Τ' OLD AND NEW IN CHURCH BUILDING' BY MAURICE B. BISCOE HE fundamental principles in church building, whether in the fifth, the fifteenth, or the twentieth century, have always been the same. There have been modifications in theology and variations in forms of worship, but, broadly speaking, the purposes for which a Christian church is built have not changed. We are a little inclined to hasten to the conclusion that a modern church building, especially one in which the service employed is independent of fixed ritual, has little in common with the types developed by the experience of church-builders during the first fifteen centuries. It is true that we cannot hope to emulate the crowning efforts of these men as illustrated in the great cathedrals, for this is not, as yet, a cathedral-building age, but we can gain inspiration from these huge buildings and in the small churches find direct, intimate, and practical help. If we can An article by Mr. Biscoe, entitled "Some Essentials in Church Architecture," will be found in the April Magazine Number. A third article will complete the series. not embody cathedral ideas, we do want church ideas, and the ideas of those who knew how to build churches better than any one else who ever lived. The mediæval builders expressed Christianity as it was then and as it is now almost perfectly, though their buildings provided for and signified their particular form of worship. We must arrange for somewhat different customs, and the task of the modern church architect is to meet justly and logically these changes in usage and still retain the essence of that architecture which was wrought out by centuries of patient and continuous endeavor. We Americans do not need to be urged to the adoption of new ideas, for our eagerness for change is proverbial. Our architecture has in the past been marred by a struggle after something new, something "American," and by a lamentable ignorance or neglect of historical precedent. "It were good, therefore, that men in their inne should follow th le of which inde A typical example whose crudeness of detail might have been avoided by careful consideration of historical precedent. In point of composition it is interesting to compare this building with the simple and restful mass of the incomplete church at Cormery quietly and by degrees scarce to be perceived," says Francis Bacon; and no better application could be made of his wisdom than in our church architecture. It is surprising to see how ruthlessly the forms which for centuries have been associated with Christian architecture, and which in every one's mind are inseparably connected with the church, are discarded to make place for some novel arrangement which shall give a "modern" aspect to the building. One of the principles of medieval architecture was that, where accommodations were to be provided for a number of purposes more or less connected with the church, the church building should be an entirely independent structure, complete in itself. Rooms for schools, religious or otherwise, refectories, offices for the dispensation of charity or for religious work of any sort, were in separate buildings, closely connected with the church building but not crowding beneath its roof nor infringing on its exclusive unity. By the application of this principle a church becomes a unique building, a structure in but not of the world of its surrounding buildings. The church building of to-day can acquire appropriate dignity and monumental character only by following this rule and standing distinct and separate. A church must be a building, not a room within a building. The plan of having the Sundayschool room form a part of the church and separated only by sliding screens, or of including supplementary rooms under the church roof, is sure to detract from the religious quality of the building as well as from its architectural unity. The church should be the central, essential thing, with the auxiliary buildings ranging from it or clustered about it. Any church building, new or old, is composed primarily of two parts-the space for the worshipers and that for the clergy. The larger part of the building is ordinarily given over to the use of the congregation, and, in addition to having suitable arrangements for providing warmth and ventilation and sufficient light for reading hymns or prayers, should be so arranged that the congregation can A Romanesque building of a simplicity which makes it impressive even although its tower is unfinished see the clergy in important parts of the service and hear distinctly the spoken words. The view of the chancel that is required, however, is not such as one must have of the stage of a theater, where it is important that each movement and facial expression of the actor be distinctly and readily perceived by every spectator. In the latter case the seats are properly arranged around and in successive tiers before the stage. In the former the worshipers are gathered to take part in the service, certain of them, the clergy, occupying a raised position for the purpose of leading the rest in the service or of giving instructions from the pulpit. Happily for those who hold the church to be more than a lecture-room, the short life of the inclined church floor seems to be nearly over, and with it should go the plan of radiating seats. In the theater both features have been found desirable and suitable from the time of Greece and Rome to the present day. In the church they never have been considered good, and only when the service becomes a spectacle for people to go and see, but to One take no part in, will the "auditorium" Several forms of space for worshipers have been found good in the past, and some of them meet modern requirements. For the small church, where the width is not too great to be effectively spanned by trusses from wall to wall, there is no form better than the simple rectangle, as in the church at Cambridge, Massachusetts, shown on another page. When, however, the church must seat more than a few hundred, it is often necessary to adopt a more complex scheme, in order to avoid having the building too long for those in the rear seats to hear well, or too wide to be of pleasing proportions. The medieval plan of nave and aisles, like the church at Triel, France, is, unfortunately, not usually suitable for those of our churches in which the sermon is of considerable importance, because of the interference of the piers of the nave with the view of the pulpit. Architecturally effective and structurally good as the system is, it would be difficult to convince the people who sit behind a two-foot pier of its suitability to our needs. A certain class of problems, however, can be satisfactorily solved by a modification of this idea, whereby the aisles are narrowed to mere passages along the outer walls and give entrance to the pews, which are thus confined entirely to the nave. The form of the cross with very short arms has the virtue of placing all the worshipers near the platform or chancel, and has been successfully applied, especially to churches of the Renaissance period. One of the best of these-that of St. Biagio, at Montepulciano-is here illustrated. It is an architectural necessity in such a building that the height should be considerable; for nothing could be less pleasing than a low roof covering a short nave and transepts. In the case of a large church, when the rectangular plan would be too long, the addition of transepts forming a Latin cross, or the Greek-cross plan, becomes necessary. In small churches, where such conditions do not occur, transepts had better be avoided, as they are the mark of a big church and require a long nave or very high walls and roof to carry them off. They are the natural result of the requirement of considerable size, accompanied by a restriction from structural or æsthetic reasons to fairly narrow spans of vaults or trusses. The question of the admission of a proper amount of light to the nave is an important one both from the practical and artistic standpoints, though perhaps our churches suffer as often from too much light as from too little. Usually, in a building where there is no interference with the light by adjoining structures, windows in nave or clerestory walls will be sufficient without the aid of dormers, whose effect of breaking up the shadows of the roof space is apt to be disastrous to the general architectural result of the interior. If an "east " window over the chancel is arranged for, it should be sufficiently high or filled with dark enough glass to insure freedom of annoying glare to the congregation which must face it. The space provided for the clergy varies in different churches, both in size and treatment, according to the character and elaboration of the ritual employed and the number of ministers participating. In the Middle Ages the ritual was elaborate and the number of priests or monks was large, and we find spacious and elaborate chancels. In the Episcopal Church of to-day a ritual of considerable richness is frequently employed, and often several persons assist in its performance, requiring a similar generous chancel, whose architectural treatment corresponds to the character of its use. The choir in these churches is often placed in the chancel with the clergy, requiring additional space, which is best provided, as in the English Gothic churches, by an especially deep chancel. In the other Protestant denominations, however, where there is no fixed liturgy, where the choir is ordinarily placed in some other part of the church and a single minister conducts the service, it is evident that there must be a change from Gothic precedent and a smaller and simpler clergy space provided. In their attempt to depart as far as possible from the customs of the Church of England, the Puritans treated the church service in the same way as the church buildings, and whitewashed out many of its beauties. The resulting service, as in the case of the buildings, was somewhat bare and cheerless, and the modifications which have been gradually made to enrich and beautify the manner of worship would seem to be justified. In the Nonconformist buildings the tendency toward extreme simplicity continued, and the provision for the minister was reduced to its lowest terms-a plain desk for THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. YVED, BRAINE, FRANCE A good illustration of the domination of the ecclesiastical group by its chief member. the central position it provides for the for the placing of the pulpit, communiontable, a lectern for the Bible, and suitable seats for the clergy and deacons. This plan has the advantage of providing sufficient room for conducting the various ceremonies of the church in a manner consistent with their serious and solemn character, and allows opportunity for appropriate architectural treatment of |