Name: Zion Lutheran Church (original); Peace First Lutheran Church (current)
Address: 565 12th Street
City: Astoria
Year of Construction: 1953
Architect: Wicks & Wicks Architects
Original Use: Religious (Church)
Status: In Use
National Register of Historic Places: Not Listed
Description: Zion Lutheran Church is among the earliest truly Modernist buildings in Astoria, formed by low brick-clad blocks punctuated by a soaring, freestanding belltower enclosed on two sides by wood slats. Intentionally or not, this feature calls back to churches designed by eminent architect Eliel Saarinen (particularly First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana and Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, Minnesota); Saarinen was a teacher of Ebba Wicks, one member of the father-daughter architectural partnership that was responsible for designing Zion Lutheran Church. Construction began around 1947 but was completed only in 1953, upon the completion of the tower.
Further Information
• Ebba Wicks Brown, Oregon Encyclopedia [new window]
• Ebba Wicks Brown, Lower Columbia Preservation Society [new window]
• Construction photographs, Clatsop County Historical Society [new window]
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