St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Coeur d’Alene
Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai County
- Grants: 2025– Aluminum siding removal, repair and stabilization of damaged areas
Location: 501 E. Wallace Ave., Coeur d’ Alene, ID 83814
Built in 1892, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church has served its Coeur d’Alene congregation ever since, making it the oldest active Protestant church in the region, as well as the only existing example of a Gothic style wood frame church in North Idaho. It was designed in part by Reverend George W. G. Winkle from Hailey, who was known for designing many Episcopal churches in his distinctive Gothic Revival wood and stone compositions.
St. Luke’s was the first house of worship built outside of Fort Sherman and was a key catalyst in the social and municipal growth of the Coeur d’Alene settlement. The city’s earliest residential development grew around the church, which soon saw the establishment of Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches, as well. Houses of worship, along with schools, roads, and other municipal buildings served as stabilizing social forces in the rough-and-tumble west.
Several of Winkle’s other churches are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and the St. Luke’s congregation is actively working to restore the church in a manner that would make it eligible for listing, as well. The wood frame building is constructed from native wood, has distinct scissor trussing in the nave, simple buttresses, and a gothic arch motif. In the 1960s, aluminum siding was affixed overtop the original shiplap. In the intervening years, the flashing has eroded and will be removed. Restoring the exterior’s historic integrity will be instrumental to St. Luke’s National Registry nomination and will be funded in part by IHT’s 2025 Heritage Grant.
For more information about the current congregation and ongoing services, visit https://www.stlukescda.org/.
