Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Detroit Michigan

Date added: December 14, 2024

Selden Avenue facade looking north (1981)

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The 1891 Cass Avenue United Methodist Church is a monumental example of Richardsonian Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture and was an important work of Malcolmson & Higginbotham, a prominent Detroit architectural firm. Of major significance are the organ, which is thought to be the largest nineteenth-century pipe organ in Michigan, and the Tiffany glass windows of the sanctuary. Formed in 1880 to serve a rapidly growing, suburban neighborhood, the church is now located in the Cass Corridor, an inner-city Detroit neighborhood.

The Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in 1880 as an outgrowth of the efforts of the Methodist Church and Sunday School Alliance. The Alliance's Missionary Committee felt that this rapidly growing area was too far distant from the downtown to be served by the two downtown Methodist Episcopal churches. In 1881 David Preston, a prominent local Methodist, bought two lots, totaling 107 x 150 feet, at the intersection of Cass and Selden Avenues specifically for the construction of a chapel. The Detroit architectural firm of Mason and Rice was chosen. The new chapel faced Seldon and contained meeting rooms in the front, and the main sanctuary in the rear wing. The contractors were Dewey and Abel and the total cost of the building and lot was $20,960. Dedication services were held on December 2^nd, 1883 with ninety-nine people in attendance.

In 1891 the congregation decided to erect a church. The Detroit firm of Malconson and Higginbothom were chosen to design this structure. The building was designed in the Romanesque style used by Henry Hobson Richardson in his Trinity Church of 1872-77 in Boston. In addition to designing the new church, the firm incorporated the original chapel into the plans. The basic form of the 1883 Mason and Rice structure remained but the facade was altered to match the new church. The cornerstone of the new church was laid by Bishop Newman on September 17^th, 1891. Henry Chandler and Company were the contractors for the stonework and Mayhew and Son executed the carpentry work. The cost of the structure was $50,000.

In its burgeoning neighborhood, the church grew rapidly. However, between 1918 and 1928, its membership shrank from 767 to 275 as the middle-class whites who made up its membership moved to newer suburban areas. Rather than close the church and dispose of the property, Detroit's Methodists chose to embark on a one-year experiment to convert the church into an evangelistic center. The center was never established, but the major outreach program spurred by the effort resulted in the expansion of the congregation.

In 1941 the church building was declared unsafe by the city and closed. Activities were transferred to Jefferson School. Once again the church was in a crisis situation and once again the Methodist churches of the city came to the rescue. The sum of five thousand dollars was raised for repairs to the roof, plaster, and wiring. The repairs were made and the building re-opened in 1942. It remains in use today.

The Cass Avenue Methodist Church is significant among Detroit's churches for its long history of involvement in community outreach programs. In 1894 Alice Bowen, founder of the Visiting Nurses' Society in Detroit, was first given support for this effort from the Cass Avenue Church Relief Committee. In the 1930s, under the direction of Rev. Perkins, the social service program of the church was enlarged. A recreation program was developed in cooperation with the City Recreation Department. During the 1930s, the church provided food and clothing for many families in the neighborhood who were unable to qualify for aid from the Welfare Department. During the peak of this work In 1933, 1,400 families received help during just one month. The church is still intensely involved in the community with outreach programs for the handicapped, for senior citizens, and for the underprivileged.

The church is significant as a fine and virtually unaltered example of Richardsonian Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture whose sanctuary retains all of its original woodwork, fittings, and furniture. The church is also important as a major work of Malconson and Higginbothom, a prominent Detroit architectural firm. The Cass Avenue Methodist Church was the first major commission awarded to the newly formed partnership, whose career was to span over forty years. The firm is best known for the school buildings it produced for the City of Detroit, the University of Detroit, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan

The church is significant for housing what is thought to be the largest nineteenth-century organ in Michigan, a three-manual instrument of thirty-four ranks of pipes built in 1892 by Johnson & Son of Westfield, Massachusetts. The builders were one of the three or four most important firms in the field in the second half of the nineteenth century, and this instrument typifies their later work. Completely unaltered save for the installation of an electric blower, the organ is large enough to represent the tonal ideals of the Johnsons in the early Nineties in a complete form. It is thought that no other Johnson organ in Michigan approaches this instrument in size or in lack of alteration. Also of major importance are the large stained glass windows in the east, north, and south sanctuary walls. These were designed by Tiffany Studios of New York.

Building Description

The Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church is a nineteenth-century, stone, Richardsonian Romanesque structure composed of three sections; the original chapel of 1883, the present church of 1891, and a small, one-story addition of 1968 on the north side. The church is located on the southwest corner of Selden and Cass Avenues in a densely populated residential and commercial area one mile north of Detroit's central Business district. The building (including the chapel) measures 72 feet on Cass Avenue and 146 feet on Seldon Avenue.

The original chapel is located at the western end of the Seldon Avenue elevation. This 1883 building faced Seldon Avenue and was set back several feet from the property line. It was executed in a simple Victorian Tudor style of red brick on a cut stone foundation. The structure had a T-shaped plan with a two-and-one-half-story main block and a one-and-one-half-story rear wing.

When the church proper was constructed, the chapel was remodeled and enlarged. The chapel's first-floor facade was extended to the property line along Seldon Avenue, the design of the facade was modified to correspond with the Richardsonian Romanesque style of the new church, and the original facade was sheathed in Grafton stone to match the church. The chapel's general outline and a corbelled chimney stack can still be seen. The roof has been re-clad with dark grey asphalt shingles.

The 1891 church building, located to the east of the original chapel, is Richardsonian Romanesque in style. Cross gables form a Greek cross which is dominated by a square corner tower eighty-six feet in height. The church was constructed of uniform, rock-faced, Grafton stone in a coursed ashlar finish trimmed with variegated lonia sandstone. Its exterior has remained intact except for the replacement of the original green slate roof with a dark grey asphalt shingle one. The main tower retains its original green ceramic tile roof. Large oak double doors on the tower's south and east sides serve as the church's main entrances. The doorways are set in round-headed arches and have carved tympanums.

The interior retains its original red-oak pews, communion and choir rails, wainscoting, and organ case. Large timber arches springing from squat Romanesque columns span the sanctuary from front to rear and support the concealed roof truss system. The ceiling is subdivided by joist-like, wooden ribs into large plastered panels that span the ceiling between the arches. Fresco work which originally covered these panels is no longer extant. The auditorium floor descends gradually from the sides and rear toward the pulpit on the west end. The seats are arranged in a semi-circular pattern facing the pulpit. Behind the pulpit, the thirty-four ranks of pipes of the 1892 Johnson and Son organ are set into an arched recess. The only alteration the organ has seen is the installation of an electric blower.

The sanctuary's north, south, and east walls are each pierced by a broad, round-headed window fitted with stained glass produced by the Tiffany Studios of New York.