Mar. 31, 2026 6:30p
(WGTD)---The place is old--real old--but there’s still a lot going on behind the Neo-Gothic façade of the DeKoven Center along Wisconsin Avenue on Racine’s far south side. The collection of 175 year-old buildings that once housed an Episcopal college is now rented out for weddings, conferences and retreats, among other things.
DeKoven Center Executive Director Lynn Biese-Carroll spoke on last week’s Community Matters. "It's just a lovely, exciting, comfortable space that has held the spiritual integrity over all these years," she said. The DeKoven Center is the largest, unaltered example of Neo-Gothic architecture in the country, she said.
An 80-bed retreat center on the eleven-acre campus that includes meeting rooms, a dining hall and a chapel is used by a variety of groups, including Tibitan Buddhist monks, college students seeking spiritual enlightenment, quilters and swordsmen in full armor. "They love the ambiance," Biese-Carroll said of the fencers.
That ambiance includes well-maintained gardens with 100 year-old rose bushes.
The property has 14 apartments, twelve of which are for year-round residents and two that are set aside for visitors.
Beyond weddings and other gatherings, activities at DeKoven revolve around an old gym, a daily service in the chapel, a robust archival library and a partnership with Racine Unified for older students who are enrolled in food preparation courses.
The DeKoven Center—a non-profit--is still affiliated with the Episcopal Church.
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