Trumbull Avenue United Presbyterian Church and Organ
The Pilgrim Church
1435 Brainard at the intersection of Brainard and Trumbull near Scripps Park and near the intersection of Martin Luther King, West Grand River and Trumbull.
This local historic district includes just the Trumbell Avenue Presbyterian
Church and its organ at 1435 Brainard.
Detroit’s first Presbyterian congregation
was organized in 1825. They quickly became sufficiently prosperous to commission
the architects Albert
and Octavious Jordan to design the spectacular Fort
Street Presbyterian Church completed in 1855, but subsequently remodeled.
As the Presbyterian community
grew and became financially successful, the need arose for another church.
In 1881, the congregation that became Trumbull Avenue Presbyterian was
founded
with about half of the members coming from Fort Street Presbyterian. The
Woodbridge neighborhood was slowly developing as an area for prosperous
residents so
the Presbyterian purchased the land at Brainar
d
and Trumbull.
A prominent Swiss architect, Julian Hess, was selected to design the church in cooperation with local architect, Richard Raseman. They produced this ponderous structure using a Venetian Gothic theme. The exterior is elaborately decorated with numerous spires, so many as to be rather distracting. One gets the sense of an overwhelmingly dense structure here in contrast to the “light” design that the Jordan’s used for Fort Street Presbyterian. The exterior of Trumbull Avenue is red pressed brick with very much limestone trim. The seating capacity of this large church was increased to 1,200 in the 1890s, apparently making it the largest Presbyterian Church in the upper Midwest.
The organ was installed in 1889 and is representative of its time. This is a Granville wood tracker organ with 29 ranks of pipes constructed in Northville, Michigan. The interior was originally done in golden oak with mustard hued paint on the interior walls and ceiling. The stained glass windows were, in the past, extensive and glorious, reflecting the tremendous investments congregants made in their church. The designer made extensive use of gold, yellow and orange glass so that the window would harmonize with the interior trim. Several windows feature the evangelists. In one, Paul raises his hand and asks “What must I do to be saved?” and is answered with “Believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Another window shows Paul in prison writing the letter to Timothy.
Five stained glass windows were stolen from this church on July 24, 1973. One was returned voluntarily and two were found in the possession of a Detroit doctor. The other two have not yet been recovered.
In 1914, the Trumbull Avenue Presbyterian Church changed its name to Trumbull Avenue Presbyterian Church and Society. Forty- four years later, it became the Trumbull Avenue United Presbyterian Church after the Presbyterian Church of North America merged with the Presbyterian Church of the United States to create the United Presbyterian Church. This building is now used by a congregation known as the Pilgrim Church. I do not know how or if they are affiliated with the United Presbyterian Church.
Architects: Julian Hess and Richard Raseman
Date of Construction: 1887 to 1889
Architectural Style: Venetian Gothic or, perhaps, Byzantine
City of Detroit Local Historic District: Established October 29, 1982
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Listed June 6, 1977
National Registry of Historic Sites: Not Listed
Use in 2004: This large building is used by the Pilgrim Church. The structure
has not been well maintained, so there any many indications that this building
is following into disrepair.
Photo: Ren Farley; June, 2004
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