Restoring Church Architecture

Discussion in 'Arts, Literature, and Games' started by anglican74, Sep 28, 2018.

  1. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    In the last few decades I had seen countless parishes be made 'new' by introducing horrid Modernist elements, such as, at best, "Church As Concert Hall":

    Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC

    sanctuary.jpg

    And at worst, "Church as Brutalism":

    Wotruba Roman Catholic Church, Vienna

    b.jpg


    If this will be the look of our churches from now on, then the Church is as good as dead, and the Lord's Promise has failed, which it cannot..

    Thus I have begun collecting (online and from friends) the stories of churches which restore the sacred and the timeless of our patrimony.! Here are some examples:


    "Before and After" / St Mary's in MI (source)

    oQIiDby.jpg



    "Before and After" / Anglican Church, Our Saviour, Oatlands VA

    IMGP0317.jpg

    church-our-saviour.jpg
     
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  2. Peteprint

    Peteprint Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Hideous architecture is a feature all too common today, Anglican74.

    Just yesterday I was exposed to the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh for the first time on TV. What a ghastly place, and an insult to anyone with even a modicum of appreciation for beauty and aesthetics.

    I think (at least I hope) that the worst of it, regarding church buildings, is at an end. Time will tell. (The second image is of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles, California. Uggh!)




    ScotParl10.jpg 800px-Los_Angeles_Cathedral-2.jpg
     
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  3. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    :doh:

    What were they thinking?!

    Can someone tell me why? Just, why?
     
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  4. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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  5. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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  6. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    Those these new churches are a hopeful tide against left over churches from the mid-century modernism. I love seeing the re-vamp!

    I visited the church in Ave Maria, FL and found it rather..unsettling. It is somehow a mixture of traditional architecture and industrial design. It's very odd, cold, and feels unfinished. Even though it gives an outward appearance of looking traditional, once you encounter it closely and go inside it really is it's own creature; it feels like the construction workers just left for lunch. I've read that the city's founder designed the church himself which makes sense because it lacks a sense of harmony and peace which I think a professional architect would have noticed.

    Maybe others have a different take on it, but it seems that not all attempts to go back to traditional church architecture are a success!



    [​IMG]

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  7. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    I will give a small defense for some modernist styles of church buildings, as I love the incorporation of nature with some of the designs. I think they are wonderful for chapels as it suits a small scale. Maybe not so much for larger churches or cathedrals.

    An example would be the Wayfarer's Chapel from Frank Lloyd Wright


    [​IMG]

    https://mikeshistoricbuildings.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-wayfarers-chapel.html
     
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  8. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    My parish is in the process of renovating a building. One thing it has not been in its career is a church. Most recently, the local school system was using it as an indoor practice facility for some of the sports teams. We are going to have the first service Sunday and I guess the sanctuary is going to be something like 50-60% complete. I'll try to remember to take a few pictures.
     
  9. Toma

    Toma Well-Known Member Anglican

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    I find a lot of modern attempts at Gothic, Romanesque, etc., to be far too "smooth" looking and influence by minimalist neoclassicism. Either go all the way, or don't. There's something flat about even those "traditional" new churches. Certainly it's an improvement over the industrial wastelands of 1950s-1980s churches, but there's still something rather dead about them.
     
  10. Botolph

    Botolph Well-Known Member

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    I tend to feel modern churches feel a little harsh and only get softened by decades of prayer.
     
  11. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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  12. Fidei Defensor

    Fidei Defensor Active Member

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    I have seen some of the great Romanesque, Gothic, Crusader, and Baroque Churches. Inside they capture a spirit of worship, reverence, contemplation, and solemness. I find the modwernist style, which even often removes the cross or make it more geometric and faded in the background of the architecture.
     
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