Modern Architecture and Religious Communities, 1850-1970: Building the Kingdom

252 Pages·2018·16.094 MB·English

by  Kate Jordan, Ayla Lepine

Modern Architecture and Religious
Communities, 1850–1970
Social groups formed around shared religious beliefs encountered significant change and
challenges between the 1850s and the 1970s. This book is the first collection of its kind
to take a broad, thematically driven case study approach to this genre of architecture
and its associated visual culture and communal experience. Examples range from
Nuns’s holy spaces celebrating the life of St Theresa of Lisieux to utopian American
desert communities and their reliance on the philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin.
Modern religious architecture converses with a broad spectrum of social,
anthropological, cultural and theological discourses and the authors engage with
them rigorously and innovatively. As such, new readings of sacred spaces offer
new angles and perspectives on some of the dominant narratives of the nineteenth,
twentieth and twenty-first centuries: empire, urban expansion, pluralism and
modernity. In a post-traditional landscape, religious architecture suggests expansive
ways of exploring themes, including nostalgia and revivalism, engineering and
technological innovation, prayer and spiritual experimentation and the beauty
of holiness for a brave new world. Shaped by the tensions and anxieties of the
modern era and powerfully expressed in the space and material culture of faith,
the architecture presented here creates a set of new turning points in the history of
the built environment.
Kate Jordan is Lecturer in History and Theory in the Faculty of Architecture,
University of Westminster. She regularly lectures at the V&A and previously taught
architectural history at Queen Mary University of London. She wrote her doctoral
thesis (UCL) on the role of nuns in the design and construction of nineteenth and
twentieth-century convents – a subject upon which she has published and given
numerous conference papers. Her current field of research is Benedictine architecture
of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She is a former member of the Education
Sub-committee of the Society of Architectural Historians Great Britain and currently
serves on the Twentieth Century Society’s Casework Committee.
Ayla Lepine is Visiting Fellow in Art History at the University of Essex. Her research
focuses on the Gothic Revival and modern medievalism. She is Arts Editor of the
Marginalia Review of Books and a trustee of Art and Christianity Enquiry. She
has published on Anglican monasticism, sacred visual culture and the meanings
of modern Gothic imagery in Architectural History, Visual Resources, Music and
Modernism, The New Elizabethan Age, the Oxford History of Anglicanism and
the Church Times. She has co-edited Gothic Legacies: 400 Years of Tradition
and Innovation in Art and Architecture (with Laura Cleaver, 2012) and Revival:
Identities, Memories, Utopias (with Matt Lodder and Rosalind McKever, 2015).

Modern Architecture and
Religious Communities,
1850–1970
Building the Kingdom
Edited by Kate Jordan and
Ayla Lepine
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Kate Jordan and Ayla Lepine;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Kate Jordan and Ayla Lepine to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jordan, Kate, 1970– editor. | Lepine, Ayla, editor.
Title: Modern architecture and religious communities, 1850–1970 :
building the kingdom / edited by Kate Jordan and Ayla Lepine.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017061080 | ISBN 9781138487116 (hardback :
alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351043724 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Architecture and religion—History—19th century. |
Architecture and religion—History—20th century. | Sacred
space—History—19th century. | Sacred space—History—20th
century. | Group identity—Religious aspects—History—19th
century. | Group identity—Religious aspects—History—20th
century. | Religious communities—History—19th century. |
Religious communities—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC NA4600.M63 2018 | DDC 203/.7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017061080
ISBN: 978-1-138-48711-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-04372-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of figures vii
Notes on contributors xiii
Introduction: building the kingdom: architecture, worship
and the sacred 1
KATE JORDAN AND AYLA LEPINE
PART I
Pilgrimage and modern journeys 13
1 Sisterly love in Lisieux: building the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse 15
JESSICA BASCIANO
2 Modernity consecrated: architectural discourse and the
Catholic imagination in Franquista Spain 30
MARÍA GONZÁLEZ PENDÁS
3 The construction of modern Montserrat: architecture,
politics and ideology 49
JOSEP-MARIA GARCIA FUENTES
4 Paolo Soleri’s Teilhard De Chardin Cloister at Arcosanti 70
ALICIA IMPERIALE
PART II
Monasticism and religious houses 89
5 Prairie progressivism: George P. Stauduhar and
St Benedict’s convent 91
BARBARA BURLISON MOONEY
vi Contents
6 Modern, Gothic, Anglican: the society of St John the
Evangelist, Oxford 107
AYLA LEPINE
7 The ‘building sisters’ of Presteigne: Gender, innovation and
tradition in modern-era Roman Catholic architecture 123
KATE JORDAN
8 Revolution and revelation: Luis Barragán’s monastery at
Tlalpan 139
JOSE BERNARDI
PART III
Urban cultures and holy cities 157
9 Situating Jerusalem: poiesis and techne in the American
urbanism of Jemima Wilkinson and Thomas Jefferson 159
ANNE SCHAPER ENGLOT
10 Origins, meaning and memory in Louis I. Kahn’s Hurva
Synagogue proposal 177
TAMARA MORGENSTERN
11 Chicago’s Woodlawn neighbourhood: the case of
St Gelasius 198
ANATOLE UPART
12 Nuns in the suburb: the Berlaymont institute in Waterloo
by Groupe Structures (1962) 213
SVEN STERKEN
Index 231
Figures
1.1 Louis-Marie Cordonnier, exterior view, Basilica of Sainte-
Thérèse, Lisieux, 1929–54 16
1.2 Sœur Geneviève de la Sainte-Face, photograph, Thérèse,
her sisters and her cousin, November 1896 17
1.3 Julien Barbier, façade elevation, project for the Basilica of
Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, signed and dated March 1925,
Archives du Carmel de Lisieux 19
1.4 (Charles Jouvenot), perspective drawing, project for the
Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, dated August 24, 1926,
Archives du Carmel de Lisieux 21
1.5 Louis-Marie Cordonnier and Louis-Stanislas Cordonnier,
façade elevation, Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, (late
summer) 1927, Archives de la Basilique, Direction du
Pèlerinage Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux 23
2.1 Collage. Javier Sánz de Oiza, José Luis Romany and Jorge
Oteiza, Chapel in the Camino de Santiago, 1954 31
2.2 Exterior View, Diego Mendez and Pedro Muguruza, Valle
de los Caídos, Madrid, 1940–59 32
2.3 Cover of Arquitectura 2:7, May 1960, a special issue
dedicated to new religious architecture showing the interior
of a Paris church in Vitoria, by Miguel Fisac designed in 1957 33
2.4 Cover of the catalogue for the International Exhibition of
Sacred Art, Vitoria, 1939 35
2.5 Axonometric. Alberto Sartoris, Notre-Dame du Phare,
progetto per Friburgo, 1931. India ink on tracing paper 37
2.6 Exterior view. Miguel Fisac, Chapel of the Holy Spirit for
the National Research Council, Madrid, 1943. A drawing
of the buildings on Montserrat around 1844 and images
from paintings and engravings of the old buildings as they
were before their destruction by the Napoleonic troops in
early nineteenth century 42
3.1 A drawing of the buildings on Montserrat around 1844
and images from paintings and engravings of the old
viii Figures
buildings as they were before their destruction by the
Napoleonic troops in early nineteenth century 51
3.2 Left: Víctor Balaguer in front of the ruins of Montserrat’s
Gothic cloister with other poets and writers from Catalonia
and Provence in 1868. Centre: The project for the new
camarín chapel. Right: The Vic Group in front of the new
‘Romanesque’ apses of Montserrat. 56
3.3 Postcard from late nineteenth century showing the
miniature replica of Montserrat built in Barcelona’s
Ciutadella Park 60
3.4 One of the most popular books on the history of Catalonia,
published in 1898, with an idealized composition showing
all the contemporary architectures designed to shape the
modern Catalonia and its new nationalist movement,
culminating with the mountain of Montserrat 62
3.5 Pamphlet from 1928 conceived to spread the news of
Puig i Cadafalch’s project in order to raise funds for
its construction. It shows a general view of his project
and states that no major reconstruction had yet been
undertaken since the monastery’s destruction in the
Peninsular War 65
3.6 Two postcards showing the new Romanesque cloister just
after its completion and its refurbishment with authentic
medieval stonework 66
4.1 Arcosanti, late 1970s model of the project in
Arcosanti, Arizona 71
4.2 Arcosanti – original design of Arcosanti. Arcology for
a population of 1,500, comparative isometric view of
Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti at the same scale;
designed by Paolo Soleri, from Arcology – City in the
Image of Man, published by MIT 1969 72
4.3 Teilhard De Chardin Cloister, plan of upper terrace.
Designed as part of the Arcosanti project in Arcosanti,
Arizona, 1972, colored china ink stencil work and transfer
lettering on clear print vellum, drawing size 75 inches by
36 inches 74
4.4 Arcosanti 5000. The model of Arcosanti 5000 structures
shows a concentrated environment of living, working,
schools, medical support, social spaces, parks and
entertainment. There is no need for the automobile and its
support structure within the city environment 76
4.5 Teilhard De Chardin Cloister, South elevation. Designed
as part of the Arcosanti project in Arcosanti, Arizona,
1972, colored china ink stencil work and transfer
lettering on clear print vellum, drawing size 137 inches
by 36 inches 79
Figures ix
4.6 Arcosanti. The foundry apse with west housing and the
vaults viewed from south 81
4.7 Teilhard De Chardin Cloister, section through apse looking
east. Designed as part of the Arcosanti project in Arcosanti,
Arizona, 1972, colored china ink stencil work and transfer
lettering on clear print vellum, drawing size 61.25 inches
by 35.5 inches 86
4.8 Critical mass is the first ‘major phase’ of development of
Arcosanti. It is planned to be a town of 500 to 600 people
who will live and work, study and/or visit. This will be the
staging ground for the subsequent larger development of
Paolo Soleri’s most recent design for Arcosanti, Arcosanti
5000 87
5.1 Exterior of the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, St Benedict’s
Convent and College, St Joseph, Minnesota 93
5.2 Cloister walk connecting St Teresa Hall to the Chapel of
the Sacred Heart, St Benedict’s Convent and College 95
5.3 Interior of the Chapel of the Sacred Heart on a postcard
used by Egid Hackner 96
5.4 Private room and gymnasium in St Teresa Hall,
St Benedict’s Convent and College 101
5.5 Construction workers with manufactured terracotta
ornament from Chicago in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart,
St Benedict’s Convent and College 103
6.1 George Frederick Bodley, west façade and tower, St John
the Evangelist, Oxford, 1894–96; 1904–6 108
6.2 George Frederick Bodley, aisle, All Saints, Cambridge,
1862–71 110
6.3 George Frederick Bodley, nave, St John the Evangelist,
Oxford, 1894–96 113
6.4 George Frederick Bodley, detail of nave ceiling, St John the
Evangelist, Oxford, 1894–96 117
6.5 George Frederick Bodley, chasuble, c.1882 (Hoare Gallery,
Liverpool Cathedral) 120
7.1 Carmelite nuns working on the nun’s choir of the Church
of Our Lady of Assumption and St Thérèse, 1954 124
7.2 Nun’s choir 126
7.3 Francis Pollen’s designs for the Church of Our Lady of the
Assumption, 1954 128
7.4 Carmelite nuns on the building site of the Church of Our
Lady of the Assumption, 1954 129
7.5 Carmelite nuns on the building site of the Church of Our
Lady of the Assumption, 1954 130
7.6 The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption 131
7.7 Altar 131
7.8 Interior (looking east) 132