| Additional Information: | The St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran congregation was organized in 1920 as an English-speaking Lutheran congregation in Wauwatosa. The following year a small parish house was constructed at the corner of Wauwatosa Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue that served as the church. William Niebling served as the congregation’s first pastor. The church and congregation grew rapidly, hosting the Wisconsin State Luther League convention in 1925, and adding new pews, flooring, and an organ from 1937 to 1942. In 1949, a new church was constructed to accommodate the large congregation. The new Neogothic Revival church featured T.C. Esser stained glass windows and a large organ. That same year the adjacent Northwestern Conservatory of Music, located at 7525 Milwaukee Avenue, was purchased by the church and converted into a Sunday school. The church continued to grow with a chapel and lounge added in 1954 and a large educational building completed in 1964. The rear parking lot was constructed in 1976 and an extensive remodeling effort was undertaken in 1978. Further building projects, including a new entrance, staircases, elevator, accessibility ramps, a new library, and remodeled offices were completed in 1988. Further extensive remodeling was completed in 2000. The church is now known as St. Matthew Lutheran Church.
2025 - This Late Gothic Revival church was constructed in 1949, with additions in 1954, 1964, and 2000. The building faces east, consisting of a front-gabled sanctuary to the north with multiple side-gabled wings extending along its length, and a flat-roof educational wing to the south that was constructed in 1964. The 1949 sanctuary is clad in rough-cut limestone with cast stone accents found at window and door surrounds, as well as pilaster caps. The main entrances is centered within a gable-roofed projection, recessed beneath a gothic arch stone surround with a stone hood mold. The sidewalls of the entry projection extend past the slightly flaring roofline in a series of stepped pilasters. This sidewall treatment is applied to several gable-ended walls throughout the property. While gothic-arched stained glass windows are present on the northern elevation, windows throughout the complex are more commonly rectangular multi-pane sashes, with multiple sashes surrounded by plain stone surrounds. To the south of the sanctuary is the school addition constructed in 1964. A school entrance is located within a square tower ornamented with stepped pilasters and a crenellated parapet. The two-story rectangular school block is constructed into a slight hillside, so that the southern elevation features a partially exposed basement level. While the eastern elevation of the school is fully clad in limestone, secondary elevations consist of multiple bays containing multi-paned aluminum sashes with pebble-dash concrete spandrel panels separated by limestone pilasters. A one-story arcade with flattened gothic arches is attached to the eastern elevation, containing dalle de verre art glass windows.
A new entrance was constructed on the western elevation facing the parking lot in 1988. In 2000, extensive remodeling included the in-fill of the courtyard bordered by the 1949 church, the 1954 lounge and chapel, and the 1964 educational wing. The church interior has been extensively remodeled but appears to retain its glue-laminated arches and stained glass in the sanctuary. The landscape of the property is enhanced by plantings as well as limestone walls, borders, and reflection spaces.
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