Hudson Road, Emmanuel Free Church

HER Number

13596

District

Sunderland

Site Name

Hudson Road, Emmanuel Free Church

Place

Sunderland

Map Sheet

NZ45NW

Class

Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad

Place of Worship

Site Type: Specific

Presbyterian Chapel

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Victorian 1837 to 1901

Form of Evidence

Extant Building

Description

Shown on OS maps as Presbyterian Chapel. Formerly the German Evangelical Church of Prussia - possibly only the second built in Britain. Opened in 1873 by local German businessmen. Served the German population of Sunderland and visiting seamen until the outbreak of World War One. It was then stripped of interior fittings and used as a warehouse. Reopened in 1931 as the Emmanuel Free Church. A pipe organ has been installed in the gallery and an ‘upper room’ created for smaller services and gatherings.

Easting

440190

Northing

556850

Grid Reference

NZ440190556850

Sources

Sunderland Echo, Tuesday 22 March 2011, Wearside Echoes: Welcoming worshippers for 80 years; www.nationalarchives.gov.uk Programme for the 50th anniversary of the church in Sunderland C.SU68/4 13 May 1914; Letter from Pastor H. Rosenstein of Martin Luther Church to Charity Commissioners concerning the fate of the German Protestant church in Sunderland C.SU68/5 30 January 1970; Reply from the Charity Commissioners C.SU68/6 20 March 1970; Photocopies of the Charity Commissioners scheme to sell the German Church and Manse C.SU68/7 11 July 1924; Tribute to Pastor Harms C.SU68/8 n.d. [c.1912] - all these documents are held by Tyne and Wear Archives; The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2014, List of Non Conformist Chapels in Sunderland