The First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, more commonly known as the "Fish Church," is closer to achieving landmark status.

When the church opened in 1958, architects compared it to the Sydney Opera House and the TWA airport terminal in New York.

Over the decades, the church faded from the national spotlight. Now, the National Park Service has invited church leaders and Stamford's Historic Neighborhood Preservation to nominate the church as a national historic landmark.

The Fish Church would be the first building in the city to achieve that status, and advocates say it would place Stamford on the architectural world stage.

"New York City has some really wonderful earlier American buildings, but no modern religious building of this quality," says Stamford preservationist Wes Haynes. "This is an internationally important building."

The Fish Church will be open to the public this Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. as part of a national tour of modernist landmarks.