One of the busiest intersections in Pekin hosts no fewer than four churches that I could spot.
In particular, I was interested in this Modernist church on the southwest corner. Its clean lines contrasted greatly with some of the older churches at the intersection.
Looking closer, I realized I had seen a church similar to this one in Webster Groves, Missouri.
Sadly, the intersection is so hostile to pedestrians that the beauty of this Central Illinois “Holy Corners” is largely lost in the exhaust and speed of the automobiles flying by.
Boy – this Pekin church looks identical to H.R. here in W.G.! Maybe there was a catalog similar to the Sears Craftsman homes that a congregation could order from? Interesting to explore that angle, what?It also reminded me of my GS parish church here in Kirkwood, St. Peters. It was built in 1953 and was quite revisionist at the time. It is largely unchanged today.
This is St. Joseph Catholic Church in Pekin, built in the late 1960s to replace a smaller Gothic Revival Catholic church that was erected in the early 1900s. It’s fascinating that there is another church that looks so similar in Webster Groves, Missouri — that one was built in 1962, designed by the architects A. F. and Arthur Stauder, who also designed and built the 1958 St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in St. Louis. It’s unmistakeable that all three of these churches are Stauder designs. It’s an architectural style that was a fad in the mid-20th century, but Pekin’s United Church of Christ and St. John’s Lutheran nearby far outshine the Catholic parish’s Stauder structure.
Interesting, thanks for the info!