Metropolitan United Methodist Church
|
Metropolitan United Methodist Church
|
|
 |
|
| Location | 8000 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°22′28.77″N 83°4′32.49″W / 42.3746583°N 83.0756917°WCoordinates: 42°22′28.77″N 83°4′32.49″W / 42.3746583°N 83.0756917°W |
| Built | 1922–6 |
| Architect | William E. N. Hunter |
| Architectural style | Other |
| MPS | Religious Structures of Woodward Avenue TR |
| NRHP reference # | 82002904 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 3, 1982 |
| Designated MSHS | October 23, 1986 |
The Metropolitan United Methodist Church is a church located at 8000 Woodward Avenue (at Chandler) in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was completed in 1926, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1986. This church should not be confused with Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, which is often regarded as a National Church within the United States as it was specifically established by the General Conference to be a "representative presence of Methodism in the nation's capital".
In 1901, two Detroit Methodist congregations, the Woodward Avenue Methodist Episcopal (founded in 1885) and the Oakland Avenue Church (founded in 1886), merged to form the North Woodward Avenue Methodist Church. Two years later, Dr. Charles Bronson Allen became pastor and convinced the congregation to construct a building at Woodward and Melbourne which burned down on Christmas Eve 1916. The congregation decided to rebuild grander than ever. One of the congregants, Sebastian S. Kresge (who lived nearby in Boston-Edison), donated land at Woodward and Chandler for a new building as well as offering substiantial financial support. Another congregant, William E. N. Hunter, designed the structure, however, shortages of building materials and labor caused by World War I delayed construction. The cornerstone was finally laid June 4, 1922, and the first services were held in the completed sanctuary January 17, 1926. By the mid-1930s, the congregation was the largest local church in the Methodist world. Church membership peaked in 1943 at 7,300 members.
The church is a very large structure in the English Gothic style, built from a distinctive ochre granite from Massachusetts. It is built in a traditional cruciform design buttressed with several low side wings and a gabled roof. The sanctuary occupies the western half of the building while the eastern half contains an auditorium, offices and classrooms. A hallway on the main level separates the sanctuary from the auditorium. The walls of both spaces retract allowing up seating for up to 7,000 with a view of the chancel.
...
Wikipedia