Architecture of Church Buildings

Architecture of Church Buildings

BY LEWIS T. CANNON, ARCHITECT AND MEMBER OF THE GENERAL

BOARD Y. M. M. I. A.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not yet

evolved a distinct type of architecture, but it may do so at some

future time. The Church as a body is no longer isolated, and its

ideas in regard to buildings are not those developed solely from

within. The "Mormon" people are great travelers, and the ideas

they obtain in their travels and in their contact generally with

their fellow men are assimilated and sooner or later find expres-

sion in their accomplishments. But their buildings, in general,

partake of the character of the buildings of other people.

The temples of the Saints, however, are unique their counter-

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part is not to be found anywhere else on earth. They are the re-

sult not of ideas that have come to the "Mormon" people from

their contact with other people, but as a direct result of revelation

by which a new dispensation was ushered in, bringing with it

certain rites and ceremonies long forgotten. It is in the temples

that their sacred rites and ceremonies are solemnized, and it is

the working out of a plan for the solemnization of these rites and

ceremonies that has made them unique among structures. In time

it is thought that these special needs and conditions of the "Mor-

mon" people will result in the evolution of a distinct type of

architecture, externally as well as internally.

The Latter-day Saints early showed their appreciation of

good architecture by undertaking, while yet few in numbers, not

only here in Utah but in the places where they sojourned before

coming to Utah, many buildings that were notably excellent. The

chief buildings erected by them have been, of course, their relig-

ious edifices and of these, the most important and characteristic

;

have been their temples.

The people undertook other buildings than temples in ;

Nauvoo, they had built what is known as the Mansion House, a

building dedicated to the entertainment of strangers and said to

be a very worthy one. On their arrival in the Valley it was not

many years before the "Social Hall" was undertaken. This was,

as its name implies, given over to social purposes it served both

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as a theatre and place of general amusement, and was and still is

a most worthy structure.

As the community grew, a larger hall became necessary and

the Salt Lake theatre resulted. It is now nearly half a century

794 imi'R()vi<:mrnt era

since it Tliis building has made a name for itself

was completed.

that is most enviable

by the actor folk it is held in high estima-

;

tion for certain successes in its general planning and arrange-

ment that are entirely wanting in many other theatre buildings

of the present day. By the architectural critics it is considered to

be a most excellent example of good design it is simple and ef-

;

fective, and although it is getting old and weather-beaten, it bears

its old age with dignity and is respected by all who have discrim-

inating taste.

In the great tabernacle which is of world-wide fame, the

"Mormon" people have distinguished themselves; it, too, was un-

dertaken very early after the arrival of the pioneers. As a vast

auditorium it is as successful as It is orginial. It is a perfectly

frank attempt to provide for certain needs of the people, and like

most such frank, straight-forward attempts, it resulted in complete

success.

The Church undertook the erection of many other minor

buildings all too numerous to mention here but a study of them

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and their excellencies make it clear that, as a people, the "Mor-

mons" have capacity to put forth works of architecture that can

compare most favorably with those produced anywhere else.

In these later times the activities of the people in an archi-

tectural way have largely found expression in their ward halls.

The Church has, in common with other virile institutions, had a

steady and fairly rapid growth. There has come with it much

more effective organization all along the line. The unit of the

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Church is the ward, in a sense a miniature church. The ward

is the place where the individual member has his standing, and

where he undergoes his religious development.

The ward meeting house has become the building- most char-

acteristic of the people, excepting only the temples. Numbers

of new ward houses are built every year others of them are re-

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modeled or added upon, and it is astounding how advanced are

becoming the ideas of those who are projecting the new meeting

houses.

The typical or ideal meeting house, is a structure containing,

first and foremost, a room for holding strictly religious services

and capable of seating from 300 to 400 people this room some- ;

times contains a gallery for additional seating' capacity it always ;

contains a stand whereon sit those in authority and from which

the preaching and teaching is done also a number of seats for

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the choir second, an amusement hall, sometimes located directly

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below the chapel, sometimes in the rear, but always connected to

the chapel. This amusement hall invariably has a stage with

suitable properties and accessories to permit of amateur theatricals.

The amusement hall has also a level maple floor as it serves for

dance hall and gymnasium as well. Third, numerous other smaller

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ARCHITECTURE OF CHURCH BUILDINGS. 795

rooms, located conveniently to the main assembly room,—these

to

serve as Sunday school and M. I. A., class rooms, and class rooms

for the various orders of the priesthood.

In addition to these there is very often one room of fairly

good size set apart for the use of the sisters of the Relief Society

but which may also be used as a class room. In many outlying-

wards, provision is often made for a baptismal font, and, of course,

in these modern times, room is always provided for a heating

plant.

The ward house is the center of the social life of Latter-day

Saints communities the activities of the Mutual Improvement As-

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soications are slowly but surely encompassing all those func-

tions of the ward life that have to do with social affairs. So that

this ward house, of necessity, in performing its function of social

and religious center, should be an inviting place, and wholesome

in every sense of the word. It must also, to fulfil its highest

destiny, be worthy of the utmost respect. It must be a building

full of excellencies, one that somebody, a good many somebodies in

fact, have put their souls into. Excellence is not accidental ac-;

cidental things are usually bad, but excellence is the result of

careful planning and just as careful execution of the plan.

This means, of course, that the plan must be worked out by

one who knows. If one goes to law he naturally employs a

lawyer ; similarly, if one builds, he should employ an architect

before hand. He should, but he does not always do it.

It is just as important to have a good architect when in need

of architectural service as it is to have a good lawyer or a good

doctor when they are wanted. An architect, if he is worthy the

name, will save his employer much more than his fee.

To work out a thoroughly successful plan requires usually

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two intelligences one, the owner, and the other the architect

th-? one to suggest the needs and to indicate the bounds, and the

other to provide for these needs in a logical and consistent archi-

tectural way.

The first requisite, then, to a successful ward house is for the

ward authorities to know and understand thoroughly the needs

of the ward. These have not been thoroughly standardized as

yet, although they are rapidly becoming so.

The population in the ward would have something to do with

the size of the building-; and its location, whether in a large city

or in a remote settlement, would have something to do with deter-

mining its nature.

A successful ward house, if it is to reach the pinnacle of

success, should be centrally located, easily accessible, placed on a

desirable lot where there is good drainage, be well designed, com-

fortably arranged and furnished, well lighted, heated and venti-

lated.

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796 IMPROVEMENT ERA

It is important, if the building is to be successful, that it be

designed to fit the pecularities of the lot, if perchance the lot is

in any way peculiar ; it should be designed to afford a maximum

amount of sun-light, and with the entrances away from the north

side. The lot should be chosen on account of good drainage

such that a basement can be secured. A building with a basement

is usually much more compact and therefore less expensive than

one that has to ramble over a great area in order to provide the

necessary accommodations.

To be well designed What a world of meaning is contained

!

in those words. To be well designed means everything: it means

that every detail has been considered, every need thought out it ;

means that the maximum amount of comfort has been provided for

the people who frequent it. It is to architecture what being "well

born" is to a man.

It means also that the appearance of the building is con-

sidered, that it is made to minister to the aesthetic sense in other

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words, to please the eye. It is just as important to consider the

eye and its pleasures when designing a building as it is to con-

sider the other ways in which a building ministers to our needs.

We like sweet music, and we recognize that "music hath

charms" and that it is noble and elevating to a 'high degree. Mu-

sic ministers to our sense of hearing and helps thereby to make

us better.

Art in equal mesaure ministers to our sight and performs for

us an equal duty, i. e., that of making us better by delighting the

eye. Architecture is a large part of art or, as it is generally rec-

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ognized in civilized communities, is chief of the fine arts. When

beauty is left out of architecture, architecture is not attaining to

its high station. For that reason as well as for other weighty

ones, architecture among us is wasteful in the sense that it falls

far short of its possibilities. It falls short of it in many ways.

This is the day of the conservationist when the cry goes up against

waste and profligacy. The doctrine of conservation should also be

extended to the domain of architecture. What we build, we should

Iniild just as well as it is possible to build ; not only should our

buildings be substantial to the last degree but they should also be

designed with regard to their form and effect on our sense of

sight. We are just about as far from realizing our possibilities in

the field of architecture as we are in all other fields. Of the vast

amount of money spent in building, so much of it is woefully

spent, chiefly on account of the lack of careful planning.

So much for the aesthetic phase. There are a thousand and

one other details entering into a building which must be carefully

considered in order to achieve notable success.

The problem of lighting is an important one. Lighting is

usually one of the things the very least considered it is only of

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ARCHITECTURE OF CHURCH BUILDINGS. 797

late that the experts of lighting science have been able to get any

order at all out of the chaos that formerly prevailed. The meet-

ing house or other building that is properly lighted is a rarity the

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result is much defective eye sight among us, —

another evidence of

waste and profligacy. In a general way, the eye should not be

exposed to direct rays of light, or it suffers and in time becomes

afifected. How many meeting houses there are, where windows

are placed behind the speakers. To pay attention to the speaker,

the congregation looks toward the light and gets its eyes full

even then they hardly can see him. Achapel should invariably

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be lighted from the side or from above never from the front or

rear. It is hard, too, on the speaker and those with him on the

stand, if they have to look toward windows, when they face the

congregation. The same considerations hold with regard to night

illumination the average church lighting fixture is almost an

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abomination to the sight, particularly for the reason that the

source of light is so obstrusive. Happily, we have available sev-

eral systems of indirect lighting which solve the problem of proper

illumination in a thoroughly satisfying way aesthetically as well as

physiologically. In these systems the points of hght are either

entirely concealed from the eye or else the light is so gently dif-

fused that it is no longer painful. A successful system of indirect

or semi-indirect illumination is the only one that should be used

particularly in churches, and will be found to be a "joy forever."

The heating and ventilation of church buildings ofifers a wide

field for improvement many of our churches are still heated in

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the most primitive manner and most of them are utterly innocent

of anything that might be called ventilation. There is a law on

the statute books of most states requiring, among other things,

that all school houses be equipped with a satisfactory system of

ventilation such that there is provided a supply of fresh air at the

rate of 30 cubic feet per minute per pupil. Everybody recognizes

the benefit of such a law, and woe unto him who would change it.

The law does not go as far toward regulating the ventilation in

other public places, although some states have made a beginning

in that direction.

A public hall filled with people becomes in a very short time a

positive menace to health if there is no means provided for in-

suring a rapid change of air. It is a fact that the lack of good

ventilation in our chapels is the cause for some at least of the fall-

ing away in attendance at sunday meetings those who realize the

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importance of fresh air, and happily there are of such an increas-

ing number among us, simply will not remain in an unventilated

room.

As soon as the majority of the membership appreciate what

good ventilation means, it will be insisted on, and no meeting house

798 IMPROVKMIlNT ERA

will then he constructed without makiui^" due provision for insur-

ini^' it.

V^entilation can he ohtained, of course, in any huilding by

means of throwing" o])en the windows but that is a herculean

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remedy, by man' considered as worse than the disease, especially

/U winter time. X'itiatcd air, at least to some people, would be

preferred to the discomfort of cold air. lla])])ily there are sys-

tems available by means of which the fresh air can be warmed lie-

fore entering the room. Of these systems, the old time hot air

furnace is one of the simplest. If properly designed and arranged,

a furnace-heating S3^stem can be made to serve both to heat and

to ventilate. But a furnace has very decided limitations it must :

be located below the room to be heated. It thus takes up con-

siderable space that might be used to better purpose. A

furnace,

too, is not very positive in its operation a strong wind outside

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very decidedly atTects it sometimes to the extent of rendering

it entirely useless. Besides that, there is nothing very definite or

positive about the amount of air a furnace will supply so that as

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a means of heating and ventilation it is rather too variable to be

generally recommended.

The best and most reliable means to insure heat and fresh

air to a ward house is a combination of a steam heating system

with a blast fan. The steam boiler can be located in a remote cor-

ner of the basement, and the steam can be conveyed in pipes where

it is needed; and if the system is well designed the pipes need not

be very obtrusive. In such a system it is well to use radiators in

the room or rooms to take care of a part of the heat loss and to

supplement the radiator with a supply of fresh air forced into the

room by means of a positive fan through the distributed ports of

entry but heated first by being passed over live steam coils. Such

in brief is what every ward meeting house should have. There is

need for a large amount of fresh air for a comparatively short

time during services and the best way to get it is by the means

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above outlined.

It is means of suitable appliances, to go a

possible also, by

step further and humidify the air that is admitted, but that is a

refinement that may, without serious discomfort or consequences,

be omitted. It is also possible to pass the entering air over and

through a spray of water and cleanse it of its suspended impurities ;

but that, too, is hardly to be thought of except in places wdiere

dust and smoke are present in great excess.

The Church has gotten to the point in its history where it

might with propriety exercise more of a supervision or censorship,

if yon please, over the building of ward houses. It is customary

for a ward about to undertake the erection of a new ward house or

an addition to, or remodeling of, an existing one, to solicit from

th? Presiding authority, financial assistance. If, on investigation.

ARCHITECTURE OF CHURCH BUILDINGS 799

this is found to be warranted, it is given and is combined with

other funds raised directly among- the members of the ward, and

the work goes ahead. Plans are usually obtained before hand,

although some of these are not quite worthy the name. Some-

times the local brickmason or carpenter says to the bishop, "You

don't need to pay an architect for plans; let me draw them. I'll

draw them for nothing;" and in such cases they are worth iust

about what they cost.

We could point to some very sad experiences on the part of

several wards that have lately built new chapels due to their pro-

ceeding without properly prepared plans. We know of one ward

in particular that spent about $15,CC0 on a new ward house a

few years ago. In this case it was the local brickmason, and not

a very expert one either, who ofifered the plans free. The building

in due time was built from his plans, such as they were it proved

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to be very costly in the first operation because of the vagueness of

the plans the workmen, in a sense, had to feel their way, and

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much time was therefore lost this time meant money. It proved

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very costly, too, in other ways than first cost. It is impossible

to adequately heat it in the winter time, resulting in much suffer-

ing. The brickmason who planned it didn't happen to know any-

thing about ventilation, so ventilation was entirely omitted. He

put columns in the amusement hall, because that was the only

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way he knew to support the chapel floor above. Result, an amuse-

ment hall that is not at all meet for its purpose.

He designed a main front entrance that would simply be a

joke if it were not so serious old people find it almost impossible

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to climb the steep stairs leading to the chapel and wlien there are

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funerals (people still die once in a while) the casket can't be got-

ten through the front door at all. It has to be juggled out (jug-

gled is really the proper word) through the side door.

The whole main front of this ward 'house is an anomaly

architecturally, and reflects anything but credit on the ward. It is

certain that it has already cost enough more than it should to

have paid for the best architect in the country with something left

over, and the end is not yet. The time has come for remodeling;

it will cost several thousand dollars to rectify some of the more

glaring mistakes, and even then the building can not be made very

satisfactory. This particular ward house is certainly not a thing

of beauty, and it is not a joy for ever.

The Church might appoint a committee to include at least one

good architect, one good builder,' one good business man, whose

dutv it should be to pass on plans for ward houses and other church

buildings. The committee to have power to suggest and enforce

such changes in plans as might be necessary to make them conform

to a certain standard of excellence. It would not be wise to adopt

a stereotyped plan for all ward houses for that leads to a sup-

MORGAN SECOND WARD MEETING HOUSE

pression of individuality but it is an economic necessity that plans

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be adequately prepared before an actual start on building opera-

tions is made and that the plans provide for the needs of the

ward in a worthy and dignified way and that the building realize

its architectural possibilities to the utmost extent.

There is one tendency among some of our wards at the pres-

ent time in relation to their houses that should be repressed, viz:

the tendency to overreach in the matter of cost. Some wards have

taxed themselves even to the extent of $50,000 for ward houses.

The average ward, even the most fortunate, is not able to under-

take so great an expenditure without imposing too great a financial

burden on the people and we know of wards that have started

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out on too grand a scale, with the result that they have had to sus-

pend operations before completing their building, and sometimes

it remains in an unfinished condition for years. It is possible

to obtain a perfectly satisfactory, well-designed ward house, large

enough for the needs of the average ward, for a sum very much

less than that mentioned above as the outlay of certain wards.

We illustrate herewith the chapel recently erected for the

North ward, Morgan, Utah, at an expense of about $14,000. This

chapel is in every way satisfactory, and meets every need of the

ward. In external appearance it is dignified and worthy. It con-

tains all the requisites mentioned in the fore part of this article,

viz., chapel, Sunday school rooms, amusement hall, (also used as

a gymnasium) and a small swimming pool which serves as a bap-

tismal font. This meeting house is located near a hot spring;

availing themselves of this natural resource, the people piped the