Address: 6556 35th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98115
Service: Sundays at 9:30am and 11:15am in-person or online
Phone: 206-525-8400
UNIVERSITY UNITARIAN CHURCH
Our Church Building
About Our Facility
Our services, concerts, and various other events are held in our Sanctuary, which is home to our stained glass windows. We have a large fellowship hall with an attached kitchen in the back that is used for our vespers service, coffee hour, large meetings and many other activities. Our building houses our elementary wing and a variety of meeting rooms and classrooms that serve multiple purposes. We also have a beautiful memorial garden located on our grounds.
If you are a UUC group leader looking for a room reservations, please see our Room Reservations page.
To book space for an outside event, please visit our
Facility Rental page.
Virtual Building Tour
Architect Paul Hayden Kirk
University Unitarian Church was built from 1959 – 1960 by Paul Hayden Kirk. The building earned him the American Institute of Architects’ (Seattle) award. The cost of University Unitarian was projected to be $250,000, an enormous sum to the congregation that raised it. At the annual meeting in 1958, the Reverend Aron Gilmartin asked the congregation to envision the new church as something more than just a building. He cast its purpose for the UUC congregation and beyond: “It must be a place where people may gather for worship, where children may be taught to work and pray, and where the community is enriched by its presence.”
That “quarter of a million dollars” bought a church building, but its members made the church. Indeed, the electrical cabling was donated and installed by a member. Volunteers constructed shelving. The congregation gathered and cooked many meals in the most rudimentary of conditions. Dedication of the building took place on Sunday, April 12, 1959. By 1960, Rev. Gilmartin had left UUC for a pulpit in California. In 1961, the Unitarians and Universalists formally merged. The building, new and modern, was the perfect setting for an evolving congregation and its changing faith tradition.
Five and a half decades later, following a lengthy and thoughtful discernment process, the UUC congregation voted on November 15, 2015, to stay at its present location and improve our home. We envisioned a simple design that would reflect the church’s legacy in the Northwest and be compatible with the existing chapel. In November 2019, University Unitarian Church proudly opened the doors of a renovated and lightly expanded home. The building is the culmination of several years and many hands. We welcome you to explore and learn more.