A presence at 31st and Chicago for more than a century, Mount Olive has become a leader in green technology.
Our building offers a classical worship space for celebration and reflection as well as adjoining areas for administration, learning, fellowship, and community events.
Completed in 1931, the Gothic exterior is underwhelming. It’s the interior that’s more artful and dramatic. Worshipers enter a dark, narrow narthex, then, quite suddenly, the space opens to a vaulted expanse with magnificent stained glass windows. Mount Olive members wrote reflections about the meaning of the windows for them in both 1971 and 2026.
The church’s traditional cruciform plan includes:
- A center aisle with rows of pews and kneelers
- A transept on each side
- A pulpit and lectern flanking a carved wood and stone altar
- Three balconies, including an organ/choir loft over the narthex
Recent renovations have added:
- Comfortable, accessible spaces for fellowship and meetings
- A columbarium
- A series of icons depicting Christ’s earthly life
- An innovative solar and geothermal heating and cooling system that reflects the parish’s commitment to climate justice
