St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Location:
St. Luke’s Espiscopal Church is located at 939 Hinman Ave, Evanston (60202) [map]. Please enter the building through the nave entrance on Hinman Ave.
Parking:
St. Luke’s does not have a parking lot. There is ample street parking in the surrounding neighborhood. There is a parking garage two blocks from the venue - at the corner of Chicago Ave. and Main Street.
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Accessibility:
St. Luke’s is a fully accessible venue for those with mobility limitations. There are no stairs required to access the venue, seating, or restrooms.
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About St. Luke’s:
Based on designs in the English Gothic Revival style by architect John Sutcliffe, St. Luke’s was built in stages beginning in 1906. The first stage consisted of the foundations for the twelve piers of the nave, together with the walls and a low roof at ten feet. The second stage in 1909 added the chancel foundation (space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary), ten more feet to the walls, and the “Lady Chapel” in the northwest corner. When the third stage in 1914 was completed, bringing the walls and piers to their present height, St. Luke’s became the largest church building in the diocese. Based on designs by architect Thomas Tallmadge, the “Battle Cloister” (interior courtyard or Garth) and Parish House were built in 1920.
St. Luke’s is home to the Opus 327 pipe organ, which was constructed in 1922 by the Skinner Organ Company of Boston, considered the “Rolls-Royce of organbuilders.” Its installation at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church a century ago was met with great enthusiasm and fanfare. In the decades that followed, however, the late nineteenth-century Romantic organ music and the once-popular orchestral transcriptions for the organ fell out of favor with musicians and the public. Other Skinner organs from that era were allowed to fall into disrepair or were replaced. Through a combination of good fortune and careful stewardship, the Opus 327 escaped such a fate and remains in near-original condition to this day. Opus 327 has logged an estimated 100,000 liturgies and thousands of hours of rehearsals and concerts over its 100-year history. A work of artistic and engineering genius, Opus 327’s 4,336 pipes still speak with grandeur and eloquence. With continued maintenance and attention, this treasure can continue to be enjoyed for many generations to come.