The sanctuary is one of America's best examples of an unaltered Arts and Crafts church interior, fully embodying that movement's principles of simplicity, hand craftsmanship, and unity of design.

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.

These were men who moved to Chicago from New England or New York State in the mid-nineteenth century to make their fortunes and build a new metropolis on the prairie.

[5] The church "also serves many visitors seeking meals, music, and community" in addition to after-school tutoring, practice space for the South Loop Symphony Orchestra, and a basketball gymnasium.

Renwick designed a church based on early English Gothic examples, with a high-pitched gable roof, a rose window in the east wall, and a corner bell tower.

Sculpture on the exterior is limited; the Four Evangelists and the head of Jesus appear on the entry wall on Michigan Avenue and gargoyles loom from the bell tower.

The interior was also thoroughly Gothic, with pointed arches leading to the side aisles, slender iron columns supporting the balcony, and extensive stenciling adorning the walls.

After working briefly in the office of Chicago's skyscraper pioneer William Le Baron Jenney, Shaw established his own practice.

[6] Shaw, working with his friend, the painter Frederic Clay Bartlett, and several other designers and craftsmen, gave Second Presbyterian a sanctuary firmly rooted in Arts and Crafts principles.

Abandoning the original neo-Gothic approach, Shaw lowered the pitch of the roof by 14 feet[5] and moved the support columns closer to the side walls to visually increase the width of the space, and used warm stained oak and plaster panels throughout.

The church's figurative art, with dozens of angels in glass, wood, and plaster, and two brightly colored saints in the lobby windows, is perhaps surprising for a Presbyterian congregation.

In line with the Arts and Crafts ethos, Shaw and Bartlett designed every element of the new interior to work together to create a restful and harmonious whole.

Leading Chicago area designers and craftsmen were employed for elements like the seven-armed electric candelabra flanking the pulpit (William Lau) and the four stately heralding angels standing atop the organ case (Beil & Mauch).

Electric lighting was used throughout the sanctuary, and Shaw embraced the naked bulbs as design elements in the circular chandeliers and the fixtures hanging over the side aisles.

Friends of Historic Second Church, organized in 2006, was formed to guide the accurate restoration of the building and to oversee tours and events.

Bartlett preferred to focus on expressiveness and spirituality, which he found in the flat and serene figures painted on the walls of medieval Italian churches.

[5] When the sanctuary was rededicated in 1901, many of its arched openings contained simple windows with small, stylized floral designs by Shaw and executed by the firm of Gianini and Hilgart.