American Church in Paris

The American Church in Paris as an entity was created in 1814 and was the very first congregation of Americans outside of the United States. Their first location for worship was a room at the Oratoire du Louvre (which was given to Protestants by Napoleon).

Mid 1800's, they moved to a small chapel in the 8th district but it's only in 1925, the congregation purchased the land of the current location by the Seine river in the 7th and had the church built. While the denomination is Protestant, the architecture echoes more that of a Catholic church with colourful stained glass.

Whether you practice or not, this is a great place to attend classical music concerts! For me, it is two good reasons to visit a church, architecture + music! Check out their program, there is something happening every week!

The architecture of this church is Neo Gothic, it is only one hundred years old. Real Gothic happened anywhere between 1100's to 1400's. Architects chose a very odd style considering they were building a church for Protestants.

In addition, the parish to the right mixes the Neo Gothic with red bricks, it looks more like something one would see in England, say at an old British college. I can just picture Harry Potter walking out (or flying out) of that building!

It's not surprising to me this was built in the 1920's, the Art Nouveau style had just been replaced with Art Deco, but there was still a lot of creativity in the air for architects. An interesting oddity in the Parisian landscape!