New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-06
CRITICISES MR.. M'klM.
Nezc PdrkhurSt Church Design In
appropriate, Says c. II. Lamb.

Church architecture and decoration were dis
cussed from various points OF view at a dinner
OF the Architectural League last evening in the
Fine Arts Building. in West Fifty-seventh-st.
William Laurel Harris. first vice-president, pre-
sided.
Among those present were the Rev. Dr.
Thomas Hastings. William Bispham and George
Zabriskie. of the Church Club; the Rev. DR..
Body. of the General Theological Seminary; J.
]. Phelan, of the Catholic Club; Father John
Hughes. of the Paulist Fathers and Charles
H. Israes.
II. J. Hardenbergh the architect, and a trus
tee of the Church Club, said that when presi
dent OF the Architectural League he had APP
pointed committee ON church buildings and
decorations. He glad that the committee
had gathered most interesting exhibition Of
drawings and photographs Of church architect
ure and decoration, which was shown last even
ing. He maintained that the subject could be
approached from the purely artistic side and
from the side of ethics
John NJ. Carrere who confessed that he had
assisted in the designing Of a few churches.
urged that the ethics OF church building had
two sides-that Of the architect and that of the
churchman or congregation. He could not say,
however. that he impressed by the way
the subject was approached by either side. Re
ligious life much less intense to-day than
at any other period. Looking backward. church
building, until the Reformation. was the most
important building done in the country. 1t was
part OF the religious life of the people.
preston Of the whole life OF the people. for
which churches were built 1t did not seem to the
speaker that the subject was to-day approached
in that spirit. Church building had come to be
largely a matter of personal pride. into which
the faith did not enter much as 1t did.
Mr.. Carrere said the architect who built a
church certainly must be either Of the faith of
the church so conversant with It as to be
able to express the problem In the ethical sense.
He did not think. howey or. that il entered suf-
hciently into the mind of the architect when he
accepted a commission. or into the minds Of the
vestry when they awarded a commission. The
general result was most distressing. and men
had been employed in building churches who
were totally unfit.
Elliott Daingerfeld. speaking from the artistic
point Of view. said that. considering the way
churches built by popular subscription.
SO subscription would demand $1,000 opin-
ion regarding its construction The architect
was not allowed to be free to build what he
wanted to. but as he could, to meet the de-
mands Of various contributors.
William Schickel said that the average church
congregation wanted miniature cathedral for
the church. and he glad that the Puritan
Ideas or architecture nlu disappeared anu
people of to-day had a more liberal view as to
the architecture OF the church. He welcomed
the return Of paintings and sculptures for the
church. In designing for a church, the sect.
the speaker said should be taken into consid-
Grafton. as a church designed for Il Catholic
would not be satisfactory to a Baptist.
Charles r. Lamb declared that the funda-
mental thing In regard to any church building
the religious faith to be housed by that
building. No church could be a success. no
vestry could have a building satisfactory to
its needs unless there were first considered what
the church was to be for it and its consrega-
ton. only as rector. vestry. architect and
artist worked together from the point Of view
OF the faith OF the church to be housed would
q successful building be the outcome. Mr..
Lamb continued:
To-day is not irregious day. We may be
a mercantile people, but at heart the American
people is religious people. There is no diff
Guilty about having buildings right, far
COnEreC cations are concerned. The only success
full answer can be obtained when the funda-
mental faith to be housed by the building IS
not lost sight or
No man has higher regard for Mr.. McKim
than I have. but the church to be built in Madi-
Square East in the form OF n Greek temple
Will not represent the Presbyterian Church it
IS to house and one could not tell whether it is
designed for a BOwery savings bank a
library for Columbia. You should formulate
your demands that the outcome will be the sue
cessful building we all desire.
Bertram Goodhue also spoke.
The exhibition Of church architecture and
decoration may be seen till April 23. from 10
a m. TO > p.