Empty churches and shuttered parochial schools are scattered throughout neighborhoods in many older U.S. cities, and Chicago is no exception. Meanwhile, many daycare providers, community organizations, and charter schools are desperate for program space. Could this be evidence of divine providence at work?
The story of Concordia Place illuminates both the difficulties and rewards of trying to match empty buildings with social programs. Concordia Lutheran Church, founded by Swedish Lutherans in 1898 and today a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was seeking to expand its highly successful early childhood program, Concordia Place. That program was started in the early 1980s, when three single mothers pleaded with the small, 60-member congregation to provide low-cost childcare.
Located in Chicagoās North Center neighborhood, about six miles northwest of the Loop, Concordia Place had a long waiting list and no space in which to grow. When a shuttered Catholic church, St. Veronicaās, about a mile southwest of Concordia, came on the market, Concordiaās leaders sprung at the opportunity.
Project summary
CONCORDIA PLACE
Chicago, Ill.Building Team
Owner: Concordia Lutheran Church
Ownerās representative: Cotter Consulting
Project planning and development: LL Consulting
Architect, interior design, SE: Holabird & Root
MEP engineer: EME (now KJWW)
Civil engineer: Terra Engineering
Historic preservation consultant: Harboe Architects
Landscape architect: McKay Landscape Architects
Contractor: Bulley & AndrewsGeneral Information
Project size: 28,000 sf
Construction cost: $5.6 million
Delivery method: Design-bid-build
There was talk about razing the structures in order to build condominiums, but the local community would hear nothing of that: They wanted the buildings preserved and repurposed to serve mounting social demands. Concordia members undertook a multi-year fundraising campaign, doubling their regular contributions, mortgaging existing church facilities, and soliciting donations from businesses, foundations, and government sources
Unravelling a hodgepodge of building uses
The property featured an unusual set of structures. St. Veronica Parish was founded in 1904 and a year later dedicated a combination church-school building. What looked like a three-story brick-and-limestone school actually contained a sanctuary on the ground floor, classrooms on the floor above, and a large community hall on the third. Gone was an old convent in a wood-frame penthouse above it all; it was destroyed by fire years ago.
In contrast to the modest church-school structure, the rectory, built a decade later, was an imposing red brick Tudor design by noted ecclesiastical architect Henry Schlacks. The archdiocese closed both church and school and sold the property to the city of Chicago in 1989. For a time, it was used as overflow space for a nearby public school, but within a few years it was vacant and subject to repeated vandalism.
Such combination church-school buildings may be the most readily adaptable of church properties, as they usually have no bell towers, large rose windows, or tall, voluminous naves. The lack of the typical church basement meant that the main level was just up from the sidewalk, making ADA compliance easier to achieve.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
When Concordia Lutheran eventually purchased the property, the first two floors of the church-school building prooved perfect for their early childhood and preschool program. But according to the churchās pastor, Reverend Nicholas J. Zook, the leadersĀ wondered what to do with the cavernous third floor. They surveyed the community and found that, due to heightened gang activity in the neighborhood, teen programs would be welcomed. There was also a large population of seniors and non-English-speaking adults with unmet needs.
Thus, it was envisioned that the so-called ābonus spaceā of the third floor could house a community center that would offer after-school and summer camp programs for ages six to 12, leadership development for teens, English classes for adults, and wellness programs for seniors.
Keeping program needs and preservation in mind
Local architects Holabird & Root were charged with meeting the varied programmatic needs of these diverse user groups while preserving the historic exteriors. Careful site planning made use of virtually every square inch of the property. āWe wanted to get as much space as possible for the kids to play in, but we also wanted to make a welcoming gesture to the public,ā says Maria Segal, RA, then Holabird & Rootās early childhood design specialist. (She is now with Blender Architecture, Chicago.)
General contractor Bulley & Andrews demolished a decrepit 1950s addition and replaced it with a single-story annex. Its colors and materialsāsoft red and light sage green composite cement panelsāmediate between the red brick rectory and the yellow brick church-school building. Siting the annex at the back of the lot created a courtyard that is now used for both school and community events, including a farmersā market run by the after-school teens.
The high-ceilinged annex is used for childrenās large-motor activities as well as banquets, community meetings, and worship services. Extensive glazing provides a visual connection to the outdoors and makes it glow during evening events. A playground for the preschool children is just south of the annex, and a fenced play area for toddlers is tucked into the north part of the site, offering direct access from those classrooms.
Because the church complex was rated orange on the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, the project was able to obtain state funds. That triggered the involvement of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which directed Concordia to preserve all existing window openings. This was at odds with Concordiaās desire to change some of the windows into glass-paned doors for the first floor classrooms.
The IHPA and Concordia reached a compromise: alternating windows were changed into doors, and small square windows were punched into the walls below the sills of the remaining windows. The original wood windows were restored and double-glazed.
Except for a stairway in the southeast corner, the interior of the church-school was gutted. Folding wooden doors that divided a large room on the third floor were reused for the same purpose.
The archdiocese had removed about half of the stained glass windows before selling the property. Those that remained were removed from the first-floor sanctuary and placed in backlit frames in the historic stairwell and in the third-floor teen room, which can also serve as a chapel. The IHPA did not require the stained glass to be preserved, but Reverend Zook insisted that it be done anyway, as a gesture āto show continuity with this place as an anchor in the community.ā
The interior materials palette is in neutral, soothing colors with natural materials, such as birch plywood, used wherever possible. āThat way the child brings the life and color to the spaces,ā Segal says.
Reverend Zook praises the 28,000-sf, $5.6 million project, for its maximization of natural light and for providing and an abundance of storage areas from otherwise useless space, which helps maximize the flexibility of the rooms.
Keeping the scale right
A child-appropriate scale was also achieved despite the high ceilings by breaking down the scale of the classrooms with alcoves, cubbies, and lofts. Activity areas are defined by changes in ceiling and floor treatments. Low, square windows provide views into adjacent classrooms as well as to the outdoors. During construction, a number of cast-iron columns were discovered; these columns had to be reinforced with a secondary set of steel supports.
The third floor has an array of spaces whose flexibility has contributed significantly to the buildingās success as a community center. Reverend Zook dreamed of a grand lobby on the first floor, but that space was needed for classrooms. Instead, the project team created a great lobby upstairs, where a pitched-roof skylight structure provides abundant north light, and a cafĆ© serves as a multipurpose space used throughout the day by seniors, adults, and teens. New doors can close off the corridor to separate the licensed preschool spaces from the community areas
This kind of mixed-use facility is a model for the pooling of community resources that is now often necessitated by tight budgets, especially for nonprofit entities like Concordia.
Two campuses, one mission Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Renovating the buildings and constructing the annex resulted in a dramatic expansion of Concordiaās mission and program. Concordia Placeās two campuses now serve a multi-age population from babies to senior citizens, providing more than 300 children (95% of whom are not Lutheran) with childcare and after-school programs. Seventy percent of the children in the new program come from minority families, nearly half of which are headed by single parents.
Reverend Zook feels that the marginal added costs of preservation were a demonstration of Concordiaās āgood-faith relationship to the community.ā Instead of being lost to the wrecking ball, this former church serves a new organizationās mission as a place where, in the ministerās words, āThe churchās witness of outreach is grounded in her service to the larger community of neighbors in which she lives.ā +
--
Laurie Petersen is a regular contributor to Chicago Architect, the official publication of AIA Chicago, from which this article was adapted.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Feb 12, 2015
New Appraisal Institute form aids in analysis of green commercial building features
The Instituteās Commercial Green and Energy Efficient Addendum offers a communication tool that lenders can use as part of the scope of work.Ā
Office Buildings | Feb 12, 2015
Is Houston headed for an office glut?
More than 13 million sf could be completed this year, adding to this metroās double-digit vacancy woes.
Modular Building | Feb 12, 2015
New shipping container complex begins construction in Albuquerque
The Green Jeans Farmery already has a hydroponic farm component courtesy of owner and entrepreneur Roy Solomon.
Transit Facilities | Feb 12, 2015
Gensler proposes network of cycle highways in Londonās unused underground
Unused tube lines would host pedestrian paths, cycle routes, cultural spaces, and retail outlets.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 11, 2015
Primer: Using 'parallel estimating' to pinpoint costs on healthcare construction projects
As pressure increases to understand capital cost prior to the first spade touching dirt, more healthcare owners are turning to advanced estimating processes, like parallel estimating, to improve understanding of exposure, writes CBRE Healthcare's Andrew Sumner.
Transportation & Parking Facilities | Feb 11, 2015
11 of the nationās best āComplete Streetsā policies of 2014
Austin, Texas, and Troy, N.Y., are among the cities with the strongest safe streets policies, according to a new report.
Sponsored | Roofing | Feb 11, 2015
New school blends with local architecture using Petersen metal roof
Perkins Eastman in Stamford, Conn., designed the school to emphasize and integrate the International Baccalaureate curriculum throughout.
Mixed-Use | Feb 11, 2015
Developer plans to turn Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs HQ into New Urbanist town center
Designed byĀ Eero Saarinen in the late 1950s, the two-million-sf, steel-and-glass buildingĀ was oneĀ of the best-funded and successful corporate research laboratories in the world.
Architects | Feb 11, 2015
Shortlist for 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award announced
Copenhagen, Berlin, and Rotterdam are the cities where most of the shortlisted works have been built.Ā
BIM and Information Technology | Feb 10, 2015
Google's 3D scanning camera leaves the lab
Google is said to be partnering with LG to create a version of the technology for public release sometime this year.