Prayers In Stone: Christian Science Architecture In The United States 1894-1930

Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Hardcover. Near Fine. ex-museum libirs w/ small Insignia label to lower spine. dustjacket has light scuffs & scratches.. grey cloth w/ silver spine printing. book xvii, 227 pages w/ bw illustrations. glossy, pictorial dustjacket. A sharp, clean and bright copy... The classical revival style of architecture made famous by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago left its mark on one of the most sustained classical building movements in American architectural history: the Christian Science church building movement. By 1920 every major American city and many smaller towns contained an example of this architecture, financed by the followers of Mary Baker Eddy, the church's founder. Prayers in Stone spins out the close connections between Christian Science church architecture and its social context. This architecture served as a focal point for debates over the possibilities for a new twentieth-century urban architecture that proponents believed would positively shape the behavior of citizens. Thus these buildings played a critical role in discussions concerning religions and secular architecture as major elements of religious and social reform.--Jacket.