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George Bray Neighborhood Center

Churches completed in 1927Churches in Racine, WisconsinChurches on the National Register of Historic Places in WisconsinNational Register of Historic Places in Racine County, WisconsinYMCA buildings in the United States
United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle
United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle

The George Bray Neighborhood Center, formerly the United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle or Union Tabernacle, is located at 924 Center Street in the School Section neighborhood of Racine, Wisconsin. It was built in 1927, designed by architect J. Mandor Matson, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.Starting in 1924, members of various evangelical churches in Racine joined for inter-church Bible studies. They called themselves the Racine Laymen's Bible Union, and they took turns meeting in different churches. In 1925 they bought a lot for their own building. They hired an architect, and on May 15, 1927, the new building was "dedicated to the promotion of... Bible teaching and Gospel preaching, with earnest advocacy and generous support of the world-wide mission."The building is a red brick auditorium with a 2-story brick facade. The facade is trimmed with two ranks of pilasters topped with finials. Above them all is a large tympanum, an arch filled with concentric arches of brick. It was designed by J. Mandor Matson, a Norwegian immigrant who practiced in Racine. The style is classed as Art Deco, but the United Laymen probably saw the Trinity in the three circles within the large circle, and they probably saw candles in the pilasters topped with finials, perhaps representing their mission to be a light to the world. The Racine Bible Church occupied the building until 1961 or 1962. It housed the local Boy Scouts from 1965 to 1969. The Franklin Neighborhood Association, a community center organization, moved into the building in 1969. The community center was named for George Bray, then-retiring head of the center, city alderman, and founder of the Racine NAACP chapter, in 1980. The center lost state funding in 2015, and a lack of funds forced it to close in September 2016. It reopened on February 23, 2017, as a branch of the Racine Family YMCA, in a ceremony that featured Racine native and NBA player Caron Butler.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article George Bray Neighborhood Center (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

George Bray Neighborhood Center
Center Street, Racine

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N 42.72213 ° E -87.78971 °
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George Bray Neighborhood Center

Center Street 924
53403 Racine
Wisconsin, United States
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United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle
United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle
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St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Chapel, Guildhall, and Rectory
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Chapel, Guildhall, and Rectory

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Chapel, Guildhall, and Rectory is a historic church complex in Racine, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for its architectural significance.St. Luke's parish was established in 1842, the ninth Episcopal parish in Wisconsin. Its first church building burned in 1866. That same year E. Townsend Mix of Milwaukee began designing the replacement, which remains the current church building. Lucas Bradley built it. Its style is Gothic Revival, with walls of cream brick, buttresses, a rose window above the main entrance, lancet windows, and a 150-foot corner tower turned 45 degrees from the rest of the building. The steeple is octagonal, with four clocks from the Seth Thomas Co. The church is close to the same design that Mix used for First Methodist in Monroe.Behind the church on 7th Street is the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. It was originally built in 1849 as an early fire station — Engine House No. 3. In 1899 it was donated to the church and converted to a chapel. In 1930 it was restyled Gothic Revival to complement the church.In 1898 the parish built a guildhall west of the firehouse. It is styled Gothic Revival like the other buildings, with lancet windows and a cross in the brickwork.Between 1905 and 1910 the rectory was added, a 2+1⁄2-story cream-brick building designed by A. Arthur Guilbert in Gothic Revival style. It has since been converted to serve as Parish Center, with an auditorium added in 1956.