Chicago, October 12, 2026
St. Simeon the Myrrh-Streamer Church in Chicago. Photo: Chicago Sun Times
A Serbian Orthodox church in the far southeast corner of Chicago is on the road toward city landmark status.
St. Simeon the Myrrh-Streamer Serbian Orthodox Church in the East Side neighborhood was recommended for preliminary landmark designation by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s Historic Preservation Division. The recommendation also covers the church’s Serbian Hall, a separate building on the same campus, reports Chicago Sun Times.
The Commission could vote on the designation at next month’s meeting. Landmarks officials say the congregation supports it.
The Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God at Kalenić Monastery in Serbia. Photo: mappingeasterneurope.princetone.edu
The church was built in 1969, modeled on the Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God at the Kalenić Monastery, built in the early 15th century in central Serbia. Its Byzantine Revival design includes crucifix-topped towers and two-tone brickwork with arches, horizontal stripes, and checkerboard patterns.
“The two buildings are separated by five centuries and 5,000 miles,” the planning department’s architectural historian Matt Crawford told the landmarks commission when the preliminary designation was introduced last month. “But the similarities are really clear.” Crawford also said it was a very different-looking church than anything you’d see in Chicago neighborhoods.
The church and hall were built on former swampland by the Serbian immigrant congregation, who worked in the mills that once dominated the neighborhood.
Landmarks commissioner Suellen Burns said of the church, “To see it from the street, it looks like poetry.”
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