Central Lutheran Church of Eugene

(Photo: Mike Gushard)

Name: Central Lutheran Church of Eugene
Address: 1857 Potter Street
City: Eugene
Year of Construction: 1954
Architect: Pietro Belluschi
Original Use: Religious (Church)
Status: In Use
National Register of Historic Places: Not Listed
Description: G. Douglas Nicoll described Central Lutheran Church in a 2001 article on Belluschi’s religious projects:

“Near the end of the war, Belluschi designed a small, nondenominational Church of the People in Seattle, which proved to be too moderinist and was never built, and the Central Lutheran Church in Eugene. The Eugene church, with its flat-roofed, box-like form, was a radical departure for a congregation used to more traditional forms, but the parishioners were so eager to vacate their 1904 structure that few resisted Belluschi’s design. The building is in marked contrast to the architect’s other Oregon churches. A person entering the narthex, the area that leads to the sanctuary, is immediately cut off from the outside. The nave is dark except for the light that comes through small, colored windows, and the chancel is distinguished by clear, screened light from the left. The sanctuary was not built until 1954-1955, after Belluschi had left the area, but it still retained his original concept. Central Lutheran is one of Belluschi’s less traditional church designs, but it has features that he would employ frequently, including richly textured brick, exposed laminated arches, and stained wooden screening.”