Westminster Presbyterian Church (1897)

Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1897
1200 Marquette Avenue
Architects: Charles S. Sedgwick & Warren H. Hayes
Additions in 1911 (Kindergarten room by Purcell, Feick & Elmslie; demolished), 1937 (Great Hall, Cloister Hall, and Chapel), 1980s, 2002 (architect: Francis Bulbulian) 2008, and 2018 (architect: James Dayton Design)

This building houses one of the oldest Protestant congregations in Minneapolis, Westminster Presbyterian Church, founded in 1857. The style of the original building is English Gothic Revival, which means it is in the tradition of European churches of the 12th century such as the Abbey Church of St. Denis in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London. Three large 'rose' windows (on the north, west, and south sides) and the pointed-arch belfries of the twin towers are characteristic of the style. Though the rough-hewn limestone exterior looks heavy and substantial, the sanctuary is open and airy with a large wrap-around balcony.

Architect Charles Sedgwick arrived in Minneapolis from Binghamton, New York, in 1884 at a very fortuitous time. Largely due to expansion of the city’s flour milling industry, the population of Minneapolis quadrupled during the 1880s to about 160,000. Building was going on everywhere in the city and architects were extremely busy. Sedgwick would later go on to design the Dayton’s building at 7th and Nicollet. For Westminster, he collaborated with Warren H. Hayes, another opportunistic New Yorker who arrived around the same time.

Minneapolis architect James Dayton designed the addition that opened in 2018, and its similarity in style to the work of Frank Gehry is not accidental. Dayton worked in Gehry’s studio for five years before establishing his own company. The new wing doubled the size of the church and contains a 300-seat concert hall, flexible spaces for worship and youth, and a 300-space underground parking garage. The addition also houses the Harman Center for Child and Family Wellbeing and St. David’s Center for Family & Child Development, and is surrounded by new outdoor green spaces, including a meditation garden.