620 Lincoln Ave
Winnetka, IL 60093, USA

Community House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

Although conceived, constructed and initially nurtured by the Winnetka Congregational Church, the Winnetka Community House, in practice, was accurately characterized by a Chicago Sunday Tribune article from 1911, the year it opened, as "utterly free and unsectarian in spirit" The article extolled that "Out in Winnetka, they have gained a march on the rest of the suburbs which deserves comment and imitation." and continued, describing the WCH as a sort of sublimated, all-embracing village club and settlement house. It is described in their [Congregational Church] prospectus as "a neighborhood center for wholesome recreation and the development of character." The demure little Congregational Church, which nestles close to Community House and from which liberal spirit it originally sprang now stands carefully aside and says, 'No, this is not Congregational, not denominational at all. Nor does it belong to us. It belongs to the village, to all of you young and old and of every walk of life. Come in and be at home.

1911 Community House: Building, Organization and Programming
The Community House building, as it was originally conceived, was dedicated on November 17, 1911.2 It was situated immediately south of the 1906 Winnetka Congregational Church, the rusticated limestone, Norman Revival Style structure located at the southwest comer of Lincoln A venue and Pine Street. Like the church, Community House faced Lincoln A venue and was designed by Chicago architect Arthur Coffin. Coffin sensitively designed Community House to be compatible with the church in its materials but deferential in siting and scale. Thus, the new building was set back, and Coffin cleverly blended the Tudor Revival with the popular Prairie Style to keep the building not only low in profile but signal its thoroughly modem purpose. Forty-nine thousand dollars had been raised for the building,3 which took six months to complete.

The complexly massed, L-shaped, two-and-one-half-story Community House was topped by a low-pitched roof with intersecting gables and broad overhangs. The upper floor was half-timbered, while the tall first floor was faced with rusticated, random-laid limestone ashlars on the three primary facades. The rear facade, however, was faced with brick, and the windows throughout were wood, the majority with multi-paned sash.

Entry to Community House was through an off-center, sheltered entrance located on the recessed plane of the Lincoln A venue fac;:ade. From the entry vestibule, a short hall led west to a large central hall which contained the main staircase. Off this center hall4 were accessed a large room that came to be known as the Assembly Room, and a multipurpose, two-story gymnasium, that had a stage equipped with a motion picture curtain, border footlights and flanking dressing rooms. To maximize creativity, the gymnasium was modestly equipped; to maximize flexibility however, its wood floor was laid out for use as a baseball diamond as well as for basketball and tennis courts, and chairs were available for 600 people. 5 Along a hall connecting the center hall to the church annex was another large club room, two offices, a toilet room and a secondary staircase, while the rear of the first floor contained a billiard room and small kitchen. The second floor consisted of ten smaller club rooms, an assistant director's office, toilet rooms and the gymnasium spectator's gallery. The spectator's gallery served also as additional space for group meetings, as well as for Sunday School class use. 6 In the basement were shower rooms and a common heating plant warmed both Community House and the Church. Providing a homey atmosphere to a pair of rooms on each floor were tandem fireplaces, stacked one above the other, on the first and second floors.

The purpose, policies, administration and organization of Community House were as clearly thought-out and as ready to serve the community as the building. Its purpose, which became a de facto motto, was earnestly penned by the dynamic new director, the Reverend James William Frederick Davies, who also served as the associate pastor of the Winnetka Congregational Church, Community House is dedicated to this community as a center for wholesome recreation, for the development of strong bodies and alert minds, for social opportunity, for the inspiration of moral integrity and the promotion of all that makes for noble character and Christian citizenship.

A visionary and supportive four-member Board of Governors, appointed by the Church Council and which included Mr. Davies, was responsible for the policies and finances of Community House, while hands-on organization was the purview of the sixteen-member House Committee, whose responsibilities were described in the 1912-13 Community House brochure as "planning and arranging for contests, drills, entertainments, etc., in Community House, providing] leaders for clubs, heads for various activities, helping increase the membership, arrange the schedule for the year, and helping to make the plant of real service to the community."

Equally disciplined but generous policies followed from the facility's purpose and organization. Although the property was held by the trustees of the Church, from the outset of the venture it was resolved by the Church Council that the "Policy of the Congregational Church of Winnetka in regard to the use of the Gymnasium and Club Rooms is that the Gymnasium and Club Rooms shall be open to all people of Winnetka who desire such privileges."9 Community House was not to be used for commercial purposes, however. It was open every day and evening in the week (8 am to 11 p.m.) and also on Saturdays, for groups and classes in the gym and club rooms, per a schedule adopted by the House Committee. Most extraordinary, the Church pledged it would ensure that Community House would close each year free of debt. 10 The House Rules, underscored by the maxim that "Every member of Community House should be a protector of this house and its property," prohibited smoking in the gym or hall, gambling, boys under eighteen in the Men's Billiard or Reading Rooms, any other than tennis shoes on the gym floor, and whistling or yelling in the building. Any property of the House destroyed by an individual was to be replaced by that individual, and anyone breaking the rules was liable to suspension.

Community House was an instant success, the remarkable variety and scope of the earliest programs being a portent for the future. Just two weeks after the dedication of Community House, the November 25, 1911, issue of The Messenger (the village newspaper which was published from 1904 until 1921 as a community service by the Winnetka Congregational Church) recorded four different clubs for boys aged nine to eighteen fears, in addition to "gymnasium classes, Scouts, basketball, orchestra, photography, and billiards (over 14 only)." 1 Four different clubs for girls from fourth grade through senior high school were offered, in addition to "gymnasium classes, dancing classes, Camp Fire Girls, photography, chorus, orchestra and tennis." 13 Activities for women included gym classes, dancing, tennis, chorus, dramatics, orchestra, a wide variety of clubs and lecture groups -and billiards. Men's activities included Thursday night gym classes (noted as "a great opportunity for men whose work is largely in an office" 14), indoor baseball, billiards, chorus work, dramatics, lectures and a variety of clubs. By December, fifty-one different groups were using the house each week. 15 Community House would continue to diversify and grow during the period of significance, offering a meeting place for groups with a wide array of interests--social, philanthropic, business, recreational, religious or educational-- as well as providing activities and programs for a broad age range, for both sexes. It would stay relevant and useful to the community by meeting its ever-changing needs.

ORIGINS
Not surprisingly, the origins of such a large, generous and complex enterprise are also large, generous and complex. The three most important contributing factors, however, were the Winnetka Congregational Church, the settlement house movement, and the man who was the founding director of the Community House and served in that capacity for twenty years thereafter, James William Frederick "Chief' Davies.

Roots in the Winnetka Congregational Church
The inspiration, concept, funding, construction, organizational structure and administration for the new Community House originated with the Winnetka Congregational Church. The impetus for this support traced its roots to traditional Congregational principles and practices, as well the energy and vision of a succession of remarkable local ministers. Formed in 1874 and formally incorporated in 1883, 16 the membership of the Winnetka Congregational Church was historically small in number but nonetheless made early and important civic contributions to Winnetka. This fact was underscored by Winnetka historian Carrie Burr Prouty who stated, "I cannot tell you the story of our Church even in the beginning without telling of its Village interests." 17 As early as 1878 the congregation's first church was raised up on a basement to provide social and meeting rooms for both the Church's members and for civic functions. Here, for example, is traced the genesis of the Winnetka Public Library, which grew--with the participation and encouragement of the Church's scholarly second pastor Rev. Mr. Samuel Kidder--out of the weekly meetings of the Winnetka Reading and Social Club and its expanding book collection. The club's activities, which included musicales, lectures and readings, 18 soon led to the formal organization of the Winnetka Public Library in 1883, three of first six trustees being members of the Winnetka Congregational Church.

Mr. Kidder's successor, the dynamic Quincy Lamartine Dowd, would both enlarge and further mesh the roles of pastor and civic leader during his years in Winnetka (1885-1901 ). Dowd and his activities respectively foreshadowed both J.W.F. Davies and the Winnetka Community House in many important ways. Dowd energetically " .. . embark[ed] on a remarkable succession of projects ... many [of which] were destined to shape the future of both the church and the village, which were inseparable throughout his Ristorante." 19 He reached out to all people of the village, " no matter what their belief, nationality or social standing" 0 and teamed with his equally capable wife, gained village-wide acceptance, respect and affection, particularly among the youth. Finally, firm in the conviction that, "Change and improvement do not just happen . . . [they] are the products of creative, cooperative personalities, concerted counsels and endeavors."21 Dowd "sought out and attracted the best creative talents in the community without regard to church affiliation."

From this combination of vision, collaboration and drive, civic and church successes quickly followed. Under Dowd's catalytic leadership, the sixty-two-member congregation's second church, which informally doubled as a civic center, was constructed in 1886. With a sanctuary at the east end and an assembly room at the west end, the services offered at the new church blurred the distinction between congregation and community. "He put the Church in the background and service in the foreground," 23 proudly affirmed Carrie Burr Prouty, historian and prominent village and church member. Yet, another contemporary explained, "In no sense did the unity he was able to create in the village exist under the creed or control of the Congregational Church.

Through his youth ministry activities, for example, Dowd organized character and leadership training groups such as the Young People' s Society of Christian Endeavor, which encouraged youth-organized services, cultural programs and entertainments, and the Young Man's Congress, a kind of debating society that Dowd described as "training each one to think and talk on his feet. " 25 Both programs would, in tum, profoundly influence the quality of future village leaders. This nurturing of the character of the village's youth would be one of the fundamental goals of the future Community House. At the same time, the new Congregational Church served ever-expanding community activities, including town meetings, entertainments, social and cultural events, lecture series, distinguished speakers and various ladies' societies. Like the Davies of the future, Dowd played a key role in both organizing and setting a high standard of quality for many of the major activities, such as initiating a series of "Extension Lecture Courses" featuring faculty from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. 26 Like the future Community House, the Winnetka Congregational Church also served as a forum for civic education and discussion, much of which was organized by Dowd, sometimes in cooperation with his close friend and kindred spirit reformer, the nationally significant journalist and fellow Winnetka, Henry Demarest Lloyd. Out of this collaboration sprang the acclaimed civic issues forum and hallowed community tradition of the Winnetka Town Meeting, which were held fortnightly in the Congregational Church basement from its inception in 1890 until 1901. Prophetical for the future Winnetka Community House, the Town Meetings ... were moved to the Academy building (then the Village Hall) at the instigation of Mr. Dowd who felt the institution had matured to the point where it belonged in the hands of the community and not the Congregational Church. From the beginning this fundamental philosophy has characterized the relationship of the church with its village-community-involving institutions and services initiated by the church, once firmly established, have invariably been relinquished and the responsibility for sustaining them has been vested. Community

Gregarious, as well as intellectual and spiritual, the indefatigable Dowd also organized fun, outdoor and fellowship clubs for boys and girls, which employed "pioneering philosophies and techniques which were adopted and widely used by youth clubs all over the country.2 For adults and the larger community he organized tours to area sights, as well as the first Winnetka Fourth of July Celebration in 1887-a village tradition ever since. Like the Town Meeting, responsibility for the management of the Fourth of July celebration would eventually pass from the Winnetka Congregational Church to the community.

Dowd left the pastorate of the Winnetka Congregation in 1901 to study abroad, and it would be under his successor, Benjamin Severance Winchester, that Community House would be actually conceived and constructed.