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I used to be part of the regional public affairs group, so I knew the Church was constructing a new church building on a prime parcel of real estate at 822 North Clark Street in Chicago. But I wasn’t really clear on the schedule. Well, earlier this week I got a flier to the effect that the building was done and they were going to give tours this weekend. The first tour would be at 3:00 p.m. Friday afternoon (i.e., today), which was perfect for me, so I decided to hop in a cab and go check it out.

When the cab pulled up, I was immediately impressed. It’s a beautiful building, and a jewel on that block. There were a half a dozen people milling around in front, and to be sure I asked whether this was the new Mormon church. They seemed a little embarrassed and said yes, it was, but they didn’t have anything to do with it. This struck me as odd, because they were holding newsprint papers that featured prominently the word “Nauvoo.” Only later did I figure it out, when a tour guide excitedly said “And we even have protesters already!” It simply hadn’t occurred to me that someone might want to protest the opening.

I went in through the front door, and there were maybe 20 people milling around. I immediately met some old friends, and together with several others we formed the group that would take the first tour of the building. We took an elevator up to the fourth floor (there are actually six floors; the sixth floor is not built out yet and is there to accommodate future growth). Two sisters were our tour guides.

They showed us one of the chapels. It was on the small side (perfectly appropriate for this location), but really beautiful. Then they showed us the administrative offices (bishop, clerk) and some of the classrooms.

I noticed a sign that read “Mother’s Room.” I’ve heard a lot of complaints about nonexistent or substandard mother’s rooms (located in the bathroom like the one in my building is a common complaint) online, so I was curious about this one. Oh man. This was absolutely state of the art, the Tesla of mother’s rooms. It was roomy, with two comfortable looking overstuffed chairs, diaper changing stations and an actual sink. Someone in Salt Lake had obviously been listening to the complaints, and I was impressed.

In the Relief Society room they showed us, there was a table and a pulpit there that were of historical significance. The table was an old sacrament preparation table, and the pulpit was one Heber J. Grant had preached from. Both had been restored and refinished, and they were beautiful. The very large baptismal font was in that room. A SP counselor who happened to be there told a story of how he saw a worker working on the flooring of the font, and then like a month later he noticed the same worker still working on the project. Apparently if you don’t get the surface absolutely flat it will develop leaks through the tiles.

We had our first snow of the season today, but my favorite space was an outdoor courtyard. That will be a great space on a warm summer night for various groups. The tour ended in the gym/cultural hall where they had refreshments (lots of good stuff there, but I just had some grapes.) Oh, and they have three levels of parking.

The building will be dedicated Sunday (the dedicatory prayer to be given by our local AA70, Elder Scott, whom I glimpsed just as I arrived), and then honest to goodness services in the building will commence a week from Sunday. Initially it will hold four units: two family wards, a singles ward, and a midsingles branch. (One of our tour guides is part of the midsingles branch. She is working on an LLM at Northwestern Law School, which is conveniently nearby.)

My coblogger Sam Brunson will be attending that building. They’ve been going to church in an elementary school, so this is going to be quite a step up. (But one of our guides pointed out all the windows in the building–lots of natural light–and commented that the existing members were not used to having cleaning assignments for their rented school space, and so having to clean all those windows might dampen some of the enthusiasm for the new location.)

The Church has been wanting to build in the heart of Chicago for many years, and they just could never find a suitable location. When they finally found this jewel of a spot, other faith leaders in the area came to their assistance and were very supportive of adding another house of worship in the area. And this will be wonderful for many of our younger people who live and work in the City. It’s an edifice we can justly be proud of.