Photograph: Lee Bey

St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church

This bold 19th-century brick and terra cotta beauty is marked by a dramatic 160-foot tower. Built in 1888, it is one of just three Chicago churches by Burnham & Root, designers of noteworthy early downtown skyscrapers such as the Monadnock Building and the Rookery. 600 W. 45th St., Canaryville

Photograph: Lee Bey

Liberty Baptist Church

Designed by William Alderman and erected in 1956, the modernist church stands out among the traditional buildings along South King Drive. Its parabolic roof is clad in red tile, creating a magnificent sweep of line and color. 4849 S. King Dr., Bronzeville

St. Benedict the African

Completed in 1989 by architects Belli & Belli, St. Benedict is one of the city’s few Roman Catholic churches serving a mostly African American community. As the name suggests, the design of the church’s airy sanctuary, with its arched wooden ceiling of concentric circles, was inspired by West African motifs. Furnished with lush plants, the space feels imbued with life and energy. 340 W. 66th St., Englewood

Mosque Maryam

Architect Christopher Chamales took his inspiration from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul when designing this formidable gold-domed edifice, originally the Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church. Completed in 1952, it was bought by the Nation of Islam 20 years later and consecrated as a mosque. The glassy and modernist Muhammad University of Islam building next door creates a striking contrast with its neoclassical neighbor. 7351 S. Stony Island Ave., South Shore

Photograph: Lee Bey

First Church of Deliverance

In 1939, Walter Thomas Bailey, the state’s first licensed Black architect, and Charles Sumner Duke, a Black structural engineer, turned a dowdy old hat factory into this streamlined church by recladding the structure in green and cream bands of terra cotta. The twin towers flanking the entrance, added in 1946 by Kocher Buss & DeKlerk architects, were nicknamed Old Testament and New Testament by the founding pastor, Clarence Cobbs. 4315 S. Wabash Ave., Bronzeville

KAM Isaiah Israel

This Byzantine Revival synagogue, designed by Alfred Alschuler and completed in 1924, looks built for the ages, with its detailed Old World arches and brickwork. A massive dome sits four stories above the worship space. And check out the building’s towering minaret (a feature usually associated with mosques but not unheard of in synagogues): It’s actually a carefully disguised chimney. 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd., Kenwood

St. Simeon Mirotochivi Serbian Church

Designed by Pavlecic, Kovacevic & Markovich, a firm of prominent Serbian American architects, St. Simeon Mirotochivi is, like the KAM Isaiah Israel synagogue, a masterpiece of Byzantine Revival design. Rising from the grassy expanse of its generous courtyard, the 1969 church, with its striking checkered and banded brickwork, looks as if it’s been there for centuries. 3737 E. 114th St., East Side