The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-17
week IN CHICAGO
FOR CHURCHMEN
Presbyterians Open Biggest
and Costiest Protestant
Ed6ce in City.
PASTOR MODERATOR TOO
Is Called Handsome. Smart. Evansel-
istic, and Not Too Philo-
sophieal."
PASTOR MODERATOR, TOO

Washington clergy end laity who &
TO the general assembly Of the Pres
byterians this week will be amazed to
Church of Chicago has done 1t has
built a new church downtown and made
II the most magnificeptly expensive
church ever erected by a Protestant de-
nomination In Chicago. For years our
Protestant churches have been retreat
ing from the downtown district. selling
their edifices and moving further out
and usually building smaller structures
in the new location.
The Fourth Church has reversed this
policy by staying downtown and puiio-
ing larger, according to GRAPHIC, writ
ing In the Congregationalist- The church
could do this thing, because It has IN
the pulpit preacher who would draw
an audience anywhere, and in Its pews
people rich enough to build church al
any cost. Dr. John Timothy Stone, the
pastor is handsome. smart, evangelistic,
and not too philosophical. but staying
near enough to earth for men and vom-
en- who have an existence outside OF
books to understand him and keep In
touch with his mental apparatus. 1
mention the fact that he Is handsome
because that is valuable asset Tor a
minister. Canon Liddon was called the
foremost preacher in the English Es-
Establishment, and thought him the most
handsome man ! ever saw In pulpit.
! also speak of DR.. Stones evangelistic
disposition and habit because II Is
good thing for preacher to have some
religion and also to have his heart set
upon persuading other people to take
share in it. Religion helps a minister to
solve church problems. DIR. Stone found
the pews of the Fourth Church inclin-
ing to vacancy, and he straightway pro-
ceeded to fill them.
As to the cost OF the new church. no
tice some OF the men and women VINO
put themselves underneath 1t. There Is
Henry P. Crowell, president OF the
Quaker Oats Company, which has made
millions by getting out before break
fast: Cyrus H. Mccormick, president Of
the International Harvester Company,
which has reaped in golden fields: Harold
Mccormick, vice president and treasur-
er Of the company and son-in-law OF
John D. Rockefeller; Mrs. Nettie F.
James B. Forgan, president of the First
National Bank Of Chicago; Moses ].
Wentworth. millionaire capitalist;
David B. Jones. president of the Mineral
Point Zinc Company; Thomas d. Jones,
another capitalist, and other rich people
too numerous to mention.
When these men and women of wealth.
who give so literally and largely to
other good causes set out to build q
church for themselves. II was bound to
be something more than usual. The new
Fourth Church Is massively unusual. The
architects call II q picture in Gothic art.
and the reader knows how impressive
and how 1t goes down into one with
overawing effect. The architects also
+
multitude of buttresses. That expresses
II. for one seldom sees a building SO
buttressed inside and Quit could with |
stand a siege or make a cyclone tired
ana weak. And there are spires and pin |
nacles and cloisters and gables ana
dormers and porches and bays and pur-
pie and green slate and copper ridges
40 feet high. with carved crockets ex-
tending from bottom to top.
The cloister is a massive stone archway
in front of what is called a court and
with it's fountain gives the appearance |
of a Mexican patio. The structure. includ- |
ing the church proper, the manse, the |
clubrooms, and the Sunday school wings, |
forms a quadrangle, and covers half a |
block. The auditorium or nave Of the |
church is 13S feet long and fifty-six feet |
wide. Here the Goth has done his ut
most, with arched windows and Grisaile |
glass, great piers which support lofty |
arches and hide the view, tiled aisles and |
concrete floors. The pews and other
church furniture are in fumed oak They
look somber but rich. The seating
capacity of the nave, including the CALLER
les, is 1,50o, which seems a small num-
Der for so great building
The organ. which cost Sc 600, has 1000
pipes and required 5000 feet of wire
cable to make the connections. 1t was
given by member of the church. The
club building is three stories high 100
feet in length. and contains all the
rooms and appointments which go with
the present-day idea Of club convenience
and comfort The manse. like the church,
fronts on Lincoln Parkway where a great
stream of automobiles pass, and it has
a beautiful view of the lake The interior
is of unfinished concrete and the wood
work stained birch, with some mahogany
and wainscoating
The Bible or Sunday school rooms are
not large, and their low ceilings and
massive masonry make them look a little
gloomy. In fact, fidelity to ancient art
and the Partially for solid masonry
throughout the building seems to inter-
fere with the light and airy effects to
which Americans have become accus-
toned. 1t is the opposite of a country
with big open windows
looking out on a field of corn The
whole cost of the site and buildings was
ss5n. 900. all of which was raised without ..
selling the old building. and without in /,
with the regular offerings of :
the church, for in the same year the
'rnces. The current expenses of the ,