uritan Meetinghouse and Church Architecture, 1630-1830 A Study Sanctity of Place Lori Pastor P in.

uritan Meetinghouse and Church Architecture, 1630-

1830

A Study Sanctity of Place

Lori Pastor

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My Objectives are to Demonstrate:

The dramatic shift from English church to Puritan meetinghouse

The transitional stage between Puritan meetinghouse and Puritan church

The final period of the Puritan church

Excel Project

The English Experience (Pre-1630)

The Anglican Church The Origins of Puritanism The Atlantic Voyage

Canterbury Cathedral, England

Two Stories

Windows

Square

Plain

House-like

Central

A “House in which to Meet” (1630-1720)

Old Ship Meetinghouse Parson Capen House

Characteristics:

NO MUSIC ALLOWED

Puritan Service & Architecture

Old Ship Pulpit

Galleries and Benches Communion Table Pulpit

Old South Interior

Old Ship Meetinghouse

The oldest extant Puritan meetinghouse

The Transition (1720-1800)

Branford Meetinghouse

Elongation Frontal Tower

Characteristics:

The Changing Religious Service

Benches to Pews

The Sound of Music

Old South

The Transitional Meetinghouse

Elongated

Flush Tower

The Church (1800-1830)

Columns & Cornices

Belfries & clocks

Litchfield Congregational Church Otis House

Characteristics:

Liturgical and Denominational Changes

The Puritan The synthesis

between "plain design" and the new religious architecture

New pulpit Old pulpit

Split

First Congregational Church of Litchfield

The Puritan—Congregational Church

“Symbols are powerful. At some points in human history, groups have tried to leave symbols behind. The Puritans eliminated all iconography from their stark meetinghouses, determined to reach God only through their hearts and minds. But symbolism crept back in. Rational, intellectual pursuits of the 20th century are giving way to the human need to express something more than the rational. Hence the quest for spirituality and the rise again of the use of symbols to express that spirituality.

“It would be nice if we all understood the symbols of religion in the same way. But in our ever-changing, pluralistic world in which every religious tradition has as many splits and differences as they all do, I don’t think any of the symbols are normative. They all need careful interpretation so that we do not misunderstand each other.”

--From Rev. Laurie Hotchkiss, “If These Walls Could Talk,” First in a series of sermons about symbolism, The First Parish in Milton,

September 23, 2001

Conclusions: The Sanctity of Place

Selected Bibliography

Produced by Lori Pastor

Special thanks to Dr. Thomas Jodziewicz Rev. Laurie Hotchkiss & Tom Thoits

Thank you