The Moody Church, Chicago

The Moody Church is a historic evangelical Christian church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
The Moody Church building is located at the corners of North Avenue, Clark Street, and LaSalle Street. It was designed by architects Fugard and Knapp. Construction was begun in 1924 and completed 1 year later, with dedication of the building on November 8, 1925. Covering an area of 140 feet by 225 feet, the church melds features of both Romanesque and Byzantine architecture, and is one of the largest Romanesque churches in the US. Visually, it was intended to bridge the gap between the traditional Roman Catholic cathedral and the typical Protestant church buildings of the late 19th century and early 20th century. The building was originally intended to be 20 feet longer, but due to widening of LaSalle Street, the layout had to be altered; this is believed by some to be the reason for the unusually steep choir loft. From floor to the false acoustic ceiling is 68 feet, and the structural ceiling is 10 to 15 feet above that.
The resulting building remains the largest non-pillared auditorium in the Chicago area, and has permanent seating for 3,740 people, 2,270 on the main floor and 1,470 in the balcony. The curved balcony was one of the earliest examples of cantilevered construction, and its curvature – as well as the rest of the layout of the auditorium – was designed so that all lines focus on the pulpit. Designed in an era before modern sound systems, the building has almost-perfect acoustics, and it is reported that the only element detracting from this aspect is the floor carpet.

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