St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, viewed from the site cleared for the construction of the Williamsburg Houses. December 22, 1935.

The St. John’s congregation was founded in 1844, as a coalition of German Protestant worshipers. In 1853, the church adopted a Lutheran doctrine and continued to grow as a fixture of Williamsburg’s German community, with members worshipping at a church at nearby Wyckoff Street (now Ten Eyck Street). Construction on a new Gothic church began in 1883 to accommodate the congregation’s growth.

In the early 20th century, German immigrants were arriving in Williamsburg in smaller numbers, leading St. John’s parishioners to establish a satellite mission in Glendale, Queens. From mid-1930s on, the continued demographic changes in the neighborhood and the construction of the adjacent Williamsburg Houses led to the decline of the original Williamsburg Church. In 1953, the original congregation shifted to the Glendale mission. At the same time, The Lutheran Church of St. John the Evangelist, a new congregation, was established among local worshippers.

Today, the church continues to conduct Lutheran services and shares its facilities with Kingsland Ward a performing arts organization best known for its immersive theater project “Then She Fell.”