The First Friends Church of Whittier, Calif.--a good example of Burger King Moderne architecture. The brick structure that it replaced is below:
Posted on 06/25/2013 5:46:21 PM PDT by EveningStar
Fans of baroque church design are sometimes accused of snobbery. Yet after readers peruse this kaleidoscope of ugly houses of worship, you will likely have a little more sympathy for the stodgy.
Not only are these artistic innovations ugly, but also bizarre, weird, dumb, and gross. These holy train wrecks come to you from Monroe, Ohio to Uvari, India. Gaze upon these Catholic chapels and cathedrals, nondenominational megachurches, Baptist buildings, and even one mosque for good measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearreligion.org ...
Agreed.
There was one mosque. I didn’t notice any Jewish temples either. But plenty of Catholic Churches
And each and every one of the Roman Catholic churches shown in that series of photographs was a post-Vatican II design.
Figures.
Catholic architecture went really downhill in the 70s and 80s after Vatican II. Thankfully things are recovering.
I would also have put Our Lady of the Angels near the top.
Yeah, some of them are normal and/or nice, some of those included because if one mildly odd artifact of a particular viewing angle. Some are laudable attempts which just didn’t quite work out. Some, well, fail.
And the church-plane-boat, well...
Nice touch that they included Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier, only one of the most iconic modern structures in the 20th century.
OH mannn ROFL
If Leonid Brezhnev had been a Bishop, this would've been his throne.
Oh, my! I needed that.
My grandparents used go to that church when they live in Whittier I know what you talking about
I think the Las Vegas one was perfect for Vegas (not that I’m a Vegas kinda guy).
That “church” is VERY VERY VERY liberal. A friend and her son went there for Mass. They walked out after the sermon!
This statue burned to the ground two years ago. It has since been replaced with a more conventional statue of Christ.
While growing up, I knew several members of that church. Although he was a Methodist and not a Quaker, my father was the music director there for about a year. He was working on the music for the forthcoming Sunday service the night he passed away.
The mosque should not be listed with churches, no matter how ugly those churches are.
They are not at all comparable. Moslems do not God. They worship Satan.
I had discussions (sometimes arguments) with my art teacher in college. I believe form should follow function. He believed function had no place in art. It was a furniture making class. What use is a chair you can’t sit on. He thought if you can sit on it, it is not art. Our first project was a simple one using bent lamination. I made a cane with two handles. He liked it and I thought that it was practical for old couples to share when taking a walk.
The first consideration when building a building is will it meet your needs? Many of the converted warehouse church don’t look traditional but they are very functional.
On the other end is the Cathedral. The church should be the best building in town. Many times much of the work was done by members that devoted their lives work to building of it. It was there way of honoring God. The Temple in Jerusalem was magnificent likewise so should their church.
I fall somewhere in the middle of these two philosophies.
I have never seen a ugly church where the people worshiped God. They might have incredibly poor taste in my opinion. But if everyone had the same taste in buildings as I do, I would live on a boring street.
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