Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist

Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1968, is an award-winning modern style Christian Science church building located in The Loop at 55 East Wacker Drive, (at Wabash Avenue) in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It was designed by noted Chicago-based architect Harry Weese, whose most famous work is the Washington Metro but who is remembered best as the architect who "shaped Chicago’s skyline and the way the city thought about everything from the lakefront to its treasure-trove of historical buildings."Built by Sumner Sollitt Construction Company of concrete in a circular design, the building has no windows in the interior amphitheater.. Outside light comes through a skylight at the top of the oculus in the center of the conical roof. Pedestrian entrance to the building is via a bridge over a sunken garden, which Weese said "was for the benefit of the Sunday School, which didn't have any windows" but is lit through the garden by the light from the street level above. The semicircular auditorium which seats 764 is designed so that no seat is more than 54 feet from the Readers' Platform, which is the focal point of all Christian Science church auditoriums. An invisible sound reinforcement system with 350 hidden microphones allows those in attendance at the Wednesday evening testimonial meetings to give testimonies without having to leave their seats. Off street parking is provided by a subterranean parking garage. A feature of the lower lobby is an acrylic painting on canvas entitled "Millenium Garden: Psalm 23,” completed by Chicago artist Anne Farley Gaines in 2001. In 1996, Seventeenth Church received the 25 Year Award of the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.