This is, perhaps, the most massive church in Detroit. For many decades it was the home of the oldest Protestant congregation in Michigan. As the city's population grew slowly in the years after the stalemate ended the War of 1812, Father Gabriel Richard found himself ministering to Protestants as well as Catholics. He, territorial governor Lewis Cass, and Judge Augustus Woodward convinced a young graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary—the Reverend John Montieth—to come to Detroit in 1817. Reverend Montieth was the first Protestant minister to work in Detroit and served as the first president of the Catholoepistmied that Father Richard founded—the school that became the University of Michigan. Churches have traditionally carried out charitable work. First Presbyterian is the congregation that founded Harper Hospital in the 19th century.
This edifice is the finest work of the Detroit architects George DeWitt Mason and Zecariah Rice. Henry Hobson Richardson is thought by many to be the nation's most accomplished architect of the late 19th century. First Presbyterian in Detroit is modeled after Hobson's Trinity Church in Boston. It is a large red rough-cut sandstone building. The interior is in the form of a Greek cross. Huge masonry arches support a massive tower in red sandstone that is buttressed by substantial turrets at each corner. This tower is capped with a steep slate roof with gabled dormers. This church includes an exceptional array of stained glass windows, many but not all of them, by Tiffany. One of the most impressive shows the Star of David surrounded by the tongues of fire that descended upon Mary and the Apostles at the Ascension. Another window commemorates the first sermon that the Reverend Montieth gave in Detroit. And there is a window displaying John on the island of Patmos writing the last and most mysterious book of the Bible—Revelations.
In 1936, Woodward was widened and the beautiful tripled-arched entrance porch with its elaborate carvings was moved from the Woodward face of the church to the Edmund Place side. First Presbyterian ceased using this building in the fairly recent past, but I do not know the date. The Ecumenical Theological Seminary was founded in Detroit in 1990. Two years later they rented First Presbyterian Church to serve as their home and campus. Ten years later, the Presbyterians gave the distinctive church that Mason and Rice designed more than century earlier to that seminary.
Architectural style: Romanesque in the style of Henry Hobson
Richardson
Architects: George DeWitt Mason and Zechariah Rice.
Date of construction: 1889, although many of the appurtenance structures were
completed at later dates
Michigan Register of Historic Places: P25103, Listed August 3, 1979
Michigan Historic Marker: Erected; August 26, 1980
National Register of Historic Sites: Listed: December 19, 1979
Use in 2009: Ecumenical Theological Seminary
Website for that seminary: http://etseminary.edu/
Photo: Ren Farley; September 2002
Description updated: August, 2009