Favorite Church Architecture

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Turning from inflatable churches to a more substantial material, brick, here is a nice webpage on Old Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City - Brick Presbyterian Church - New York City

Here are two nice historic black-and-white photographs of the interior - Brick Presbyterian Church, 91st St. and Park Ave., New York City.... Art
Brick Presbyterian Church, 91st St. and Park Ave., New York City.... Art

The Skinner organ in the church is famous in its own right. Here is a YouTube video of a performance on it - ‪Clarence Dickinson Plays The Skinner Organ at Brick Presbyterian Church‬‏ - YouTube

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Probably one of the most remote churches in the world as well as one of the most southerly, in Grytviken, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. Despite being a British territory, the church is part of the Church of Norway, was prebuilt in norway and erected in Grytviken, 6,000ish miles away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Lutheran_Church_(Grytviken,_South_Georgia)

Even further south is Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Antarctica...

Trinity Church, Antarctica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

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Yet further south, and the southernmost religious building in the world is the Chapel of the Snows at McMurdo Station. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about it - Chapel of the Snows - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even further south is Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Antarctica...

Trinity Church, Antarctica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

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If stone is more to your taste in ecclesiastical construction, then here is a link to a webpage of images and other links of the Old Stone Church (actually the second stone church) a.k.a. First Presbyterian Church, in Cleveland, Ohio. old stone church cleveland - Google Search

 

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Interestingly, although there appear to be many Old Stone Churches, I cannot find a New Stone Church. The newest one I could find is the large stone church model constructed with a children's toy called Linka which seems to be similar to Lego. Here is a link to the Linka stone church - http://www.linkaworld.com/images/New/Stone%20church2.jpg

 

[cowboysfan1970]

The Skinner organ in the church is famous in its own right. Here is a YouTube video of a performance on it - ‪Clarence Dickinson Plays The Skinner Organ at Brick Presbyterian Church‬‏ - YouTube

The biggest organ in the city of New York is at St. Bartholomew's Church. The one up the Hudson at Cadet Chapel at West Point is currently the third largest in the world and one that has and can do physical damage to the chapel itself if certain stops are used.

A short but good video of Beauvais Cathedral. It gives a good idea of how high the vaulting is.

‪beauvais cathedral, france‬‏ - YouTube

 

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A short but good video of Beauvais Cathedral. It gives a good idea of how high the vaulting is.

‪beauvais cathedral, france‬‏ - YouTube

Yes, Beauvais Cathedral established the record for the highest vaulting in stone of any Gothic cathedral. It is a great pity that it proved to difficult to complete so that only the choir remains today. There are a surprising number of incomplete churches and cathedrals.

Here is a link to a photo of part of the unfinished cathedral of Siena, Italy which was halted as a result of the decimation wrought by the Black Death - Incomplete Cathedral | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

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Here is an unusual church - a twenty-nine-story office building constructed for the United Methodist denomination which contains a 1,000 seat church on the main floor and a chapel in the steeple on top of the building. It is the First United Methodist Church in the Loop of Chicago. Chicago Temple First United Methodist Church: 77 West Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602

 

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Here is an interesting Wikipedia article about the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. This is the largest Russian Orthodox Church in the world and has had a very interesting history. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

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Here is a link to photographs and links of St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a stunning building with a quite peculiar statue and altar to St. Joseph inside. st. joseph's oratory - Google Search

 

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Here is an interesting Google page of images and links for the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle in Rome. it is the second-largest church in Rome (guess what the largest one is). The exterior is a rather prosaic essay in Rennaissance architecture, much after the heyday of the style, and the interior is a sumptuous essay in Baroque decoration.

Sant'Andrea della Valle - Google Search

 

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Here is a Google page of photos and links for the smallest Catholic Cathedral in the United States - the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Raleigh, North Carolina. It seats 320 people and has a surprisingly vibrant terazzo floor. sacred heart cathedral raleigh nc - Google Search

 

[cowboysfan1970]

This is a good slide show of National Cathedral.

‪Washington National Cathedral Photo Slideshow‬‏ - YouTube

 

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Here is an excellent video about the restoration of St. Paul's Cathedral in London - Video -- St. Paul's Cathedral -- National Geographic

 

[ephesians4:2]

I one day hope to become and architect. Im studying the art right now. I think by far some of the most amazing churches/sacred spaces are done by the swiss architect Mario Botta. Check out his Church of St. John the Baptist's in Migno Italy, its so beautiful and spiritually powerful. its moving just to see, I cannot imagine what its like going to church their. Louis Kahn a Jewish architect did a plan for the Hurva Synogogue in Jerusalem that was never built but also a beutiful space.

Their styles are modern focusing on simple geometry, immense gravity through masonry materials, stark and timeless. Most architecture in genral today is all glass and steel, 100 years from now will have no meaning to it. Theres something amazing about these styles.

These are pics of some of Botta's churches.

I hate to fill up a page with pics, but you must admit Botta makes some beutiful churches and synagogues.

 

[bbbbbbb]

I one day hope to become and architect. Im studying the art right now. I think by far some of the most amazing churches/sacred spaces are done by the swiss architect Mario Botta. Check out his Church of St. John the Baptist's in Migno Italy, its so beautiful and spiritually powerful. its moving just to see, I cannot imagine what its like going to church their. Louis Kahn a Jewish architect did a plan for the Hurva Synogogue in Jerusalem that was never built but also a beutiful space.

Their styles are modern focusing on simple geometry, immense gravity through masonry materials, stark and timeless. Most architecture in genral today is all glass and steel, 100 years from now will have no meaning to it. Theres something amazing about these styles.

These are pics of some of Botta's churches.

I hate to fill up a page with pics, but you must admit Botta makes some beutiful churches and synagogues.

Unliike the school of blobitecture which is led by architects such as Frank Gehry, Mario Botta is one of the leaders of the school of pure geometry which dates back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Pure geometry is timeless and inspiring, especially at a large scale.

Here is a Wikipedia article about Etienne Louis Boulee who initiated the Geometric style. Étienne-Louis Boullée - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Gnarwhal]

I can't believe that I completely forgot about this.

There's an abby about 15 minutes north of my town in the next county called New Clairvaux where a group of Cistercian monks reside. They cultivate walnuts, prunes and grapes. Last year I got to attend their Blessing of the Harvest ceremony (and film it) and witness the progress of a decade long project that's currently underway to reconstruct Santa Maria de Ovila, an 800 year old monastery from Spain. When it's finished it'll be the oldest building west of the Rocky Mountains and one of the three oldest buildings in the Americas.

Santa Maria de Ovila at New Clairvaux, Vina, California

It's presently open to the public, and I'm thinking about taking a little day trip out there soon to shoot some new footage of the monastery and take some photos. If anybody's interested I'll post them here when I do.

 

[bbbbbbb]

I can't believe that I completely forgot about this.

There's an abby about 15 minutes north of my town in the next county called New Clairvaux where a group of Cistercian monks reside. They cultivate walnuts, prunes and grapes. Last year I got to attend their Blessing of the Harvest ceremony (and film it) and witness the progress of a decade long project that's currently underway to reconstruct Santa Maria de Ovila, an 800 year old monastery from Spain. When it's finished it'll be the oldest building west of the Rocky Mountains and one of the three oldest buildings in the Americas.

Santa Maria de Ovila at New Clairvaux, Vina, California

It's presently open to the public, and I'm thinking about taking a little day trip out there soon to shoot some new footage of the monastery and take some photos. If anybody's interested I'll post them here when I do.

I am quite interested. Please keep us posted. I noticed in the linked article that the actual abbey has been taken apart piece by piece and is binge re-erected on a new site. A lot of ordinary construction materials have been lost and new materials have taken their place. For example, steel framing and concrete framing have been inserted to carry loads. One of the hotly-debated questions in my profession is when a building ceases to be a reassembly of original pieces to recreate the original structure and when it becomes a new structures using some old pieces with an end result that, although visibly identical to the original, is not the actual structure.

There is a Cistercian abbey near my home town which is called New Melleray (the original Melleray is in Ireland). Here is a link to their home page - New Melleray Abbey

 

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Here is a photo of an Ethiopian Orthodox Church building which was created by cutting away bedrock below ground. The flat roof of the building is at ground level and the rest is well below ground - ethiopian orthodox church - Cool Graphic

 

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Here is a link to a webpage about the Tromsdalen Kirke which is a nice example of a geometric essay in triangles. It was constructed in 1965. Arkitekturguide for Nord-Norge og Svalbard