First Presbyterian Church - Saline, Michigan
Posted by: GT.US
N 42° 10.046 W 083° 46.856
17T E 270285 N 4672110
The First Presbyterian Church of Saline is located at 143 E. Michignan Ave.
Waymark Code: WM8967
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 02/21/2010
Views: 3
The State of Michigan Preservation webside at (
visit link) tells us:
"The Saline Presbyterian Church features an irregular plan, gabled roof and dominant squared corner tower. The tower rises from the ground at the building's southeast corner to triple-arched louvers on each face. Its short crowning spire is flanked at the base by four matching miniature spires. The large round-arch stained-glass windows on the south and east facades, the raised cut stone foundation, and the small round tower at the structure's southwest corner reveal a Romanesque Revival stylistic influence. "In 1954, new porches and steps were constructed at the front entrances to the church, using stones obtained from Dwight Reynolds's property on Textile Road, from which the original foundation stones had come." (First Presbyterian Church of Saline, Michigan, Sesquicentennial Yearbook) In 1976-78 church members began extensive exterior and interior renovation, which included re-roofing, repair of the bell tower louvered screens, repair and re-roofing of the steeple and construction of classrooms in the basement.
The First Presbyterian Church derives its significance from its role in local Presbyterian history and as a good example of vernacularly interpreted Romanesque Revival architecture. The building is one of many southern Michigan structures designed by the Detroit firm of Frederick H. Spier and William C. Rohns. The prolific duo formed a partnership in 1884, the former after training at the Hanover, Germany, polytechnicum and some time in the office of Gordon W. Lloyd and Elijah E. Myers, the latter after working with the New York architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz. In addition to the Saline church, Spier and Rohns designed a number of railroad depots, the Detroit Chamber of Commerce Building (1895), several buildings at the University of Michigan, St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in Ann Arbor (1899), and Sweetest Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Detroit (1893)."