Table Of Content

AMERICAN UNITARIAN CHURCHES ARCHITECTURE OF A DEMOCRATIC RELIGION ANN MARIE BORYS T he Unitarian religious tradition was a product of the same eighteenth-century democratic ideals that fueled the American Revolution and informed the founding of the United States. Its liberal humanistic principles influenced institutions such as Harvard University and philosophical movements like Transcendentalism. Yet, its role in the history of American architecture is little known and studied. In American Unitarian Churches, Ann Marie Borys argues that the progressive values and identity of the Unitarian religion are intimately intertwined with ideals of American democracy and visibly expressed in the architecture of its churches. Over time, church architecture has continued to evolve in response to developments within the faith, and many contemporary projects are built to serve religious, practical, and civic functions simultaneously. Focusing primarily on churches of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Frank Lloyd Continued on back flap This page intentionally left blank AMERICAN UNITARIAN CHURCHES This page intentionally left blank AMERICAN UNITARIAN CHURCHES ARCHITECTURE OF A DEMOCRATIC RELIGION ANN MARIE BORYS University of Massachusetts Press Amherst and Boston Copyright © 2021 by University of Massachusetts Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978- 1- 62534- 603- 2 (paper) Designed by Sally Nichols Set in Alegreya Printed and bound by Books International, Inc Cover design by Frank Gutbrod Cover photo by Ann Marie Borys, interior of Unitarian Church of Arlington, VA. Courtesy of the photographer. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Borys, Ann Marie, author. Title: American Unitarian churches : architecture of a democratic religion / Ann Marie Borys. Description: Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021016938 (print) | LCCN 2021016939 (ebook) | ISBN 9781625346032 (paperback) | ISBN 9781613768785 (ebook) | ISBN 9781613768792 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Unitarian church buildings— United States. | Democracy and architecture— United States. | Church architecture— Social aspects— United States. | Architecture and society— United States. Classification: LCC NA4829. U55 B67 2021 (print) | LCC NA4829.U55 (ebook) DDC 726.50973— dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016938 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016939 British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. To Leigh, Michael, and Daniel This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I: Unitarianism at the Center chapter one The Myth of the Meetinghouse 15 chapter two Originality, Not Origins 33 chapter three “. . . And the Service of Man” 69 Part II: Unitarianism on the Edge chapter four From Commons to Campus 105 vii