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Well, actually, the church building was a function of illiteracy. If you go back to the history of the Christian church, there were no church buildings until the collapse of the Roman Empire and feudalism became the dominant means of governance in Europe. As well, many European had been evangelized, but they were unable to read, and certainly unable to read Latin or Greek, in which the early scriptures were written, so it became a matter of convenience for buildings to be erected and all the people herded into it for one priest to come to and teach and preach. As a result, as the church gained more and more influence as a central authority as opposed to the cell and house church structure, it became more corrupt. Sort of the same way governments of any kind go, for that matter. As fewer men became more powerful, and the church became richer, it began to fall into sin in some pretty horrible ways. Just the notion that an expensive grand building would indicate the presence of God while people were starving was one of them. Rather than relieving the suffering of the community, the church too often took what it could from them, and viewed people as a resource for it's support rather than the other way around. Church history is fascinating but also eye-opening in some of the horrible things it did. Since our flesh is unredeemed, the battleground is the mind. Some times otherwise good people lose the fight, and self interest becomes justified as God's.

God's model for the Old Testament church was the Temple, where only a select few could enter his presence. When Jesus dies, the curtains of the temple were torn in two, symbolizing our access to the throne without any mediator except Christ. Every believer becomes a priest. The Temple is a symbol of God's law, the church is a symbol of his grace. The Temple will be rebuilt before Christ's return, but it will be a sign of God's judgment.

All of this is my own view, of course.