Featured Windows, February 2000

Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church Window

Building: Historic Little Rock Baptist Church (formerly Central Woodward Christian Church)

City: Detroit

State: Michigan

This window at Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church is one of nine eighteen-foot high windows that depict the traditional "Stations of the Cross," scenes of Jesus on the way to Calvary, the site of his crucifixion. The upper scene of the window shows soldiers stripping his garments from Jesus after he was condemned to death and scourged. In the lower scene Jesus is wearing a crown of thorns and purple robe placed upon him as mock symbols of homage.

Designed by Detroit architect George D. Mason, the building was constructed in 1928 as the Central Woodward Christian Church. In 1978 it was purchased by the present predominantly African American congregation. Three of its stained glass windows, created by A. Kay Herbert, were installed between 1928 and 1932. The rest of the windows, including the above window, were dedicated in 1992, following a major campaign to replace the original clear windows with stained glass. Designed and painted by Daniel Cicchelli and Dawn Sinkovich, they were made by the Anchor Glass Studio of Inkster, Michigan. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the State Register of Historic Sites, and the City of Detroit's Church Historic District. To view another window in this church, visit the Window of the Month for February 1998.

Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church of Detroit was registered in the Michigan Stained Glass Census by Silvio Guglielmo Benvenuti of Oak Park.

(MSGC 1993.0113)

Text by Betty MacDowell, Michigan Stained Glass Census, February , 2000.