1944-1988
Initially, the congregation planned to restore the church to its former state and size. Construction works started in 1952, the works on ceiling vaults and roof structure began in 1959. The construction drawings for the roof and construction supervision were performed by engineer Hugo Oengo.
Rendering and paints were commenced in 1960. In August 1960 it was decided to order construction drawings for indoor balconies from Matteus. A week later the fire department advised to drop the balcony plans for the sake of fire safety.
In September 1960 it was decided to build organ balcony first and other balconies later on. In 1962, sculptor Anton Starkopf considered replacing the missing pieces of the statue with Saaremaa marble, connecting them with bolts and re-chiseling it.
The Soviet environment did not let these plans to become a reality. Due to ideological pressure, promotion of atheism and alternative activities during the second half of the 1960s caused the number of church-goers to decrease noticeably.
The wing was taken from the church in 1962 and in August 1966 the congregation had to move out to make room for the sports museum. The beams installed for the side balconies were taken down in July 1966, because they were not necessary anymore.
Half of the hall was consecrated on the 3rd of July 1966 – a low partition wall separated the front of the hall from the transept because there was still some interior work to be done. In summer 1967, the congregation had to hand the back of the yet unutilized church hall over to former ethnography museum (currently Estonian National Museum) to be used as the collection repository.
By then, the hall seated about 350 people in comparison to former 1 500. Originally the painting “Christ on the cross” by an unknown artist was used as an altarpiece. A lit cross for the altar designed by Riho Lahi was completed presumably by Christmas 1971.
The wing was adjusted to the needs of the sport museum by architect Raul-Levroit Kivi, who compiled the design documentation from 1974 to 1976. Instead of the version of 1931, he used the original design by Saarinen for the reconstruction. In that spirit, Kivi brought the tower, the main building and the side building under the same roof. By following the Saarinen’s version, he also left out the windows of the third floor (attic), and used the attic for storage space.