Milton Glaser, Mahalia Jackson, and the round arch by Louis Sullivan

Pilgrim Baptist Church, 2014
3300 South Indiana Ave. Chicago, Illinois
A sad view—rebuilding after the 2006 fire.
photograph by versluis

Above is a current photograph of Pilgrim Baptist Church on the south side of Chicago. The building was initially designed by architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler in the early 1890s as a synagogue; in 1922 the building became home to the Pilgrim Baptist Church. By the 1930s the church became well-known for its gospel music with leading members such as Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson. In 2006 the building tragically burned and was mostly destroyed except for the massive stone walls.


Milton Glaser (American, born 1929).
Mahalia Jackson. 1967.
Offset lithograph, two sheets, each 38 x 24 inches

Apparently Glaser was mindful of the entry door and the very prominent and characteristically Sullivanesque large round arch doorway of the Church when he designed this poster in 1967 to promote the Mahalia Jackson Easter Sunday Concert at Lincoln Center in New York. Pilgrim Baptist Church was home base for Mahalia Jackson.

Source for the poster image:
Schreck, Audrey. “Designer Spotlight: Milton Glaser.” Typophile. N.p., 1 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.