Zion Lutheran Church

Name: Zion Lutheran Church
Address: 1015 SW 18th Avenue
City: Portland
Year of Construction: 1950
Architect: Pietro Belluschi
Original Use: Religious (Church)
Status: In Use
National Register of Historic Places: Listed (96000169)
Description: There is little dispute that Zion Lutheran Church is one of the seminal examples of the Northwest Regional Style and a major influence on religious architecture throughout Oregon during the 1950s and 1960s. One of Pietro Belluschi’s most refined and respected church designs, Zion Lutheran is defined by the elegant spire perched atop the precipitous drop of the hipped roof over the narthex. This remarkable building achieves an impressive balance of heaviness, light, and volume. Artistry is evident throughout, particularly the sculpted copper doors by Hungarian-born artist Frederic Littman.

G. Douglas Nicoll described Zion Lutheran Church in a 2001 article on Belluschi’s religious projects:

“Zion Lutheran had been planning for a new church for twenty years; and by the time Belluschi was commissioned to take on the job, the congregation had become accustomed to the idea of a white, clapboarded Gothic Revival church. Belluschi did propose a traditional structure, but one fashioned in modern terms. The building’s exterior is of fine Willamina brick and clearly delineates among the narthex, nave, and chancel. Because the building site slopes, Belluschi balanced the roof line with a hipped roof over the narthex and a spire that hides the juncture between the narthex and nave. The congregation insisted on a cupola and spire, so Belluschi ran the organ pipes into the resulting cavity. Inside, the architect coped with the sloping site by stepping up each space from the narthex to the chancel and varying the lighting for each. Square glass blocks perforate the nave’s brick wall in contrast to an expansive window-wall in the chancel of pale rose, lavender, and amber glass. Open beams arch across the ceiling as a Gothic reminder. Zion Lutheran is one of Belluschi’s best-known works, celebrated in a twelve-foot-high photograph exhibited at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow and at the 1964 World’s Fair in Belgium.”