09/20/2007

City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods

"In 1947, the church was reorganized as an independent entity, the Japanese Presbyterian Church of Seattle. The old church building was located in the path of the planned Interstate 5 freeway in the early 1960s, and the congregation voted to locate a new building in Seattle's North Rainier Valley Area. The church purchased the property at Grand Street and Twenty-Fourth Avenue South and hired architects Kirk, Wallace, McKinley & Associates. The groundbreaking took place on February 17, 1963, and the new church was dedicated on November 3, 1963. The design is attributed to David McKinley, Jr. by Smith Nakata, an architect who worked on the project for Kirk, Wallace, McKinley& Associates, and who designed later additions to the church. Architect Morris Jellison also worked on the Japanese Presbyterian Church project for Kirk, Wallace, McKinley & Associates, and also attributes the design to McKinley. The intent of the design of the sanctuary was to create a rectangular box with only top light that would isolate the space from the exterior surroundings and create a sense of light coming from within, lending the building a spiritual quality."