Pilgrim Church: An example of innovation by 19th Century architect Sidney Badgley
Canadian native Sidney Rose Badgley made a name for himself in Cleveland and throughout the Midwest and the East Coast in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Known for his Gothic Revival church designs and homes around the Hough neighborhood, he also designed stunning theaters and academic buildings in styles ranging from Georgian Revival to Richardson Romanesque.
One of Badgley’s churches—Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC) on West 14th Street in Tremont—will be the focus of Tremont History Project’s Historic Church Tour Series, this Saturday, Oct. 28 at 12 p.m.
Sidney R. BadgleyBorn in Ernestown, Ontario, Canada in 1850, Badgley served as an apprentice in Toronto before coming to Cleveland in 1887, where he began designing both on his own and in partnership with fellow Cleveland church architect William Nicklas.
During the Badgley-Nicklas partnership, the pair designed almost 20 buildings in Greater Cleveland, with 10 structures being churches, including St. Timothy Missionary Baptist Church in MidTown and Lakewood United Methodist Church.
Other Badgley designs of note include the 1894 Gothic Revival Massey Hall in Toronto and the recently restored and renovated 1898 Slocum Hall at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Locally, in 1902 Carlos L. Jones commissioned Badgley to design the Jones Home for Friendless Children in today’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood—a three-story brick Georgian Revival building serving children in need.
In addition to Pilgrim UCC, two churches designed by Badgley are also at West 14th Street and Starkweather Avenue in Tremont: St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church (which was rebuilt after a fire in the 1930s) and Iglesia Pentecostal El Calvario (originally
Emmanuel Evangelical United Bretheren Church).
Badgley also designed Scranton Road Bible Church, originally Scranton Road Free Will Baptist Church.
Pilgrim UCC first began in 1854 as a Sunday school in Tremont—then known as University Heights because of the 1851 establishment of Cleveland University in the neighborhood. A congregation was organized in 1859 under the name University Heights Congregational Church and a brick house of worship was built at 70 W. 14th St. The church was later known as Heights Congregational in the 1870s, then Jennings Avenue Congregational in the 1880s before taking on the name Pilgrim Congregational in the 1890s.
Interior of Pilgrim Congregational UCCThe church had earned a reputation for social and community outreach in the neighborhood, and in 1893 the congregation decided to build a new church at 2592 W. 14th St. The congregation commissioned Badgley to design a building that would suit both their worship and community service needs.
Pilgrim’s new church design checked all of the boxes and the Richardsonian Romanesque style was completed and dedicated in 1894 for $150,000.
The church was constructed of sandstone and was one of the first buildings in Cleveland to have electricity—powered by steam-driven, coal-fired turbines in the basement. The in-house power plant still exists today.
The 134-foot bell tower still houses the original bell embossed with “The Bell Foundry, Baltimore MD 1894.” The $5,000 bell was a gift from Samuel W. Sessions cofounder of Lamson & Sessions.
Pilgrim’s interior, which has multiple levels, has been preserved to reflect the same features installed in 1894—stenciled wallpaper, quality woodwork, a stained glass dome, a gas-powered chandelier, and an 1894 Farrand & Votey organ.
Pilgrim Church is considered one of Badgley's most outstanding designs. It is one of the first churches designed in the U.S. to function as both a religious and community service center. The interior features not only the sanctuary, but also has a kitchen, library, art museum, and gymnasium—with a large interior sliding door to provide a flexible floor plan.
Badgley's pioneering design was exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1900.
Tremont History Project’s tour of Pilgrim begins at 12 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 28. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended.
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