Saturday Adventures

Building an LDS church building in downtown Chicago has been a pipe-dream that's been batted around for years and years. I remember people being wistful about this idea way back when I was attending the singles ward (pre-2008). Then, maybe in 2010, things began to get more serious. It was around then that there began to be negotiations to find a location. However, projects this grand tend to be complicated; do they redesign an already existing building, do they build a new one? If yes, where??

Historically, getting to church from the city can be rough business, especially if you don't have a car; Chicago residents really depend on the public transit. This was a big problem for the singles branch. Initially, when it first was created in 2006, they met up in the north burbs, at the stake center. A fine location, but on Sundays the buses up there didn't run, so you'd have to walk more than a mile from the nearest train. After a while, they were able to rent a building on the Northwestern campus which, though not prefect, was definitely an improvement. Years later, after several building switches, some of which made the commute easier or much more difficult, they begin to rent a schoolhouse in Lincoln Park. The school was in a prime location and they've been there for nearly 7 years.

I've been blessed to have a car for most of the 12 years that I've lived in the Chicago area, so getting to church hasn't generally been too difficult for me. And once I "graduated" out of the singles ward, we moved to areas a ways away from downtown and so most of these building changes haven't personally affected me, but I've seen the struggles and have great sympathy for those who've had these extra hurdles getting to church. So, I was very excited when they announced a few years ago that they'd *finally* found a location and were actually going to build a big building - large enough to house 4 wards to start, with room to grow in years to come.

However, that announcement was in like 2012, or maybe they broke ground in 2012 or something... but still, it was a *long* time ago and I hadn't heard any new updates for so long, I began to wonder if it was ever going to be finished. Then, a few weeks ago, they announced that there was going to be an open house for the newly finished church building in River North! So, of course we had to go.

We opted to take the trains, figuring that (even with parking included in the building) there were no guarantees at an event open to everyone. However, taking the trains on the weekend (or holidays) is always a gamble, and today we had a bit of a hiccup with unexpected train-rerouting and walked more than expected, but we made it!

commuter face

It's a really beautiful building! They've decorated in a classy and elegant way, that I think will age well. There are several upgrades and they even got some antiques (a pulpit and a sacrament table) that were in the original stake center when it was dedicated back in the '30s, so it's a nice blend of the old and new. I didn't take many pictures inside, but there's more in this Facebook album here.

from the front

from the back patio

After the tour, it was about lunch time, so we headed to a nearby Portillo's for lunch. I sort of have a love/hate relationship with Portillo's, but they definitely have a fun atmosphere:

Then, finally, we hiked back to the trains and headed home.

liquid lunch!

Hooray for a Saturday adventure! And hooray for a finally finished building downtown. Tomorrow is the first Sunday the wards will meet there.