Westminster Presbyterian Church

1200 Marquette Avenue

One of Minneapolis's oldest religious congregations in a growing building

Architects: Charles S. Sedgwick & Warren H. Hayes, 1897
1911: Kindergarten room by Purcell, Feick & Elmslie (demolished).
1937 addition: great hall, hallway, and chapel
1980s addition: offices on south side
2002 addition: Wing on Marquette Avenue by architect Francis Bulbulian: classrooms, nursery, meeting rooms, and art gallery
2008 addition: Memorial garden and courtyard on north side by landscape architect Shane Coen (Coen + Partners); a chapel was also restored
2018 addition by architect James Dayton: multi-purpose hall, recreation room, meeting spaces, commons space, libraries, and underground parking.

This building houses one of the oldest Protestant congregations in Minneapolis, Westminster Presbyterian Church, founded in 1857. The style is English Gothic Revival, which means it is in the tradition of European churches of the 12th century such as the Abbey Church of St. Denis in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London. Three large round “rose” windows (north, west, and south sides) and the pointed-arch belfries of the twin towers are characteristic of the style. Though the rough-hewn limestone exterior looks heavy and substantial, the sanctuary is open and airy with a generous wrap-around balcony.

Architect Charles Sedgwick arrived in Minneapolis from Binghamton, New York, in 1884 at a very fortuitous time. Largely due to expansion of the city’s flour milling industry, the population of Minneapolis quadrupled during the 1880s to about 160,000. Building was going on everywhere in the city and architects were extremely busy. Sedgwick would later go on to design the Dayton’s building at 7th and Nicollet. For Westminster, he collaborated with Warren H. Hayes, another opportunistic New Yorker who arrived around the same time.

An addition designed by Minneapolis architect James Dayton opened in early 2018. It provides flexible spaces for worship, youth, congregational, community gatherings, and underground parking. One-fourth of the new building houses St. David’s Center for Family & Child Development. The new wing is surrounded by new outdoor green spaces.

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