National Register of Historic Places

Unitarian Church of the Messiah

St. Louis (Independent City), St. Louis County, Missouri
Listed
September 21, 1980
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
80004513

About this property

The Unitarian Church of the Messiah was a church at 508 North Garrison Avenue at the corner of Locust and Garrison Sts. in St. Louis, Missouri, USA and was the third church of the St. Louis congregation of Unitarians, founded in 1835. It was designed by noted Boston-based architects Peabody & Stearns in the Late Victorian style and constructed in 1880 by Charles Everett Clark, one of Peabody & Stearns' longtime contractors. The exterior walls were constructed of locally quarried blue limestone with a tawny colored sandstone quarried from Warrensburg, Missouri. The interior walls were faced with buff brick from the Peerless Brick Company of Philadelphia, among other materials. The original roof was made of red slate. The congregation's first pastor William Greenleaf Eliot initially proposed its construction in January 1877 and commissioned Peabody & Stearns in 1878. The congregation purchased the plot of land in 1879. Ground was broken in November 1879, and the cornerstone laid February 1, 1880. The first service was held on December 26, 1880 with the official dedication on December 16, 1881. It was designated a St. Louis City Landmark in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. A fire in January 1982 caused by squatters living in a basement storage room gutted the structure, leading to its eventual demolition in 1987. Because of its demolition, it was removed from the National Register in 1994. Ernst R. Kroeger served as organist at the church.

Location

St. Louis (Independent City), St. Louis County, Missouri
38.63591, -90.22139

Categories

EDUCATIONARCHITECTURERELIGIONSOCIAL HISTORY
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

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0.1 mi
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Autocar Sales and Service Building
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Nearby Battles

Action at St. Louis (Spanish Fort San Carlos)
1780Revolutionary War
1.3 mi
Mississippian East St. Louis Site Violence
1050Pre-Columbian
3.7 mi
East St. Louis Race Riot 1917
1917Modern
3.8 mi

Questions about this property

When was Unitarian Church of the Messiah listed on the National Register?

Unitarian Church of the Messiah was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 21, 1980.

What type of historic resource is Unitarian Church of the Messiah?

Unitarian Church of the Messiah is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Unitarian Church of the Messiah?

The period of significance for Unitarian Church of the Messiah is recorded as the industrial era.

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