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ASYLUM HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, HARTFORD, CONN.

SOME ARCHITECTURAL STANDARDS *
By Rev. Frederick T. Persons, Bangor, Me.

ELIGION has always found one

of its higher expressions in architecture. Open any architectural history, and you will find that ninety per cent of all buildings illustrated are religious buildings. In all the greatest periods of the church, architecture and worship have gone hand in hand. But in our own day, this great truth has been largely lost. to sight. The church has neglected this expression of her life. The subject of architecture has received little no attention in our divinity our divinity schools, and our leaders have devoted

or

themselves to more practical matters.

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate an interest in the subject, to make a plea for a nobler architecture, and to suggest certain standards that ought to prevail among the churches of our order.

The architectural history of the Congregational churches is bound up with that of the other religious bodies of America. For about two hundred years, we had one generally prevailing church plan. It was that of the rectangular building. In New England it was generally called the

Address given at the meeting of the Church Building Society held in connection with the National Council at Grand Rapids, Mich., October 27, 1919.

"meeting house."

This building the close of the Civil War.

throughout the eighteenth century, underwent a gradual development as to general arrangement, decorative scheme, and other features, till it culminated at about the turning of that century in the Georgian Colonial. This structure had its well-known prototype in the mother country; but because they built of wood, while the London churches were of stone, and because of certain contributions coming from the native genius of the American builders, they may quite properly be said to have created a new style. This period, from about 1780 to 1820, is the greatest epoch of American architecture, and the "Colonial" then produced may reasonably be described as the only true American style.

The decline of this great movement came rather suddenly. The old rectangular plan persisted, but during the 20's, 30's, and 40's, it assumed Greek details, influenced by the American editions of Stuart and Revett's "Monuments of Athens." Before it disappeared altogether. it assumed Romanesque and even sometimes Gothic details.

And it

is with the period since that date that we are chiefly concerned, since the vast majority of existing church buildings belonging to our order fall in it.

Church building among Congregationalists during the past fifty years has been marked by certain distinct characteristics. One is the frequent alteration of old buildings, in which they are often hopelessly put out of type by the destruction of their

ENTRANCE ASYLUM HILL CHURCH

Real Gothic was first built in America by Richard Upjohn in Trinity Church, New York, in 1845. The style became popular at once, Ruskin's "Seven Lamps of Architecture," adding its influence to the movement.

This is a very rough outline of the architectural history of America till

more worthy fea-
tures, and the in-
troduction of in-
congruities. The
other is the erec-
tion of new
buildings of many
forms. Buildings
have been erected
in which much
attention is paid
to acoustics,
lighting, ventila-
tion, seating so
as to insure an
unobstructed view
of the preacher.
These buildings
are often very
ambitious of ef-
fect. But on the
whole, they are
buildings which
lack that some-
thing that dif-
ferentiates
tween the mere
auditorium and

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the house of worship.

be

Now, out of this period of experimentation and extreme eclecticism, we seem to be emerging and to be moving in the direction of a new architecture. What is it to be? Not a denominational style. God forbid. And not any one style the principle of eclecticism is too firmly established for that.

To illustrate what I mean, I would recommend a careful examination of the "Annuals" of the Church Build

ing Society for the years of 1917 and 1918. Here are presented pictures of recent church buildings of our order to the number of about two score. If these buildings are carefully studied, the conclusion that will most probably be reached in a majority of cases is that the churches best fulfilling the higher requirements of the house of worship are those that reproduce most nearly the best things of the great styles of architectural history. Mr. Goodhue's splendid church in Montclair, New Jersey, in the Thirteenth Century style of central France; the church in West Newton, Mass., the Chapel at Williams College, and Plymouth Church, Chicago, presenting different phases of the Gothic; the churches at Williamstown, Mass., and Old Lyme, Conn., in the New England Colonial, are illustrations in point.

But the new church architecture will not be confined to the two styles mentioned, the "Colonial" and the Gothic. Each of the historic styles at its highest will find a use. In an old eastern town, full of Georgian houses, the Colonial will always be in place, but in the newer towns and cities some phase of the Gothic will be more appropriate. Even the basilica which is being successfully revived by the Roman Catholic Church will occasionally be used. The same may be said of the Romanesque and the Byzantine, while various phases of the Renaissance will meet the needs of certain communities. This is particularly true in the South and West, where the Spanish churches and missions will suggest appropriate models for modern churches.

In our use of the great styles, there should be one guiding principle. It is comprehended in the term "translation." A translation in literature is the carrying over of a masterpiece from one language to another, that its essential qualities are preserved in the new tongue. A translation in architecture is precisely the same thing. A classic example of this is Trinity Church in Boston, where

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Richardson has given us in a noble building adapted to Protestant worship, a translation of the Romanesque of southern France and Spain. The Old Lyme church is a copy of a building previously existing on the same site. And copies have their place, but Mr. Cram's new chapel of Wheaton College, and his Second Church in Boston, are translations, the first from the New England Colonial,and the second from the Florentine Renaissance. Both these buildings deserve our careful attention.

A criticism on many church buildis neither a copy nor a translation. ing of the past few decades is that it But if it bear any relation at all to the great religious styles of the past, the best that can be said for it is, that it is but an impressionaistic paraphrase.

Here we are to begin. We must not be ambitious to take too long steps at first. The new architecture will come, but it will evolve slowly out of the old. Just as the soundest modern theology represents, not an utter break with the old, but an orderly process of evolution, so with church building. The functions of the sacred edifice have broadened somewhat,

for

"New occasions teach new duties"

But the great fundamental needs of the soul for a temple of worship remain, and we shall not get a good and satisfying church architecture if we wholly abandon the models that the great periods have produced.

I would commend to your attention a recent work entitled "American Churches" published by the American Architect Company. It presents in two artistic vloumes more than fifty churches built in the past few years by leading architects. They represent all the great styles, and belong to a number of denominations. Those of especial interest to us, are the following Congregational churches: The Second Church in Lynn, Mass., the Skinner Memorial

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All these buildings partake more or less of the nature of "translations,' but they preserve the best features of the great style and at the same time are well adapted to modern use. In all cases, objectionable the atre and "auditorium" features have largely disappeared. In some of them, the symbolism of the chancel is made prominent. They are houses of worship, designed by men who know how to express that purpose in wood and stone. This work should be in the hands of every minister and many laymen.

I know it will be objected that the churches shown are mainly very expensive buildings. But the principle which they illustrate is capable of application in any material and on a less expensive scale.

The following are in brief compass some of the "standards" which the writer would suggest for the guidance of future church builders:

Old buildings if repaired should stay in type.

As a church is to be a permanent monument, none but the best architects should be employed. They should

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usually be church architects, and not general practitioners. If possible, the architect employed should be a specialist in the style adopted.

A man or woman whose sole stock of architectural knowledge consists of a prejudice against "posts in the auditorium," is not a suitable person to have influence with a building committee.

We can never get a good church architecture with purely utilitarian standards.

A desire to outdo some showy rival church will never produce a satisfactory church building.

Putting the decorative scheme of any of the great styles on a mediocre or utilitarian building, is not building in that style.

There is no short-cut to a good architecture. It will be a long slow process of education. Clergy and people alike must share in that process.

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A new architecture, representing the religious needs of the new day, will undoubtedly come. To deny this brands one as a hopeless reactionary. But as we move toward it, we must observe the great law of all human development. We must take up the work of the various building eras where the masters laid it down. We must learn the great lessons of the past. We must resolutely reject their mistakes. But if we build firmly on their excellencies, there is bright hope for a noble architectural future for the American churches.

FRONTIER EXPERIENCES AND POSSIBILITIES*
By Mrs. Henry E. Harned, Cedar Rapids, Ia.

EEING for one's self is a most convincing experience, and I cannot hope to inspire anyone as I have been inspired myself on a swing round the western half of our country.

Starting at the great gateway of the Southwest, the Union Station at Kansas City, I met in the large

crowd one of the splendid citizens of Detroit. He had at one time lived on the prairies of Kansas. His parents had come directly from Poland, through Kansas City, to the new farm in Kansas. One of the little home missionary churches, which had been made possible by a grant of the Church Building Society, was the

the National Council at Grand Rapids, Mich., October 27, 1919. •Address given at the meeting of the Church Building Society in combination with

one beacon light in a strange land. No one can estimate the value of the sacrifice of those who ministered in that houes of God. This one man represents his God and the ideals ideals of America, as he works among the New Americans of Polish birth in Detroit. How he contrasts with that other Polish immigrant boy, who received his training in a hall connected with a saloon under a red flag, and did his deadly work in Buffalo when he fired the shot which made a martyr of our beloved McKinley! The little church is not a strong church of Kansas today, but it has made strong men for the nation.

Out across the boundless prairies one has varying emotions. On a post card I wrote to Mother, "It did seem as though God had taken a rolling-pin to flatten it out so.' The little homes of the Panhandle of Texas look extremely lonely, and I live over again the thrill which a little Congregational Church, which had but recently been built, and which the women have adopted as they have their homes, gave me as I entered it. How the mothers and children had transformed it for their Harvest Supper!

There had been a drought for two years, and it seemed as though Thanksgiving would be impossible. Dry weeds and paper flowers might not be your choice of decorative material, but I defy anyone to find any thing more in keeping with their experiences. Flowers of hope never inspired me more. One of the mothers, who took me into her tiny home, was never at any moment doing less than nine things at a time. asked her how she kept up the pace. "The faster I work, the sooner Sunday comes, and then I get such flood of new courage.'

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Are you not glad that we had vision enough to put there that little beacon light of a Congregational church?

Down in Arizona the September sun nearly spoiled my trip. It beat down on the tin roof of a missionary's shack until I felt that the temperature of the outdoors was increased sev

eral degrees. eral degrees. The little town knew the warmth of the Christian atmosphere of that home, but the occupants of that little dwelling were suffering from lack of home privileges. Can we afford to lose this man and his wife by failing to provide the parsonage so much needed?

The great Northwest was like a great hive of commercial enterprise. What spirit of adventure and daring everywhere! Especially along the newly developed railroads. The accommodation train stopped at a fifty foot sign in a great valley of Montana. Nothing but the huge sign in sight, and on the sign, "Welcome to Our City!" All plans for the laying out of a manufacturing center were there and your mind's eye could see it. In another "town to be'' the sidetracked freight train offered hotel accommodations, and also the audienceroom for the settlers of the arid farms about. Never was there a more inspiring meeting than which the helping hand of our denomination, the Church Building Society, offered to finish paying bills on the proposed little church home for the homesick pioneers.

Witness the dedication of another little Montana church. church. A college graduate from Iowa was my hostess. The guest was almost too large for the space afforded in the crowded little shack. little shack. Two little tots of the home and I did all our playing outof-doors. We also washed our hands and faces out-of-doors. The dining table could be closed up and shoved under the bed. Enthusiasm could not be bottled up, however. I asked how long this shack had been their home. The answer was, "Six years. We have not had a crop yet, but we will next year. Sunday was the great day for dedication. The little one-and-three-year-old boys rode to the church in a wash-tub to which a rope had been attached. The little fellow and his plaything stayed in the tub. The older boy wiggled on a plank with his mother, who was occupying the only kind of pews the

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