Zion
Lutheran Church

2500 North 21st Street (at Benton)
St. Louis, Missouri 63106

When Zion Church was built in 1895, St. Louis Place was the focus of German religious and cultural life in north St. Louis. You can still see the former First German Baptist Church at 2629 Rauschenbach, across the long park, which was laid out by John O’Fallon in 1850. The old Second German Swedenborgian Church is at the corner of St. Louis Avenue. Up the street at 2926 North 21st is the Freie Gemeinde or Free Thinkers Association building, which had its own library and gymnasium. Brewer Charles Stifel donated a statue of Friedrich Schiller to the park in 1897, but it has been moved to 14th and Market.

Zion was founded in 1860 as the last of four churches in the Generalgemeinde, a united congregation under the leadership of Trinity Lutheran Church in Soulard, a church long familiar to Chamber Chorus audiences. Zion’s first building at Blair and Warren is now the oldest surviving Lutheran church in the St. Louis area, although long in other uses. The architect of the present building, Albert Knell, was born in Canada, trained in Zurich and Stuttgart, and worked with Henry Isaacs on the design of the Mercantile Library, whose rich interiors survived until recently. This impressive limestone Gothic building, originally seating over 1200, is derived from the English Decorated style, notable especially in the patterns of ribbing on the ceiling, which follows the line of the roof.

The windows depict the Good Shepherd and “Suffer the Little Children” in the transepts and the Resurrection at the west end. The intensely blue rose window over the altar, apparently more recent in date, centers on the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation, an image which also appears on the marble altar. Other altar sculptures show Christ’s nativity and ascension, and the figures of Moses (with the tablets) and Paul (with a sword, the symbol of his martyrdom). These, along with the sumptuous pulpit, lectern and font, are works of Schrader and Conradi, northside sculptors. Joseph Conradi (1867-1936) was born in Berne, Switzerland, and studied in Italy. Specializing in liturgical art, he designed Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hyde Park in 1897 and went on to produce religious buildings and sculptures all over the western United States.

A Moeller organ is in the loft above the altar. Rebuilt in 1960, it currently seeks a benefactor to releather its stops. The 16-bell carillon by Stuckstaede Bell Foundry was originally pulled by ropes but is now operated from a small console in the narthex.

The Benton side of the church preserves a reminder of the church’s German heritage in the inscription “Sontags Schule” for Sunday school. The recently refurbished parsonage next to it has a stone front matching the church. The former parochial school buildings on the north side of Benton date from 1909 and 1929 and are now devoted to neighborhood outreach programs.

May 19, 2002 marked the first performance by the Chamber Chorus at Zion Lutheran Church.


Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes
Photos by Roger Hill