. Synagogue, 1923, Newhouse & Bernham architects); and ' St. Gelasius Church, Roman Catholic (bottom right, 1923-28, Henry J. Schlacks archi- \[ J tect, and a designated Chicago Landmark).

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include the entrance portico with its Ionic columns, entablature, and balustrade; the prominent pedimented gables at the center of the facades; the arched window openings with their quoined voussoirs; and the vaulted and coffered ceiling of the auditorium; as well as the overall massing, form and use of symmetry and proportion of the design. While the design is a more austere and simplified version of the style, lacking the profusion of Classical ornament typical of the other buildings from the period, it reflects Adler's work throughout his career and the broader intentions at the time of the Chicago School and many progressive Chicago architects, who eschewed applied ornament in their work.

Dankmar Adler (1844-1900)

Isaiah Temple (now known as Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church) is significant as the last building designed by Dankmar Adler, an architect, engineer and acoustician of local and national significance. It is also one of only three-surviving buildings with auditorium-type spaces designed by Adler, along with the Auditorium Building (designed with Sullivan and completed in 1890) and the Scottish Rite Cathedral (the interior was rebuilt in 1873 by Adler in partnership with Edward Burling after it was destroyed by the Great Fire).

Adler was born in 1844 in Stadtlengsfeld, Germany, and at the age often immigrated with his family to Detroit where his father, Liebman Adler, took a position as a rabbi. After finishing public high school in Detroit, Dankmar Adler began architectural training as an apprentice with Detroit architects, first with John Schaefer and later with E. Willard Smith.

In 1861 Liebman Adler moved his family again, this time to Chicago where he became an influential and longstanding rabbi at Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv (K.A.M.) Temple. Young Dankmar continued his architectural apprenticeship working as a draftsman with Chicago architect Augustus Bauer until his eighteenth birthday, when he joined the First Regiment of the Illinois Light Artillery of the Union Army.

Adler served for nearly the entire duration of the Civil War, seeing action in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. In his unpublished autobiography, he claimed that his military service provided the foundation of his education as an architect and engineer. Much of his knowledge was self-taught from books he had 'liberated' from the libraries of battle-damaged housesdescribed by Adler as "the unrighteous spoil of various Southern homes." During the latter part of his service he was detailed with the Topographical Engineer's Office of the Military Division of the Tennessee, where he gained experience in engineering.

The year 1865 brought the end of the war and Adler's return to Chicago. Over the next six years he worked for a series of Chicago architects including Bauer and Ozia S. Kinney, and later in partnership with Kinney's son. Ten months before the Great Fire of

Isaiah Temple (now known as Ebenezer Baptist Church) is significant as the last building designed by Dankmar Adler (1844-1900, right), an architect and engineer of local and national significance. Adler was also an expert at designing large auditorium-type interiors with excellent acoustics and sightlines, and Ebenezer is one of only three-surviving such Adler interiors, the others being the Auditorium Building (middle left) and the Scottish Rite Cathedral (Burling & Adler rebuilt the interior in 1873 after it was destroyed by the Great Fire).

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over fifteen years, Adler & |j "^cf:^rV Sullivan produced many of the S -"*' 19th-century's most important ' _r-'"^C.'.'-' buildings, including such designated Chicago Landmarks as the (Little) Jewelers' [ ' f , " . ,- -Building (middle right) and the [ Auditorium Building (middle left). Adler & Sullivan designed : such significant buildings as I < '~~'_'~L~'* "~ the Wainwright Building (bot- , torn right) in St. Louis and the ,*_; V>;^f. '*' > ■ Guaranty Building (bottom left) '■■ ' ¹ ^L ¹in Buffalo.

In 1883 Adler formed a partnership with Louis Sullivan, and their architectural practice

1871 he formed a partnership with Edward Burling which thrived during the post-Fire reconstruction of the city, such that Adler wrote that the firm "counted [its] work by the miles of frontage." Surviving Burling & Adler designs include the White, Cole, and Rowney buildings from 1872-73 in the Lake-Franklin Group, a designated Chicago Landmark District.

With Burling, Adler also designed the Sinai Temple (1876, demolished circa 1912) at 21^stStreet and Indiana Avenue, which was the first of a series of synagogues designed by Adler. As a successful architect and the son of an influential rabbi, Dankmar Adler became a prominent member of Chicago's progressive Reform Jewish community, as were many of his clients. In addition to Isaiah Temple (1898-99) his other synagogue designs included Zion Temple at Ogden Avenue and Washington Boulevard (designed with Sullivan in 1885, demolished 1954); and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (K.A.M. Temple) at 3301 S. Indiana Avenue, where his father was rabbi (designed with Sullivan in 1890-1891, later known as Pilgrim Baptist Church, and a designated Chicago Landmark; destroyed by fire in 2006, exterior walls still standing). According to architectural historian Joseph Siry, Adler family tradition holds that Adler's interest in architectural acoustics was influenced by his father's career as a rabbi, where the audibility of spoken word was a critical part of worship practice.

In 1879 Adler began independent practice and established his reputation with the successful design of the Central Music Hall (1880, located at the southeast corner of Randolph and State Streets, demolished in 1900 to make way for the Marshall Field and Company Building). Commissioned by George B. Carpenter, the mixed-use building included a theater, six stories of office space and street-level storefronts, a combination of uses that anticipated the program of the Auditorium Building. Prior to the design of the Central Music Hall, Carpenter had gathered research on acoustics, particularly the works of Scottish engineer John Scott Russell who had studied how sound traveled in large interiors. Adler applied this research in the hall's design by curving the floor upward away from the stage, eliminating physical obstructions between the stage and audience, and locating projecting ceiling beams transverse to the direction of the stage. Adler would continue to refine these features in his later auditorium designs.

The Central Music Hall became nationally known for its excellent acoustics and established Adler's reputation. Casting aside his usual modesty, Adler stated that the design "has proved in many respects one of the most successful buildings every erected in Chicago, and which I shall always consider the foundation of whatever professional standing I may have acquired." With more commissions coming Adler's way, he needed help, and architect John Edelmann recommended Louis Henry Sullivan. Sullivan began working for Adler as a draughtsman in 1880.

Though twelve years younger than Adler, within just four years Sullivan quickly rose to associate and then full partner with Adler in 1883. From 1883 to 1895, the partnership of Adler & Sullivan was one of the most distinctive and innovative in the history of American architecture. Chicago's post-Fire reconstruction, robust economy and

tremendous population growth, as well as advances in building technology and a community of innovative architects, created a genius loci for American architecture in the city in the 1880s and early 1890s that has come to be known as the Chicago School of Architecture. Adler and Sullivan played a leading role in this movement, which also included architects John Root, Daniel Burnham, William LeBaron Jenney, Martin Roche, and William Holabird. Adler and Sullivan strove to create a new American architecture by adopting and advancing new building technologies and materials such as the steel frame, plate glass, and the floating and caisson foundation systems; as well as bold innovations in functional design, stylistic treatment and organic ornament.

Prominent works by Adler & Sullivan include several individually designated Chicago Landmarks: the (Little) Jewelers' Building (1881, 15-17 S. Wabash Avenue); the Kaufmann Store and Flats (1883, 1887, 2312-2314 N. Lincoln Avenue); the Auditorium Building (1886-90, 430 S. Michigan Avenue); the Wirt Dexter Building (1887, 630 S. Wabash Avenue, destroyed by fire in 2006); the James Charnley House (1891, 1365 N. Astor Street, with Frank Lloyd Wright); the Mathilde Eliel House (1886, 4122 S. Ellis Avenue); and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (1890-1891 at 3301 S. Indiana Avenue), also known as K.A.M. Temple and later Pilgrim Baptist Church (destroyed by fire in 2006, exterior walls still standing).

As with many successful architectural partnerships, the affiliation of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan brought together the architect as engineer and architect as artist. Adler is credited as having been the "engineering half of the firm, designing the functional aspects of buildings including foundations, structural systems, vertical transportation, ventilation, illumination, and acoustics; while Sullivan was the "artistic half," a skilled designer whose design treatements and unique scheme of ornamentation set the firm's buildings apart. Recognizing the "the preeminence in the artistic field of my partner Mr. Sullivan," Adler wrote that he concentrated on "the study and solution of the engineering problems which are so important an incident in the design of modern buildings."

Beginning with his design of the Central Music Hall in 1879, Adler became known as an especially-skilled designer of acoustically perfect interiors. This reputation helped Adler & Sullivan land the commission for the Auditorium Building in 1886, at the time one of the world's largest theaters (and buildings), and the crowning achievement of Adler & Sullivan's partnership. As previously noted, Adler had studied John Scott Russell's research on acoustics, and in 1888 he traveled to Europe to study opera houses; yet, Sullivan believed Adler's skill was more intuitive, writing in 1916 that "he had a grasp of the subject which he could not have obtained from study, for it was not in books. He must have gotten it by feeling."

In 1893 Adler & Sullivan designed the massive Transportation Building for the World's Columbian Exposition, a defining moment in the city's cultural and architectural history. Not inconsequentially, the Fair had masked in Chicago the effects of a national economic depression which had begun in 1893, and after the Fair many Chicago architects, including Adler & Sullivan, experienced a sharp decline in work, with the Guaranty Building (1894) in Buffalo being their last commission. In 1895 Adler dissolved his partnership with Sullivan to

take a position as consultant with the Crane Elevator Company. Though the annual salary at Crane was more than he had ever made in any year in his own practice, Adler left the company after six months.

In 1895 Adler returned to architecture, but without Sullivan. The historical record is not completely clear but suggests that Adler was unsuccessful in an effort to reestablish his partnership with Sullivan. Whatever personal differences might have existed between the two men, they publicly maintained great respect for each other, and in 1896 Adler provided Sullivan mechanical engineering designs for the latter's Carson Pirie Scott & Company Building, a designated Chicago Landmark.

On his own, Dankmar Adler practiced from 1895 until his death in 1900. His firm of Adler & Adler included his sons Abraham and Sidney, as well as Frederick Foltz, Alfred S. Alschuler, and Samuel Atwater Treat. The overall weak economy during this time resulted in few commissions, but included the Isaiah Temple. It was the most significant of Adler's later work as a prominent synagogue design, distinguished by its acoustics and its Sullivan-influenced ornament. Other surviving examples from this period include a commercial loft building for Charles Yondorf (1898) at 404-406 S. Wells Street and a one-story addition for the M. L, Barrett Company building (1896) in the aforementioned Lake-Franklin Group Chicago Landmark District. Another important, but no longer extant, work from this period includes a pair of dormitories for the Morgan Park Academy (1898, demolished 1969).

In addition to his architecture, Dankmar Adler contributed to architectural journals, helped draft the Chicago Building Code, was a member of the state's first Board of Examiners of Architects, and was active in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In an 1896 lecture to the AIA, Adler offered his own interpretation of Sullivan's principle of "form follows function" that allowed for a much broader definition of "function" also encompassing the broader environment in which architecture is created: "Every architectural work has a function, a purpose which has called it into being and its success is measured by the degree of approximation to fulfillment of functions which characterize its form, but form is not determined by function alone but by environment as well, which in the last quarter century placed many new materials at the disposal of the architect."

Dankmar Adler died in 1900 after suffering a stroke; he was 55. At his funeral at K.A.M. Temple, reform Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch praised Adler for departing from the then-contemporary conventions of synagogue architecture based on Moorish precedents. Citing the designs of K.A.M. Temple and Isaiah Temple, Hirsch credits Adler for "lending to our devotional edifices a new form expressive of wider ideals ... in these creations of his, giving tongue to these stones and a message to these walls, he preached a sermon more telling than any that ever fell from lip of preacher." Adler is buried at Mount Mayriv Cemetery at 3600 N. Narragansett Avenue, and the site is marked by a column from his Central Music Hall which was demolished in 1900 to make way for the Marshall Field and Company Building.

In 1847 the first Jewish congregation in the Midwest was established in Chicago at the corner of Lake and Wells Streets; known as the Kehilath Anshe Mayriv (K.A.M.), or the Congregation of the Men of the West. K. A. M. has occupied a number of buildings throughout its history, and one of the earliest was a former church building at Indiana Avenue and 26th Street (right); K. A. M. purchased and converted it into a synagogue after their earlier synagogue was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.

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In 1861 members of the K. A. M. Temple who had embraced Reform Judaism split off to form their own temple: the Sinai Reform Congregation. In 1875 they commissioned Burling & Adler to design their synagogue at Indiana Avenue and 21st Street (above). Adler and Sullivan remodeled the building in 1892 (demolished; date unknown).

A second reform congregation, the Zion Temple, was established in 1863 on the Near West Side. In 1885 Adler & Sullivan designed their synagogue (above, demolished circa 1954) at Washington Boulevard and Ogden Avenue. Members of this congregation who had moved from the neighborhood to the South Side established Isaiah Temple in 1895.

Isaiah Temple Congregation

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Building was originally built as Isaiah Temple, a synagogue for what was then the third-largest congregation of Reform Judaism in Chicago. Persecution and economic conditions compelled many European Jews to immigrate to the United States in the 19^th century, with the first Jewish immigrants arriving in Chicago in the late-1840s coming primarily from German states in Central Europe. Many brought with them skills as merchants and tradesmen which eased their transition into the commercial life of the city. In 1847 the first synagogue in the Midwest was established in Chicago at the coiner of Lake and Wells; known as the Kehilath Anshe Mayriv (K.A.M.), or the Congregation of the Men of the West, it continues to survive in the city, known today as K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple.

Questions within the Jewish community about the pace of assimilation into American culture versus the retention of tradition resulted in the formation of new congregations, first in 1851 with the formation of the more orthodox Kehilath B'nai Sholom by Polish Jews, and again in 1861 with the formation of the more liberal Sinai Reform Congregation (in 1875, Burling & Adler would design this congregation's synagogue). Three years later Zion Congregation, another Reform congregation, was formed on the Near West Side at Washington Boulevard and Ogden Avenue, and later in 1885 Adler & Sullivan designed that congregation's synagogue (demolished circa 1954).

In the 1890s, a second wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe began to arrive in the city and settle on the Near West Side, prompting members of the older and more established German Jewish community to move to more prosperous lakefront neighborhoods on the South Side such as Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Kenwood and Hyde Park. In 1895 members of the Zion Congregation on the Near West Side who had moved to the South Side established the Isaiah Congregation and soon began holding services at the Oakland Club Hall at E. 39^th Street and Ellis Avenue.

On March 10, 1898, the congregation purchased land for a new synagogue to be known as Isaiah Temple at the southeast corner of E. 45^th Street and Vincennes Avenue in the Grand Boulevard community. Dankmar Adler, an accomplished architect, son of a prominent rabbi, and a designer of three other synagogues, was commissioned to prepare the design. At the cornerstone ceremony the following September, Dr. Joseph Stolz, rabbi of the new congregation, observed that construction of the new synagogue would have then been impossible in much of Europe due to rising religious intolerance. Located at the northwest corner of the building, the cornerstone is engraved with the date 1898 and its equivalent in the Hebrew calendar, 5659. The new building was dedicated in three days of ceremonies concluding on March 20, 1899, with a meeting of Jewish rabbis and Christian leaders.

The congregation at Isaiah Temple was oriented toward Reform Judaism, a liberalizing movement that emerged in the nineteenth century and was described by historian Irving Cutler as striving to "eliminate from Judaism some of its old customs and rituals and to place less stress on religious dogma and more emphasis upon the social and political issues of their country." In Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century, well-established Jews who came from German states tended to embrace the Reform movement, wiiile newer Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe retained their traditions of Orthodox Judaism. The Reform orientation of the Isaiah congregation likely influenced the simple Classical Revival-style of the building, as opposed to the Moorish style which was then popular for synagogues. Isaiah Temple was also the first synagogue in Chicago to include an attached school building, reflecting the emphasis on education in Reform Judaism.

The 1910s and 1920s witnessed major demographic changes in the surrounding neighborhood as the area transformed into the predominantly African American community of Bronzeville, and in 1921 the Isaiah congregation sold the building to the congregation of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church which continues to use the building as a house of worship. After selling the building, members of the Isaiah congregation built a new synagogue at 1100 E. Hyde Park Boulevard in Kenwood and later merged with two other Jewish congregations. That building survives as the K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple (1924, 1926; Alfred S. Alschuler) and is a designated Chicago Landmark.

Forces Shaping Chicago's African American Community (1850-1930)

The expansion of the African American community on Chicago's South Side that prompted the sale of the synagogue to the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church reflects the broader social and cultural changes the characterized the development of the city's South Side neighborhoods in the 20^th century. These demographic changes were accompanied by broad social and cultural changes, and were often fueled by dissatisfaction with economic, social and political conditions in Chicago's African American community that began to emerge nearly a half century earl ier.

From 1850 to 1870, the city's industrial growth, followed by the onset of the Civil War created hundreds of jobs that employed African Americans and brought a steadily increasing number of rural blacks from the South to Chicago. During this time, the African American population in Chicago grew from 320 to almost 3,700. Settlement was concentrated in small pockets in various parts of the city, with the largest being on the Near South Side. By the late-1880s and early 1890s, the boundaries of the South Side African American community were confined to a long narrow strip, often known as the "Black Belt." Bordered on the west by rail yards and industrial properties and on the east by affluent white neighborhoods, the "belt" extended from Van Buren Street (in the Loop) to 39th Street, a distance of nearly five miles.

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The unprecedented population growth of the African American community on Chicago's South Side began with the Great Migration of 1916-1918. Top left: Economic and social opportunities in Chicago prompted many families to relocate to the city from the Deep South. Top right: The Chicago Defender was an important voice in encouraging Southern blacks to migrate to Chicago. Left: During World War I, good-paying industrial jobs in factories and steel mills became available to African Americans. Bottom: By the 1920s, Chicago's thriving "Black Metropolis" gained national recognition as a model of African American achievement.

Chicago's business and social establishments were largely indifferent to the African American community. Consequently, what gradually evolved in the Black Belt was a complete and independent commercial, social, and political base. As the community grew, it began to satisfy its own demand for goods and services. By 1885, it was diversifying to such an extent that a complete directory of African American businesses, The Colored Men s Professional and Business Directory of Chicago, was published.

By 1900, with a population of over 30,000, the burgeoning South Side community began to take on the characteristics of a small "city-within-a-city." A major factor in the growth of this "Black Metropolis" was the gradually-increasing access to financial resources within the African American community; as a result, the unwillingness of the white financial community to support African American enterprises became much less of an obstacle. With greater financial resources, the commercial and business interests of the African American community continued to diversify into a wide range of professional and commercial interests.

Much of the reason for the access to greater financial resources was due to the phenomenal increase in the community's population. The "Great Migration," as it is often referred, was a period between 1910 and 1920 when approximately a half million African Americans left the South and journeyed to cities in the North and West seeking employment and greater individual freedom. It was the largest internal movement of a people in such a concentrated period of time in the history of the United States.

Over time, the combined influences of violence faced by African Americans in the economically declining South, and the economic and social opportunities in the North, prompted African Americans from all walks of life to leave their homes and families and move to Chicago. The Chicago Defender, the nation's most influential black weekly newspaper founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott, encouraged southern blacks to relocate to the city. The Defender was widely distributed throughout the South by Pullman railroad porters, who were usually African American and stationed in Chicago. These men touted Chicago as a place of opportunity, and soon the African American population grew from just over 40,000 to nearly 110,000, all previously residing in an area that by 1920 was bounded on the north by 22^nd Street, on the east by Cottage Grove Avenue, on the south by 55^th Street, and on the west by Wentworth Avenue.

With the advent of World War 1, as military production demands rose and white industrial workers were drafted into military service, African Americans who were previously excluded from industrial jobs found new opportunities for employment in Chicago's stockyards, steel mills, and foundries. African Americans relocating to the city crowded into the Black Belt, which began to gradually expand south of 47* Street and east of Wabash Avenue. This strain on housing added to other tensions that erupted in violent race riots in Chicago during the summer of 1919. In the aftermath, the Black Belt became almost exclusively populated by African Americans, and the surrounding areas exclusively by whites. This area, encompassing portions of the Douglas, Grand Boulevard, and Washington Park communities, collectively assumed the sobriquet of

EXPANSION OF THE BLACK BELT

Housing restrictions confined blacks to the "Black Belt,"an overcrowded chain of almost exclusively African American neighborhoods on the city's South Side. Left: A map from the groundbreaking sociological study, Black Metropolis by Horace Cayton and St. Clair Drake, documents the expansion of the Black Belt.

With African Americans hemmed in by restrictive covenants, wealth and poverty often resided only blocks apart. Below: Homes owned by middle class African Americans on South Park Boulevard (now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive) in the late-1920s. Bottom: A view of dilapidated tenements on South Dearborn Street in the 1930s.

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"Bronzeville" by the end of the 20^th century. It includes the Calumet-Giles-Prairie District, designated a Chicago Landmark in 1988, and the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District, designated a Chicago Landmark in 1998.

Broad social and cultural changes that accompanied the unprecedented expansion of the African American community on Chicago's South Side, beginning with the Great Migration of 1916-1918 and continuing with successive migrations throughout the 1950s, ushered in changes for the entire African American community in Chicago. The onset of the Great Depression of 1929 and the resulting collapse of the "Black Metropolis," both long-time residents and migrants alike faced wide-spread unemployment, inadequate housing options, poverty, crime, over-crowded conditions, and continued oppression. Despite the gravity of these problems, one way that African Americans promoted solidarity within their community was through the growth and expansion of the African American religious community. In the face of such oppressive conditions, African American churches sought to inject hope into the lives of their congregants.

The African American Religious Community in Chicago

During the last decades of the 19^th century, the majority of the African American religious community in Chicago worshipped at three Baptist churches (Olivet, Providence, and Bethesda); three African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) churches (Quinn, Bethel, and St. Stephen); St. Thomas Episcopal Church; Grace Presbyterian Church; Emmanuel Congregation Church; and St. Monica's Catholic Church. These ten churches offered variety and choice to a socially and economically varied group of African American worshippers and served as an influential social force in their members' daily lives. Almost since their formation in the last half of the 19^th century, and throughout the first two decades of the 20^th century, African American mainline churches in Chicago developed a style of liturgy and music that varied little from that of their white counterparts. The more emotional "southern folk-based" religious traditions often played little to no role in the reserved religious expression of northern-based African American churches during this time.

Choirs, in particular, were noted for performing the most demanding classical hymns and oratorios of the western-European classical choral tradition. During worship services at some mainline churches, it was not uncommon for the choir to perform oratorios like Rossini's Stabat Mater in Latin. Choirs were often viewed by church leaders as having the cultural mission of encouraging the cultural advancement of the congregation. Ministers quickly recognized the direct relationship between the success of their music programs and the sizes of their congregations.

Also at this time was a growing underground movement yielding so-called "Holiness" and Pentecostal churches that offered more folk-based religious practices in missions and at small gatherings held in homes. These missions and storefront churches provided emotional and spontaneous worship services rooted in the southern tradition. Music

practices at holiness services differed greatly from the mainline churches and featured congregational singing, hand-clapping, foot-patting, and other demonstrative behavior.

During the 1920s and 1930s, just after the height of the influx of black southerners to the city, church membership at African American churches in Chicago skyrocketed. Religious preferences of migrants arriving from the South, and attempts by certain segments of Chicago's black religious community to reach out to them, prompted some mainline churches in Chicago to begin embracing a greater degree of emotionality and to focus more attention on programs of social service. During this era of evolving worship practice, mainline churches sought to provide a religious environment that appealed to all classes, regardless of their regional background.

In their sweeping sociological study, Black Metropolis, St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton reported that in 1928 Chicago's "Black Belt" was home to 295 churches distributed among nearly thirty denominations. By 1938, churches in Chicago's "Black Metropolis" numbered nearly 500, claiming at least 200,000 members. Almost half of the churches, and over two-thirds of the people who identified themselves as church members, were affiliated with one of the two Negro National Baptist Conventions established following a split between African American Baptist congregations and their pastors from their white counterparts brought about by racial discrimination within the larger denomination.

After the spilt, black Baptist churches, perhaps more than any other African American Christian denomination, came to be seen by worshipers as having more freedom from both political and economic controls of the white community to embrace independent and authentic African American traditions, both in terms of religious ceremony and other activities. For the congregation of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church this sense of liberation manifested itself in a dramatic departure from the mainline norms most notably in the formation of the first modern gospel chorus in 1931 and the introduction of a new type of sacred song infused with "bluesy" rhythms that the world would eventually embrace as Gospel.

The powerful, emotional gospel songs elicited very divergent responses from black congregations in Chicago. Most churches viewed Gospel as a reminder of the southern work songs of the slavery era and considered the music too crude and primitive for church. Others voiced their disapproval by saying that there should be a marked difference between the music of the nightclub and that of the church. But some churchgoers, often recently settled southern migrants, found the music to be an uplifting departure from the classical hymns that had constrained the spirit of congregations in northern cities.

In 1931, under the direction of musical pioneers Professor Theodore R. Frye, Thomas A. Dorsey, and Roberta Martin, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church's groundbreaking choir filled the church with gospel music. The popularity of gospel music quickly began to spread throughout most black churches in Chicago. By August 1933, the number of

From its beginnings in 1902 through 1931, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church featured a traditional style of worship with preaching and classical music selections characteristic of Baptist churches of the time. Above: The Rev. John Francis Thomas, Ebenezer's founding pastor, with women of the congregation (circa 1910) preparing a sacrament in the sanctuary at the 35th and Dearborn building. Below: The Ebenezer Church choir in the 1920s under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Clark (seated in the center of the first row).

gospel choruses in Chicago had increased to the point where a "convention" was organized by the movement's most active leader and most prolific composer, Thomas Andrew Dorsey, who is widely considered to be the "Father of Gospel Music."

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Congregation

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1902 by the Rev. John Francis Thomas (1843-1920). The church emerged from a division within the congregation of the Olivet Baptist Church, the so-called "mother" church of Chicago's African American Baptists which was established in 1862. Ebenezer was one of the churches that formed the core group of what historian Allan H. Spear, author of Black Chicago, defined as "old-line" institutionsthe group of original and original-split Baptist and Methodist churches that appealed to the broad middle segment of the black Christian population in Chicago. From its beginnings in 1902 through 1931, Ebenezer featured a traditional style of worship with preaching and classical music selections characteristic of Baptist churches of the time.

During the first year of its establishment, Ebenezer's fledging congregation of thirty members met at Arlington Hall (demolished), a community building and gathering spot once located at 31⁵¹ Street and Indiana Avenue. Under the leadership of Rev. Thomas, a self-educated clergyman and veteran of the Civil War who was described as a "pulpit orator of much power," the congregation grew rapidly. In less than five years after its founding, the Ebenezer congregation purchased an existing church building (originally the First Church, Evangelical) on the southwest corner of 35^th and Dearborn streets (now demolished) that would serve as its home for the next eighteen years.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church quickly emerged as a community cornerstone, a place to worship, to organize, to use the telephone for finding jobs, and to eat a warm meal. In 1914, Rev. Thomas initiated an important early outreach program at Ebenezerevery day for one month during the winter, the congregation provided meals to the city's hungry. On February 7, 1914, the Chicago Defender reported that the church had fed 4,327 individuals, with "whites outnumbering all other races by 20 to 1." Even as some white congregations refused to serve African Americans, Rev. Thomas stressed that at Ebenezer, "none was turned away," and that there is "no color line in heaven."

By 1920, as the membership of Ebenezer reached nearly 2,000, Rev. Thomas initiated plans to purchase the Isaiah Temple, a synagogue located at 45^th Street and Vincennes Avenue. After negotiating the $65,000 purchase price and securing the necessary funding, Rev. J.F. Thomas died at the age of 77 that same year. Through his ministry, the esteemed pastor left a legacy which emphasized service to all in need. In his obituary published on September 4, 1920, in the Chicago Defender, the pastor was remembered as "one of Chicago's greatest pastors." Nationally, Rev. Thomas shaped the Baptist religion by serving as President of the Illinois State Baptist Association and through his involvement in the National Baptist Convention. A monument in his memory was unveiled in 1921 at the Lincoln Cemetery, a historic African American cemetery located at 12300 S. Kedzie Avenue in Chicago.

In accordance with the wishes of Rev. Thomas, Ebenezer's successor pastor, the Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Clark, worked closely with the leaders of Isaiah Temple to commemorate the religious building's passing from one congregation to the other. At a special service the leaders of Isaiah Temple offered prayers that Ebenezer Baptist Church would succeed in serving humanity. On October 30, 1921, the Ebenezer congregation marched from its former home to its new sanctuary at 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue and held its first worship service in the church.

Rev. Clark's tenure as pastor of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church began with a flourish in 1921 as its membership roll continued to expand. In 1923, the Sims Blue Book and National Negro Business and Professional Directory reported, "standing room is at a premium in this beautiful church during Sunday services notwithstanding this church has a seating capacity of more than fifteen hundred persons who attend services regularly on Sundays to hear their eloquent pastor preach."

Growth of the church, however, did not come without disturbances and adjustments. Discord between the pastor and several members of the congregation erupted in 1930 over Rev. Clark's interpretation of church policies, the role of the church's deacons and trustees, and refusal of communion to a church member. After several months of turmoil, Rev. Clark announced his resignation in October 1930. Despite an obvious desire by some church members to change their pastoral leadership, nothing in Ebenezer's history could have foreshadowed its dramatic departure from the mainline norms to a new, revitalized style of worship that the congregation would embrace over the next few years, including the introduction of gospel music to church services.

Dynamic changes in Ebenezer's Sunday morning worship services and many progressive programs were initiated in 1931 by its new pastor, the Rev. Dr. James Howard Lorenzo Smith. Motivated by what he perceived as a "dearth in spirituality" following Rev. Clark's resignation, Rev. Smith sought to raise the vitality of Ebenezer's worship by replacing the mainline musical normsclassical hymns by Mendelssohn, oratorios by Mozart, Bach cantatas, and concert arrangements of black spiritualswith a daring new music: sacred texts set to a syncopated "bluesy" rhythm that the world would eventually know as Gospel.

Rev. Smith, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was not satisfied with the traditional music being played in the church. He found it to be staid and bland and out of step with the traditional emotion and spirit of Southern church music that was familiar to him and so many other Southern migrants arriving to Chicago. On a Sunday in December 1931, Rev. Smith declared to his congregation:

"I have a vision of a group singing the good old-fashioned songs that were born in the hearts of our forefathers down in the southland. I want those songs that my old forefathers and mothers sing way down in the southland. I want this group sitting behind me."

In contrast, most mainline black church leaders at the time believed that the rhythm, beat, and swing of gospel blues compositions were far too worldly for church. However, as an

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Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church congregation experienced growth and transition. Left: An entry for Ebenezer Baptist Church contained in the Sims' Blue Book and National Negro and Professional Directory from of 1923.

Following Rev. Clark's departure in 1930, the congregation embraced a revitalized style of worship that included the introduction of gospel music to church services. Below: Ebenezer's groundbreaking gospel chorus is seen shortly after its first performance in this photo published in the Chicago Defender on February 6, 1932.

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Dynamic changes in Ebenezer's worship services and programs were begun in 1931 by its third pastor, the Rev. Dr. James Howard Lorenzo Smith (top left).

Musicians Theodore Frye, Thomas A. Dorsey and Roberta Martin organized the first gospel choruses at Ebenezer. Top right: The Junior Gospel Choir is seen rehearsing in the 1930s. Performances by Ebenezer's gospel choirs attracted media attention and many new members to the church. Right: An article from the Chicago Defender reports on a program held at the church for the National Baptist Convention in 1932.

Bottom: Ebenezer's politically active Official Board expressed support of Ethiopia against Mussolini's invasion in 1935.

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educated minister with most of his professional background in the southern church, the progressive Rev. Smith was able to break the impasse between the mainline ministers and the new music.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church and the Advent of Gospel Music

In late 1931, the Rev. Smith hired Professor Theodore Roosevelt Frye (1899-1963), a musician who frequently sang at Ebenezer, to serve as the church's musical director and organize the chorus that he envisioned. Prof. Frye recruited Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993), a former blues-jazz pianist and composer, who was quickly hired by Rev. Smith to serve as the church pianist and assistant music director. Each was a southerner whose professional role was closely connected to his southern background, despite moving to Chicago during the early years of the Great Migration.

In a matter of months, Frye and Dorsey in collaboration with singer and pianist Roberta Martin (1907-1969) organized Ebenezer's Senior Gospel Chorus. The chorus of nearly 100 voices strong first performed Dorsey's gospel songs at Ebenezer Church in February 1932. Historian Michael Flug called the ground-breaking event "the most stunning departure from traditional music in urban black churches of the time."

The innovative, hopeful, and sometimes raucous music that Dorsey introduced at Ebenezer was a dramatic departure from traditional music in urban black churches which favored choirs singing classical hymns. Dorsey's "Gospel" music referred to a type of song, vocal performance, and piano accompaniment style. Intended to be sung by an untrained "full-throated" voice, the sacred texts of Professor Dorsey's songs were backed by syncopated driving rhythms. Rooted in the participatory tradition of African American churches, Dorsey's gospel songs relied on audience response to the performer's song as a means of drawing the.listener into a dialogue with the choir. Professor Dorsey became so closely associated with the genre that songs written in the "new" style were often referred to as "Dorseys."

The successful introduction of gospel anthems at Ebenezer grew to become a pivotal force that would shape music and worship services nationally and internationally. After a couple of momentous months at Ebenezer, Thomas Dorsey began what would be a lifelong career as the music director of the gospel choir of Pilgrim Baptist Church, which claims its own distinct role in the history of gospel music. Theodore Frye assumed the role as sole director of music at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.

Within a year's time, gospel music quickly started to take root in Chicago. Gospel choruses especially trained to sing Dorsey's tunes began to appear in several South Side churches, and by April 1933 more than twenty churches around the city had formed

Many pioneers of Gospel are closely associated with and frequently performed at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, including (clockwise from top left) the "Queen of Gospel." Mahalia Jackson (top left): Roberta Martin: Ruth Jones, professionally known as Dinah Washington: Dclois Barrett-Campbell and the Barrett Sisters: and "The Mother of Gospel Music." singer, publisher, and promoter Sallic Martin.

gospel choirs. According to the National Convention of Gospel Choirs, by 1935 there were 56 gospel choruses in Chicago, and over 941 choruses across the United States.

Just as gospel music found its beginning at Ebenezer, so too did some of the genre's greatest musicians. A host of Ebenezer members went on to gain national and international fame for their contributions to Gospel, including composer and singer Professor Theodore R. Frye; composer, singer, pianist, arranger and choral organizer Roberta Martin Austin, who has been called, "the greatest teacher of gospel singers"; composer Professor John E. Rogers, Jr.; and musician and dramatist Willa Saunders Jones.

Many more pioneers of Gospel frequently performed at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, including the world-renowned "Queen of Gospel," Mahalia Jackson; "The Mother of Gospel Music," singer, publisher, and promoter Sallie Martin; Ruth Jones, professionally known as Dinah Washington, the "Mother of Rhythm and Blues"; Delois Barrett-Campbell and the Barrett Sisters; and members of the Martin and Frye Singers, including Norsalus McKissick, James Lawrence, Willie Webb and Robert Anderson. As a child, Otha Ellas Bates, the rock and blues innovator known professionally as Bo Diddley, studied classical violin at Ebenezer and fondly recalled the day he became proficient enough to be invited to join the church orchestra.

Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music"

Only a few individuals in history can be credited with creating an entire genre of music, and Thomas Andrew Dorsey, known as the "Father of Gospel Music," is one of them. Although Dorsey never claimed credit for creating it, he stated that he coined the term "gospel songs" in the early 1920s, giving a name to the new musical style. His most famous of these gospel songs, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," has been translated into over 50 languages and recorded by singers ranging from Elvis Presley to Mahalia Jackson. Additionally, Dorsey is recognized as the founder of the gospel choir tradition.

Born July 1, 1899, in Villa Rica, Georgia, Dorsey settled in Chicago in 1919 in the midst of the Great Migration. While his earliest musical training had been of a religious nature, Dorsey, known at the time as "Georgia Tom," was also very familiar with the very secular world of blues and jazz. He first made a national name for himself as piano player, composer and arranger for blues diva Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and bluesman Tampa Red.

In 1921, Dorsey began writing church songs with a jazz-blues sound after hearing Dr. A. W. Nix perform at the National Baptist Convention in Chicago. The performance affected Dorsey so strongly that he decided to devote himself to writing and singing gospel songs. Dorsey also acknowledged that the hymns of Rev. Charles Albert Tindley were very influential to shaping his gospel style. The transition from writing blues to sacred songs was not an easy one, however; despite his music being unwelcome at most black churches and unnoticed by publishers, Dorsey persisted.

It was in 1932, when a personal tragedy struck Dorsey, that he dedicated himself fully to creating his new music. Devastated by the death of his wife and baby in childbirth, Dorsey turned away from jazz-blues and toward the church. In that year, Dorsey wrote, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," which not only became one of the most famous of all gospel songs, but also effectively signaled the birth of gospel music. This song of faith marked the beginning of Dorsey's complete commitment to gospel music, and he would go on to write such songs as "If You See My Savior," "There'll Be Peace in the Valley," and "If You Ever Needed the Lord Before." Estimates of the number of original compositions by Thomas Dorsey suggest that he composed between 500 and 1,000 songs throughout his seventy-five years in music.

Thomas Dorsey, along with Theodore Frye, Roberta Martin, Magnolia Lewis Butts, Willa Mae Ford Smith and Sallie Martin, was also instrumental in the founding of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC), Inc., which was headquartered in Chicago. The NCGCC was held each year to teach choirs from all over the country how to sing gospel music. The first convention was held at Pilgrim Baptist Church in 1933 with Dorsey as its president. He enjoyed a remarkably long tenure in that position, remaining president of the NCGCC until his death in 1993.

Dorsey's influence on gospel music between 1925 and 1950 was pervasive. He helped train many famous gospel singers including Mahalia Jackson, and served as her accompanist from 1937 to 1946. Dorsey was also the first person to establish a publishing company for the sole purpose of publishing gospel music by black performers. His gospel publishing house, the Thomas A. Dorsey Gospel Songs Music Publishing Company, was originally located at 755 Oakwood Avenue (demolished) and later at 4154 S. Ellis Avenue in Bronzeville. By touring the country with singer Sallie Martin to promote his songs and his publishing company, and to teach singers how to perform his music, Dorsey insured that gospel music would flourish in mainstream churches.

Professor Dorsey received many honors, citations, and awards during his more than 75-year musical career. He was the first African American to be inducted into Nashville's Songwriter's Hall of Fame, much of his work is preserved in the Smithsonian Institute, and his legacy was the focus of "Wade in the Water," a National Public Radio Series. Reflecting on his gospel songs in 1976, Thomas Dorsey said, "I wanted to get the feeling and the moans and the blues into the songs. It had that beat that rhythm. And people were wild about it." People were so wild about it that it has been said, "nothing that followed in black music and very little that happened in popular music generally, would remain untouched in some way by the new sound of Gospel."

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Top left: Thomas Dorsey, known in his younger days as "Georgia Tom," settled in Chicago in 1919. Top right: Dorsey (far right) first achieved 4 (jQ{J^ HEAVEN ^^ame ^as ^a P'^amst and arranger for blues diva Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (center).

A musician, composer, publisher, choir director, and pivotal force in the introduction of Gospel at Ebenezer, Dorsey's influence was so pervasive that he is called the "Father of Gospel Music." Left and bottom right: Dorsey's original compositions number more than 500 songs. Bottom left: Dorsey accompanying Mahalia Jackson in 1939 at his studio in Chicago.

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Later History of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church

From 1959 to 1989, the Rev. Dr. Frank Kentworth Sims served as pastor of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church. In the midst of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Sims and his wife, Eunice Robinson Sims, engaged the Ebenezer congregation in many religious and civic activities on a local, national and international level. Dr. Sims also worked closely with many members of the United States Congress and diplomats, even traveling to Brazil in 1965 as part of a United States delegation.

During Dr. Sims' pastorate, the Dr. Frank K. Sims Education Center was constructed to the south of the church building in 1965. (The education center is not proposed to be included as part of the designation.) Also under Dr. Sims' leadership, the Ebenezer congregation hosted dignitaries including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Jesse Owens, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Andrew Young, and United States Representatives Adam Clayton Powell of New York, Harold Ford, Sr. of Tennessee, and Ralph H. Metcalfe of Illinois. At a ceremony held at the Blackstone Hotel in 1966, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered a speech entitled a "A Knock at Midnight" to commemorate Dr. Sims' seventh anniversary as pastor of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is identified in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey as an orange-rated building.

Criteria for Designation

According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Sect 2-120-620 and -630), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has the authority to make a preliminary recommendation of landmark designation for a building, structure, object or district if the Commission determines it meets two or more of the stated "criteria for designation," as well as possesses a significant degree of its historic design integrity.

The following should be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in determining whether to recommend that the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (which includes the attached annex) be designated as a Chicago Landmark.

Criterion 1: Critical Part of the City's History

Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church exemplifies the important role that

ethnic groups and religious institutions played in the history and development of Chicago's neighborhoods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally constructed as the Isaiah Temple synagogue, the building conveys important

aspects of the history of the Jewish community in Chicago, particularly the movement in the 1890's of the German Jewish community from the Near West Side to lakefront neighborhoods on the South Side such as Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Kenwood and Hyde Park. With its purchase in 1921 by a Christian African American congregation, the building reflects the later expansion of the African American community in the same South Side neighborhoods during the early 20^th century as part of the so-called "Great Migration," when approximately a half-million African Americans left the South and made an unprecedented journey to cities in the North and West seeking employment and greater individual freedom.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is the last, and one of the most significant, buildings designed by nationally-significant architect and engineer Dankmar Adler, a leading figure in the Chicago School of Architecture. Adler was known in particular as an expert in acoustically-designed auditorium spaces, and the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is one of only three-surviving auditoriums designed by Adler, along with the Auditorium Building (a designated Chicago Landmark) and the reconstruction of the Scottish Rite Cathedral (in the Washington Square Landmark District) following the Great Fire.

Progressive shifts in religious expression, including the introduction of gospel music at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. James Howard Lorenzo Smith, exemplify a broader transformation occuring in the African American religious community during the migration era that embraced vibrant music and spiritual vigor as a way for migrants to sustain their Southern identities in the urban North.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Building was the venue where, in 1931, the first modern gospel choir was organized. The choir's ground-breaking first performance in 1932 has been called "the most stunning departure from traditional music in urban black churches of the time." Drawing from the spirit of traditional Southern black church music, the introduction of this new type of sacred song infused with "bluesy" rhythms resulted in the emergence of the uniquely-American 20^th-century musical style known as Gospel.

Through their association with Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, many of gospel music's greatest musicians, composers, and choral directors achieved fame, including Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music", as well as Professor Theodore R. Frye, Roberta Martin, Professor John E. Rogers, Jr., and Willa Saunders Jones. Numerous other pioneering gospel singers and musicians frequently performed at Ebenezer including Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, Dinah Washington, and the rock and blues innovator Bo Diddley.

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Rev. Dr. Frank K. Sims and the congregation of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church participated in many religious and civic activities on a local, national and international level and hosted dignitaries including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Jesse Owens, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Rev. Andrew Young, and other prominent civil rights leaders.

Criterion 3: Significant Person

Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social or other aspect of the development of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music," is credited with creating the genre of gospel music. In collaboration with Professor Theodore R. Frye and pianist Roberta Martin, Dorsey organized the first modern gospel chorus at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in 1931. Through his talent as a singer, writer, composer, pianist, publisher and choral director, Dorsey influenced nearly every aspect of the establishment of the modern gospel music tradition. Composing more than 500 songs throughout his seventy-five year career, Thomas Dorsey became so closely associated with the genre that gospel songs written in this "new" style were often referred to as "Dorseys."

Criterion 4: Important Architecture

Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship.

Dankmar Adler is renowned as a designer of long-span interiors with outstanding acoustics, and only three of these spaces survive in Chicago: the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, the Auditorium Building (a designated Chicago Landmark); and the reconstructed interior of the Scottish Rite Cathedral (in the Chicago Landmark Washington Square District), following the Great Fire. The interior of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church exhibits the characteristic features of Dankmar Adler's renowned auditorium designs meant to enhance sightlines and acoustics: the raked floor and the curved seating arrangement, the absence of columns or other obstructions, and the barrel-vaulted ceiling articulated with recessed coffers and projecting beams to control the reflection of sound from the ceiling.

With such features as its Ionic columns, entablature, and balustrade at the entrance portico, prominent pedimented gables at the center of the facades, arched window openings with quoined voussoirs; the vaulted and coffered auditorium ceiling, and overall massing, form and use of symmetry and proportion, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is an excellent and distinguished example of the Classical Revival style of architecture applied to a religious building.

Originally built as Isaiah Temple, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church is the only example of a group of four synagogues designed by Dankmar Adler that survives intact. Adler was a prominent figure in Chicago's Jewish community, and his synagogues were known for their clear acoustics, open floor plans, and progressive architectural treatments.

With its planar wall surfaces and simplified ornamentation, the design of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church exhibits the straightforward and refined character of Dankmar Adler's architectural designs, particularly those produced before and after his association with Louis Sullivan.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church exhibits distinguished and high-quality interior design and an exceptionally high degree of craftsmanship in its stained glass windows, decorative plaster, fret-sawn organ screen, brass light fixtures, and other features.

Several details of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church display Louis Sullivan's aesthetic influence on Dankmar Adler's later career, particularly the tracery pattern in the window arches, the beaded molding found beneath the gallery and at the ceiling coffers, and the distinctive swirling organic ornamentation at the gallery fascia.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was the first synagogue in Chicago to include a purpose-built Sabbath School, and the classrooms, library and other auxiliary rooms in the rear annex portion of the building reflect Adler's skill as a planner of multifunctional interiors.

Criterion 5: Important Architect

Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was the last work of Dankmar Adler, an influential architect and engineer at both the local and national level who was a leader in the Chicago School of Architecture, an influential and important movement which strived to create a strong relationship between a building's form and function and an original architecture for America that was not bound by precedent.

Dankmar Adler hired and soon formed a partnership with Louis Sullivan, an architectural practice that lasted fifteen years and produced many of 19^th century's most important and influential buildings, and including such designated Chicago Landmarks as the Jewelers' Building (1881), the Kaufmann Store and Flats (1883, 1887), the Auditorium Building (1890), the James Charnley House (1891); the Mathilde Eliel House (1886), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (1891). Outside Chicago, Adler & Sullivan designed such significant and major buildings as the Wainwright Building (1892) in St. Louis and the Guaranty Building (1896) in Buffalo.

Dankmar Adler made important contributions to the field of engineering, particularly in his pioneering designs for the foundations of tall buildings in Chicago's unstable soil, including the floating raft foundation of the Auditorium Building, the timber pile foundation of the Schiller Building, and the caisson foundation for the Stock Exchange Building. Adler also embraced new modern technologies including the skeletal steel frame, large plate glass windows, and electric lighting and mechanical systems, essential to the high-rise commercial and multi-use buildings he designed throughout his career.

Following his successful design of the Central Music Hall in 1879, Dankmar Adler became known as an expert designer of theaters and synagogues with large clear span interiors, fine acoustics and superb sightline planning; and the Ebenezer Baptist Church is only one of only three of Adler's acoustic designs which survive in Chicago.

As a successful architect and the son of an influential rabbi, Dankmar Adler was a prominent member of Chicago's progressive Reform Jewish community, as were many of his clients. Jewish congregations turned to Adler to design their synagogues, and they included some of the most significant examples of his work; in addition to Isaiah temple (now Ebenezer Baptist Church), he designed three synagogues in Chicago, including Sinai Temple (designed with Burling in 1876, demolished circa 1912), Zion Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1885, demolished 1954), and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv or K. A. M. Temple (designed with Sullivan in 1890-1891, later known as Pilgrim Baptist Church, designated as a Chicago Landmark; destroyed by fire in 2006, exterior walls still standing).

Dankmar Adler contributed to the architectural profession by publishing articles on the technical and legal aspects of architectural practice; he also played a lead role in establishing state licensing standards for architects, and contributed to the first Chicago Building Code.

Criterion 7: Unique Visual Feature

Its unique location or distinctive physical appearance or presence representing an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or City of Chicago.

With its refined Classical Revival-styling, prominent roofline, large stained-glass windows, and carved limestone portico; and overall scale, massing, symmetry and proportion, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church stands out as a distinctive and prominent visual feature within its context of homes and flat buildings in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood.

I ¹

i":J "ll-AJ ■-.

|H The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church possesses excellent physical integrity. Views of the }""^| exterior circa 1960 by Ward Miller (, i (top) and in 2010 (upper middle), !; . and the interior of the auditorium i v circa 1960 by Ward Miller (lower middle) and in 2010 (bottom).

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Integrity Criteria

The integrity of the proposed landmark must he preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic community, architecture or aesthetic value.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church retains excellent physical integrity on both its exterior and interior, displayed through its historic location, overall design, historic materials, details and ornamentation. Changes to the building's exterior are minor and include the removal of the molded soffit and fascia at the eaves of the roof and pediment, the removal of a portion of the balustrade atop the south pavilion, the replacement of the entrance doors, the replacement of the windows in the annex, and the infill of the arched window opening on the front elevation (although the original stained glass window remains behind). Changes to the auditorium interior are few, primarily the replacement of the original pews which occured after the period of significance. As a whole, these changes are minor, and reversible, and they do not detract from the building's ability to convey its exceptional historical and architectural value.

Significant Historical

and Architectural Features

Whenever a building, structure, object, or district is under consideration for landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identify the "significant historical and architectural features" of the property. This is done to enable the owners and the public to understand which elements are considered most important to preserve the historical and architectural character of the proposed landmark.

Based upon its evaluation of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, the Commission recommends that the significant features be identified as follows:

* All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building (including the attached two-story annex, originally built as the Isaiah Temple Sabbath School); and

The following major historic interior spaces ("Interior Spaces") of the Building in their entirety:

the first-floor entrance lobby, including its attached stairway vestibules leading from the first floor to the gallery level; and

the sanctuary interior including the auditorium, "horseshoe" gallery, choir loft, and apse.

The Interior Spaces include, but are not limited to, the overall historic spatial volume; historic decorative wall, floor, and ceiling materials, finishes and ornamentation; historic light fixtures; and other historic decorative features.

The adjacent Dr. Frank K. Sims Education Center building constructed in 1965 to the south of the church building is explicitly excluded from this landmark recommendation.

Selected Bibliography

Adler, Dankmar. Autobiography. 1895. Unpublished typescript in the Special Collections

of The Newberry Library. Baron, Rachel. "Forgotten Facets of Dankmar Adler." Inland Architect 7, (April 1964):

14-16.

Black, Jr., Timuel. Bridges of Memory: Chicago s Second Generation of Black

Migration. Evantson, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2007. Boyer, Horace Clarence. "Contemporary Gospel Music," from The Black Perspective in

Music, Volume 7, Number 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 5-58, Foundation for Research in

Afro-American Creative Arts. Broughton, Viv. Black Gospel: An Illustrated History of the Gospel Sound. London:

Blandford Press, 1985. Cayton, Horace R. and St. Clair Drake. Black Metropolis. New York: Harcourt, Brace

and Company, 1945. Chicago Defender, various articles. Chicago Tribune, various articles. City of Chicago. Historic Building Permit Records.

Condit, Carl W. The Rise of the Skyscraper. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952. Dorsey. Thomas A. Take Me Through, Lord. Chicago: Thomas A. Dorsey Music Publisher, undated.

_. Take My Hand, Precious Lord. Chicago: Thomas A. Dorsey Music Publisher, c.

1950.

_. Walk Over God's Heaven. Chicago: Thomas A. Dorsey Music Publisher, c. 1954.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, "Dr. Frank fCentworth Sims, Retirement

Celebration, 1959-1989." Chicago, 1989.

__. "Centennial Year Celebration, 1902-2002." Chicago, 2002.

Elstein, Rochelle S. "The Architecture of Dankmar Adler" American Society of

Architectural Historians Journal 26, (Dec. 1967): 242-249. _. "Adler & Sullivan: The End of the Partnership and Its Aftermath" Journal of the

Illinois State Historical Society 98, (Spring -Summer, 2005): 51-81. Favorites of Mahalia Jackson, The World's Greatest Gospel Singer. New York: Hill and

Range Songs, c. 1955.

From A Rough Stone to a Polished Diamond, 1902-1977. Chicago: Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, 1977.

Gregersen, Charles E. Dankmar Adler His Theatres and Auditoriums ; with a Biography

of Dankmar Adler. Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press [u.a.], 1990. Grossman, James R., Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. The Encyclopedia of

Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Harris, Michael W. "The Advent of Gospel Blues in Black Old-Line Churches in

Chicago, 1932-33, As Seen Through the Life and Mind of Thomas A. Dorsey."

Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1982.

_. The Rise of Gospel Blues. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Heilbut, Tony. The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times. New York: Simon and

Schuster, 1971.

Hirsch, Emil G. "Dankmar Adler: A Tribute." Preached in Temple K. A. M., Chicago at

his funeral April 18, 1900. Hucke, Matt and Ursula Bielski. Graveyards of Chicago. Chicago: Lake Claremont

Press, 1999.

Kalil, Timothy. "The Role of the Great Migration of African Americans to Chicago in the

Development of Traditional Black Gospel Piano by Thomas A. Dorsey, circa

1930." Ph.D. diss., Kent University, 1993. Kitagawa, Evelyn M. and Karl E. Tacuber. Local Community Fact Book Chicago

Metropolitan Area I960. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1963. Knupfer, Anne Meis. The Chicago Black Renaissance and Women s Activism. Urbana:

University of Illinois Press, 2006. Lane S.J., George A., and Algimantas Kezys. Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An

Architectural Pilgrimage. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1981. Lee, George Perry, III. "Thomas A. Dorsey's Influence on African American Worship."

Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2009. Mahoney, Olivia. Images of America: Douglas/Grand Boulevard, A Chicago

Neighborhood. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2001. Mayer, Harold M. and Richard C. Wade. Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis. Chicago:

The University of Chicago Press, 1969. Meites, Hyman L. History of the Jews of Chicago. Chicago, 111: Chicago Jewish

Historical Society, 1990 (facsimile of original 1924 edition). Nickel, Richard, Aaron Siskind, John Vinci, and Ward Miller. The Complete Architecture

of Adler & Sullivan. Chicago: Richard Nickel Committee, 2010. Pacyga, Dominick A. and Ellen Skerrett. Chicago: City of Neighborhoods. Chicago:

Loyola University Press, 1986. Reed, Christopher Robert. Black Chicago's First Century, Volume I, 1833-1900.

Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005. _________. Black Chicago's First Century, Volume II, 1901-1933. Columbia: University of

Missouri Press, 2010.

_. The Chicago NAACP and the Rise of Black Professional Leadership, 1910-1966.

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. Robb, Frederic H. H. The Negro in Chicago. 1779-1927, v. I. Chicago: Washington

Intercollegiate Club of Chicago Tnc, 1927. _. "The Book of Achievement" Featuring The Negro in Chicago, 1779-1929, v. 1-2.

Chicago: Washington Intercollegiate Club of Chicago Inc., 1929. Saltzstein, Joan W. "Dankmar Adler: The Man." Wisconsin Architect 38, (July/August

1967): 15-19.

_. "Dankmar Adler: the Architect." Wisconsin Architect 38, (September 1967): 10-

14.

_. "Dankmar Adler: the Author." Wisconsin Architect 38, (November 1967): 10-14.

_. "Dankmar Adler and the Chicago Fire." Inland Architect 11, (October 1967): 8.

Simms, James N. Simms' Blue Book and National Negro Business and Professional

Directory, January 1923. Cleveland, Ohio: Gordon Publishing Company, 1977. Siry, Joseph. The Chicago Auditorium Building: Adler and Sullivan's Architecture and the

City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Spear, Allan II. Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto 1890-1920. Chicago: The

University of Chicago Press, 1967. Sullivan, Louis H., and Sarah Mollman Underhill. Louis Sullivan in the Art Institute of

Chicago: The Illustrated Catalogue of Collections. New York: Garland Pub,

1989.

Woltersdorf, Arthur. "A Portrait Gallery of Chicago Architects: Dankmar Adler." Western Architect 33, (July, 1924): 75-79.

Illustrations

Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development: pp. 2, 4 (middle and bottom); 5 (top and middle); 7; 9: 12 (middle); 41 (second from top and bottom).

Collection of Tim Samuelson; pp. 4 (top), 32 (top left), 36 (middle left and right, bottom right). Sullivan and Underhill, Louis Sullivan in the Art Institute of Chicago: The Illustrated Catalogue of Collections: pp. 5 (bottom), 8.

Lane and Kezys, Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage: p. 12 (top right and left).

Eric Allix Rogers, Flickr: p. 12 (bottom right). Wikipedia "Rainbow/PUSH": p. 12 (bottom left).

Eltstein, "Adler & Sullivan: The End of the Partnership and Its Aftermath": p. 14 (top right). Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress): p. 14 (middle left) Auditorium Building, EXTERIOR FROM SOUTHEAST, July 21, 1963 HABS ILL, 16-CH1G,39-1; (middle right) Jewelers' Building, Harold Allen, Photographer 19 June 1964 WEST (FRONT) SIDE SECOND TO FIFTH FLOORS HABS ILL,16-CHIG,51-1; Guaranty Building (bottom left) Jack E. Boucher, Photographer May 1965, EAST ELEVATION FROM NORTHEAST. HABS NY,15-BUF,6-; Wainwright Building (bottom right), VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST mo46. Meites, History of the Jews of Chicago: p. 18 (top).

Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum: p. 1 8 (bottom right DN-0008982). Nickel, The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan: pp. 18 (bottom left); 41 (top and third from top photographed by Ward Miller).

Chicago Defender: pp. 21 (top right), 29 (bottom), 30 (middle),

Spear, Black Chicago: pp. 21 (top left), 23 (middle right).

Mahoney, Images of America: Douglas/Grand Boulevard: p. 21 (center).

Pacyga and Skerret, Chicago City of Neighborhoods: p. 21 (bottom).

Cayton and Drake, Black Metropolis: p. 23 (top left).

Delinger and Steiner, Destination Chicago Jazz: p. 23 (bottom).

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, From Rough Stone to a Polished Diamond: pp. 26, 30 (top right and left), 32 (top right).

Sims, Blue Book and National Negro Professional Directory, 1923: p. 29 (top).

Black, Bridges of Memory: Chicago s Second Generation of Black Migration, p. 30 (bottom).

From http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/09/dinah-v-brook.html: p. 32 (middle).

From http://www.theblackgospelblog.com/2010/09/barrett-sisters-share-their-new-website.html: p. 32 (bottom right).

From http://ncgccinc.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=217&Itemid=131: p. 32 (bottom left).

Harris, Rise of the Gospel Blues: pp. 36 (top left and right, bottom left).

Acknowledgments

CITY OF CHICAGO

Rahm Emanuel, Mayor

Department of Housing and Economic Development

Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner

Patricia A. Scudiero, Managing Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Planning and Zoning Brian Goeken, Deputy Commissioner, Historic Preservation Division

Project Staff

Matt Crawford, photography, research and writing

Heidi Sperry, research and writing

Brian Goeken, editing

Terry Tatum, writing and editing

Special thanks for their assistance and comments in the preparation of this report to: Joanne Guillemette and Deacon Thomas Wilson of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church; Timothy Samuelson, Cultural Historian of the City of Chicago; Dr. Christopher R. Reed, Professor of History at Roosevelt University, author, and member of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks; and Alison Hindcrliter, Manuscripts and Archives Librarian at The Newberry Library.

Illustrations

See page 45.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and the City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council that individual building, sites, objects, or entire districts be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The Commission is staffed by the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Historic Preservation Division, 33 North LaSalle Street, Room 1600, Chicago, IL 60602; (312-744-3200)phone; (312-744-2958) TTY; (312-744-9140) fax, web site: www.cityofchicago.org/landmarks

This Preliminary Summary of Information is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a final landmark designation ordinance approved by City Council should be regarded as final.

COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS

Rafael M. Leon, Chairman John W. Baird, Secretary Phyllis Ellin Yvette M. Le Grand Andrew J. Mooney Christopher R. Reed Edward I.Torrez Ben Weese Ernest C. Wong

The Commission is staffed by the:

'-:

■

"Mm Depardriant af

HOUSING^ ECONOMIC

S iJqVELOPWENT

Department of Housing and Economic Development, Bureau of Planning and Zoning

Historic Preservation Division 33 N.LaSalle St., Suite 1600 Chicago, Illinois 60602

312.744.3200 (TEL) - 312.744.9140 (FAX) ~ 312.744.2578 (TTY) http://www.cityofchicago.org/landmarks

Printed February 2011; revised and reprinted June 2011.

Exhibit b

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEV~~ELOPMEN~~T

April 7,2011 Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (Originally, Isaiah Temple) 4501 S. Vincennes Avenue

The Department of Housing and Economic Development finds that the proposed designation of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church as a Chicago Landmark supports the City's overall planning goals for the surrounding Grand Boulevard community area and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.

Built in 1898-99 as a synagogue, the building was purchased by Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in 1921. It was here, in 1931, that the first modern gospel choir was formed. Many of Gospel's greatest musicians, composers, and choral directors are associated with the church. Additionally, the church is the last building designed by architect and engineer Dankmar Adler, a leading figure in Chicago School of Architecture and partner of Louis Sullivan. The congregation of the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church requested landmark designation.

The subject property is located in the Grand Boulevard community area and is zoned RM-5. This zoning district accommodates multi-unit residential buildings to a maximum height of 3-1/2 to 4 stories. Some nonresidential uses that are compatible with residential neighborhoods are also allowed in RM-5 zoning districts, including houses of worship, libraries, schools and parks which are permitted by-right. Lillian Hardin Armstrong Park and the Carter G. Woodson Middle School Campus, a University of Chicago Charter School, are located one block east of the subject property. The Irvin C. Mollison Elementary School, 4415 S. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, is located one block west of the subject property. The surrounding blocks are also primarily zoned RM-5 and are residential in character, comprised chiefly of multi-unit residential buildings and some vacant lots.

To the east of the subject property is a single-story commercial building at 557 E. 45^,h Street zoned Bl-2. Approximately one block west of the subject property, three properties along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, between 44^th and 45^th Streets, are zoned B3-3. Just to the south, properties along E. 47^th St., between Michigan and Vincennes Aves., are mainly zoned B1-3, B1-5, and B3-3. These zoning classifications are intended to accommodate a broad range of small-scale neighborhood retail and service uses.

Exhibit C

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (originally Isaiah Temple) First Floor Plan

Significant Historical and Architectural Interior Features

Exhibit D

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (originally Isaiah Temple) Gallery Level Plan

Significant Historical and Architectural Interior Features

Legislation Text

Legislation Details

Legislation Details (With Text)