ST. STEPHEN LUTHERAN CHURCH

I have driven past St. Stephen Lutheran Church hundreds of times.  The church, which has a prominent steeple, sits just to the east of the north-south freeway in the Walker's Point neighborhood, south of downtown Milwaukee.  From the outside the building appears to be in a long-term state of neglect, and I finally decided that it might be interesting to attempt to capture some classic architecture in a state of decline.  I had assumed that St. Stephen's, if still active, was a a Catholic church, but, in fact, it is and always has been a Lutheran church.

The building has an interesting history.  It was first built at its current location in 1866, with a steeple featuring a four-faced tower added in 1879.  With major repairs looming the congregation razed the church (except for the tower) and rebuilt it in its present form in 1901.  At that time the tower was preserved and refaced in red brick to match the new building.

The day I photographed the church was sunny (and relatively warm).  But there were still challenges. First, the interior was locked and inaccessible, so I was limited to the exterior.  Moreover, only two sides, the south and west, were accessible.  The other two sides were behind fences.  Still, it was fun to look for photographic opportunities.

Here, first, is a not very good photo of the entire church, taken from the southwest.

The main entrance faces to the west.  (Note the change in spelling from "Stephan's" to Stephen's.")

Note the stonework in the pillars on either side of the entrance.  Nice.

As mentioned, the tower features a four-sided clock.

Which appears to be in good repair--and keeping reasonably accurate time.

The church appears to feature very fine stained glass windows.  Prominent is the large window on the south side of the transept.

Here are some detail shots of that window.

The church also features some interesting stonework, particularly above the keystones of the gothic windows and doorways, such as the following.

John