DOORS OPEN MILWAUKEE 2018: CHURCHES

At this year's Doors Open Milwaukee event, I visited three churches on Milwaukee's lower east side, First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and St. Paul Episcopal Church.  All three venues were constructed in the last quarter of the 19th century, all are within three blocks of each other, and all are classic architecturally.  But none are, in my view, particularly outstanding.  Here are some of the photos that I got.

First Unitarian Society.

The Unitarian church was the smallest and had the most rustic interior.

Probably the best feature of this church was the large stained glass window above the balcony at the rear of the nave.

Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

Interestingly, this church's organ was at the front of the church.  While I was taking pictures, I was fortunate to hear a recital by the church's organist, including an emotional rendition of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (emotional for me at least).

The church also featured an excellent collection of stained glass windows.

This last igroup was at the landing of the stairs leading to the balcony.  A fine collection.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

I didn't really care for the dark brown stone used to face St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

The interior was more attractive, but, perhaps because I am a bit jaded, I thought it was OK but not great.

The church's best features, and the ones the docents properly touted, were the stained glass windows, including a number created by Tiffany.

Photographing stained glass windows can be tricky because of the vast difference in brightness between the window and the interior walls.  Either you have to overexpose the window or underexpose the walls.  In this last photo of the rose window, I exposed for the glass, and then darkened the "non-window" areas in post processing.  In fact, post processing helps a great deal in this process.

I visited a fourth church during the Doors Open Milwaukee, St. Stanislaus, on the city's south side.  It was by far the most interesting of the religious venues, and I chose to provide it with its own post, which follows this one.

John