Fort Street Presbyterian Church

In nineteenth-century Europe, there was a romantic interest in all things medieval, including the Gothic style of architecture. The first buildings to be affected in Michigan were churches. The Fort Street Presbyterian Church is considered by some to be one of the nation's finest examples of the Gothic style. On February 21, 1849, a committee of the Presbytery of Detroit gathered in the one-story brick session room of the First Presbyterian Church with the purpose of organizing a second Presbyterian Church in Detroit.

In March of that year, the corporation of the society was organized and the question of a church building was brought forth. General Lewis Cass donated a lot on Lafayette Avenue, but it was considered too far out of town; therefore, the trustees purchased a lot on the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Wayne Street from James A. Van Dyke for $1,500. They applied the Cass lot toward the purchase price.

A church was built on the property, being completed on April 7, 1850, at a cost of $4,364. The Rev. Robert R. Kellogg was the first pastor, and during the first five years, 190 names were listed on the church roll.

On March 3, 1853, people interested in building a church on Fort Street gathered in Judge Conant's office in the rear of the First National Bank and resolved to organize temporarily for the purpose of building a church under the name of the Fort Street Presbyterian Society. A building committee was appointed which considered a suitable site. Some advised the purchase of the lot on the southwest corner of Fort and Cass streets; however, it was decided to buy the lot at the corner of Fort and Third, with 100 feet of frontage for $7,000. The old church was sold to the United Presbyterian Society, and its purchase price applied to the cost of the new church.

Construction on the new church began, and on November 18, 1855, the church was dedicated. The Rev. Henry Neill was the first pastor. On March 19, 1859, the corporate name of the society was changed to Fort Street Presbyterian Church of Detroit.

Despite destructive fires, the church exterior remains essentially unchanged and is one of the oldest churches still in use in Michigan.

The Fort Street Presbyterian Church, located on the southeast corner of Fort and Third streets, is a thick edifice built of limestone, seven bays long, and has a steep gable roof. It has a corner tower with a slender, octagonal wooden spire approximately 230 feet in height, featuring flying buttresses. The steeple is reported to be the tallest in Michigan and was copied from a fifteenth-century English cathedral. The small northeast tower terminates in an octagonal turret based on King's College Chapel, Cambridge, England.

The high-roofed, hammer-beamed trussed audience room is 60 by 90 feet, has 120 pews, and seats approximately 1,000 persons. It has three portals leading from the narthex, two of them towers. The basement is approximately 12 feet high and capable of seating 400. The Fort Street or main front is a mixed composition of stone details.

The large front openings are higher than the front nave window, whose main gable is capped by a low tower motif on the Third Street side facade. The high lancets are set between pinnacled wall buttresses with a corbel-cornice. The windows are colored, and their tracery is of wood. The limestone walls have cut stone trim, jambs, arch moldings, parapets, and pinnacles.

Its original cost was $70,000. The church interior and parts of the exterior were repaired and improved in 1870 costing approximately $30,000. The crescent gallery, walnut pews and pulpit, carpeting, and pew cushions were installed at this time.