The West End used to be one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city. It’s changed dramatically with a mix of homeowners and public housing. There is amazing architecture everywhere. Take the former synagogue above, which reminds me of the Virginia Theater in Dutchtown.
Or check out this mansion above, or the church below. I’m suspecting the church below might have been a member of that string of Christian Scientists churches that once stretched across the city.
Solomon’s Temple church was indeed a Christian Science church, called “The Fourth Church.” It was built in 1909. Apparently it was still a CS church in 1970, but that is all I could discover. Solomon’s Temple apparently bought the property sometime prior to 1992.
The Friendship Missionary Baptist Church was constructed as the Plaza Theater in 1910 and closed around 1929-ish and switched to a synagogue until 1947 when it again became a theater and operated until 1956. The Baptist church bought the building in 1957 and moved there,
Fascinating history!
3452 Potomac,St. Louis, Missouri 63118 St. Louis was the address for Fifth Church. I am assuming it was built and dedicated after Fourth Church shown above. It amazes me how large many of their churches were. I think the churches reflect the surplus and success that many of its members experienced in their daily lives. Christian Science attracted many Jewish members in the southern part of the U.S. There was no paid clergy in the churches, so money collected would go to pay for maintenance of their buildings, as well as, money sent to the Mother Church in Boston.