Second Presbyterian Church organized in 1842 as an offshoot of the city 's first Presbyterian congregation , which had formed in 1833 . From 1851 until 1871 , the congregation worshipped in a church at the northeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Chicago . Known as the spotted church because of the tar deposits in its limestone blocks , this building was designed by the noted eastern architect , James Renwick , Jr . Renwick later designed St. Patrick 's Cathedral in New York City and the original building of the Smithsonian Institution . Already in the late 1860s , downtown Chicago was becoming more commercial and less residential , and Second Presbyterian 's leaders prepared plans to follow its membership to the near South Side . Just a few weeks before the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871 , which destroyed the spotted church , the congregation had merged with another congregation and had relocated to the South Side
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Second Presbyterian Church (Chicago)