The
International Style worship building was designed by the firm Saarinen and Saarinen, a father and son partnership of
Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950) and
Eero Saarinen (1910–1961); the project was Eliel Saarinen's last completed building. The sculptured stone panels were designed by
William M. McVey (1922–1976). It was dedicated in 1949 and was acknowledged as an architectural masterpiece from the day it opened. As an early, outstanding example of modern religious architecture in the United States, it was widely published in the architectural, popular, and religious press, and provided inspiration for countless modern churches that would be built in the 1950s and 1960s. Noted conductor
Osmo Vänskä said of the church that "It's a good place to play. The acoustics are good for music—for chamber music—and it's a good place for the audience to listen. It's a place not only for the congregation but also a venue for concerts." The congregation opted to go with the design after finding that their plans for a traditional
Gothic Revival building would be too costly. In 1946, a new pastor, William A. Buege, contacted the elder Saarinen, then the president of the
Cranbrook Academy of Art, and convinced him to take the commission. Saarinen had designed the pioneering
First Christian Church in
Columbus, Indiana, in 1941 and used it as a model. It was Eliel Saarinen's last building; he died the following year. Upon the church's opening, Saarinen noted "if a building is honest, the architecture is religious." Restoration of the bell tower was completed in 2011, and the courtyard was reconstructed in 2017. In 2018, the previous organ was replaced with a new pipe organ built by
Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa. Free architecture tours are offered to the public at 11:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of every month. Tours are led by a trained docent from the non-profit Friends of Christ Church Lutheran. Tours for larger groups can be arranged with prior consultation. ==See also==