(Image: Tolliver Temple Memorial C.O.G.I.C)
A Seattle City Council committee will start the final steps for E Fir’s 1929-built Tolliver Temple Church of God to become the Central District’s latest official landmark. The building was first used as a synagogue and later as a Christian church in the predominantly Black neighborhood, reflecting the changing communities in the Central District over the years.
The council’s neighborhoods committee is slated to take up legislation Thursday to finalize the landmarks board’s 2023 decision granting the old church protected status.
In its 2023 decision, the landmarks board recognized the masonry house of worship’s historic value across each of its six designation standards, a rare sweep for the city’s architecture.
“Despite these alterations, the building is able to clearly convey its significance to the religious and social history of Seattle’s Jewish and Black communities,” the report (PDF) on the property reads. “There are no exterior structural alterations and only minimal changes to the original exterior ornamentation.”
The council’s actions will now cement the designation and require any changes to the interior or exterior of the historic church to be reviewed by the city.
The 1915 E Fir church, meanwhile, continues to be home to an active congregation as many Black churches have sold properties for development and left the area.
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