Martin-Luther-King-Church, Lutheran church in Steilshoop district, Hamburg, Germany
The Martin-Luther-King-Church is a low church complex at Gründgensstraße 28 in Hamburg-Steilshoop, built from several connected structures separated by narrow courtyards and corridors. Its facades are clad in bright blue glazed ceramic tiles with red window frames and stair railings, giving it the local nickname "Blaue Kachel". The church hall, called "Feiersaal", is hidden behind surrounding apartments and community rooms and receives daylight only through clear window bands below the ceiling.
Construction took place between 1972 and 1974 based on designs by architects Dieter Patschan, Asmus Werner, and Bernhard Winking. The building was designed as a modern community center to serve the growing population of the neighborhood with spaces for worship and local gatherings.
The church is named after Martin Luther King; the naming took place at Pentecost 1979, five years after the building was consecrated at Pentecost 1974. The congregation calls its wood-trimmed hall the "Feiersaal". Under pastor Hans-Jürgen Benedict (1981–91) the parish became a centre of the anti-nuclear and peace movement, and its social projects included the employment scheme Samt und Seife, formerly a textile workshop.
The church is located at Gründgensstraße 28 and serves as a multipurpose community center with various spaces for religious services and local activities. Visitors should note that different areas are accessed through narrow corridors and small courtyards, requiring some navigation within the building.
The tower was added only in 1988, fourteen years after the church was consecrated at Pentecost 1974, so that the low community centre could be recognised as a church. Its two bells were cast in 1989 by the Rincker foundry in Sinn, Hesse; one bears the inscription "tröstet, tröstet mein Volk" (Isaiah 40:1), the other "Selig sind die, die Frieden stiften" (Matthew 5:9).
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