Chapel in the Sky

Last updated on March 1, 2024.

The Chapel in the Sky at the Chicago Temple claims to occupy the highest building floor in the world with a place of worship.

History of the Chicago Temple

The Chicago Temple, located in the Loop on the south side of Daley Plaza, is a mixed-use church and office building that stands 578 feet tall. It was built in 1924 and was the city’s tallest building for six years. The architect was Holabird & Roche and it’s owned by the First United Methodist Church of Chicago.

The churches offices are on the second floor and floors 5 to 21 of the building are office space. The legendary trial attorney Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) once had his office on the 6th floor. He was the defense attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial.

First United Methodist Church

The ground floor contains the main sanctuary of the church. It’s 4 stories high and can seat 1,000 people. A beautiful hand-carved depiction of Christ weeping over Jerusalem sits in front of the altar.

The First United Methodist Church was the very first religious organization in Chicago, founded in 1831. The original church was a log cabin built in 1834 on the north bank of the Chicago River. The cabin was moved to the location of the current building in 1838 as part of a claim.

Tours of the Chapel in the Sky

There are free tours of the Chapel in the Sky after worship services on Wednesdays and Sundays and at 2pm on Saturdays (as of February 2024). Anyone interested can check in with an usher and wait for a tour to begin at the Welcome Desk. There’s no religious message, just a nicely done architectural explanation and a history of the congregation and building.

22nd Floor Museum

The tour begins with everyone riding the elevator up to the 22nd floor to a small museum with church historical items and a stained glass window of the church’s founders, John Wesley and his brother Charles. There, we were given a short history of the building and how it came into existence.

Chapel in the Sky

Next, we rode up the elevator to the Chapel in the Sky. At the top, the guide talked about the history as well as architectural and design elements of the chapel. The chapel was donated in 1952 by Myrtle Walgreen, widow of Charles Walgreen (1873-1939), the founder of the Walgreens drugstore empire.

The chapel features a hand-carved wooden panel of Christ weeping over Chicago. It was created by the apprentice of the man who carved the panel in the altar of the main sanctuary. There are also 16 stained glass windows. The first four are from the Old Testament, the next four from the New Testament, then four about the historic Old World Christian churches, and four more depicting the history of the First United Methodist Church.

The volunteer opened one of the windows in the chapel for a look down onto Daley Plaza. Before the skyscrapers were built to block the view, it was possible to get the same exact scene depicted on the wooden panel of Christ weeping over Chicago.

At the end of the tour, we walked down the 170 or so steps back to the main elevator. In the stairwell, we were able to look out the windows onto the pastor’s residence. Every church pastor has lived in the tower of the building since the 1950s.

Map of the Chicago Loop Containing the Chicago Temple