Synopsis
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.Characterized at the turn of the century by a middle-class membership that was over 75 percent female, Christian Science emphasized a radical spiritual healing and suggested civic reform solutions based on an idealistic and pragmatic individualism. Its architecture served as a focal point for discussions concerning architecture as a major element of religious and social change.
Review
"Helpfully links style to urban context, religious practice, and ideology and provides a clear and well-researched story of the rise and decline of an important American religion and its material expression." -- David Morgan, Journal of American History "Prolifically illustrated, this is by no means merely a picture book of a building type or a collection of examples of buildings linked by style or denomination; Prayers in Stone is social history as much as institutional history, cultural history as much as architectural history." -- Robert M. Craig, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians "Fills a valuable niche by relating the development of an influential denomination with wider architectural and social currents of the day. Anyone interested in the effect of architecture on its inhabitants will find this book of interest." - Diane O. Tebbetts, Arkansas Review "Interesting and useful for a broad audience. It demonstrates how a study of religious architecture can illuminate not only just architectural history, but social and cultural history, the material culture of gender, and group identity." -- Gretchen T. Buggeln, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography "Ivey takes seriously the idea that buildings signify. His commendable goal is to explicate the meanings embedded in one specific group of buildings, Christian Science churches, particularly those designed in the classical style during the early twentieth century... Offers a helpful analysis of the ways in which churches function within multiple-meaning systems, both religious and secular." -- Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Journal of American StudiesADVANCE PRAISE "This is a significant piece of original scholarship, an extremely interesting study that suggests many avenues of interpretation for those studying religious and civic architecture in other contexts. There is simply nothing else like it."-Peter W. Williams, author of Houses of God "Focusing on the rapid growth of a new religious movement and its very ambitious construction program, Prayers in Stone explores the complex relationships between church and church buildings. Besides documenting an important part of our urban legacy, this study underscores the value of inquiry in this too-often neglected realm of American culture."-Richard Longstreth, author of On the Edge of the World: Four Architects in San Francisco at the Turn of the Century "Prayers in Stone is a doubly useful book; not only does it shed light on an understudied building type, but it does so in a way that deepens our understanding of the World's Columbian Exposition, the City Beautiful movement, and other key aspects of turn-of-the-century American architecture."-Abigail A. Van Slyck, author of Free to All: Carnegie Libraries and American Culture, 1890- 1920
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