Chicago has a joyful new reason to wander the South Side. Built on Belief, a new initiative from the Chicago Architecture Center, pairs artists and designers with two historic sacred spaces in Woodlawn, inviting everyone to explore how architecture, memory and community come together. Both sites opened to visitors on October 17 and 18, during Open House Chicago weekend.
At The First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, at 6400 S. Kimbark Avenue, the Center partnered with Arts at First, the arts program of the historic church, and invited three artists to respond to its soaring 1927 building. Bella Adekoya’s “Imole Grove” reimagines the church greenhouse garden as a true third place to gather and exchange ideas. Schetauna Powell’s “The Living Quilt” turns patterns from African American vernacular traditions into an interactive gathering place. And Eva Nwachukwu’s “Sanctuary of Breath: The Architecture of Black Sound” fills the sanctuary with spatialized audio, light, sculpture and community-sourced voices, asking what truly makes a space feel sacred.
A few blocks away, Narrow Bridge Arts Club, at 6028 S. Champlain Avenue, joins in from a 1923 building born as a synagogue and home to beloved South Side churches for 80 years. Its coming programs include a communal meal with the Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir singing in January 2027, a day of planting native trees in the spring, and a new mural opening in the summer.
The First Presbyterian activation runs through April 16, 2027, with Narrow Bridge programs rolling out into 2027 — a warm, art-filled invitation to rediscover two treasures of Chicago’s South Side.
Photo: The First Presbyterian Church of Chicago
