Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-24
Il Skp=Scraper Church
The Structure Tbat Rockefeller is Planning to
Erect in Cleveland, Ohio

the modern metropolitan building idea Ii
We cannot have land enough to spread over
we can, at least. go up IN the air. where
there is plenty of room
Instead OF having magnificent dome
that Is full of emptiness. We can have
space to be used profitably. We want less
architectural adornmeut and more room IN
which to work.
ITO do the work before we must at
tract. To do that must advertise
big church advertises itself. 1t thus
automatically takes care of the work
which II accomplishes. II draws the peo-
pie and houses them because 1t can draw
them
1--WE need more room because we wish
TO establish home for homeless people.
That term covers a great many thou
sands in large city-people who are not
homeless in the sense that thes are any
thing Hike Migrants, but people who. al
though even well-to-do. may be homeless
in the truest- sense of the word.
Dining rooms, club rooms. entertainment
rooms are what we want--a place good and
attractive enough to draw any one VINO
wishes real home to which to go.
Especially are we after the man who
boards. The man who puts up at hotel
and pays IS day Is just as homeless as
the clerk who rooms in a boarding honse
at that much a week. Hall bed rooms
and parlor suites do not make home.
Religion will not be minimized in the
new church. II will be emphasized more
strongly than ever. But religion VIII not
be all have to offer"
Fifteen hundred people can be seated in
the auditorium Of the present church. The
new auditorium will seat at least $500.
Providing an ample place for public wor-
ship will be one of the least features of the
proposed structure, however. There must
be Sunday school rooms, rooms for mems
clubs and women's clubs, gymnasiums.
banquet rooms, reception rooms, parlors.
spaces for library and reception rooms for
the pastor. and all the other accommoda-
lions that a host of Notwithstanding
church activities require. Even the pro-
jectors of the enterprise realize that 1t
would be better, possibly, to confine all
these accommoda tons to lower level, but
modern metropolitan conditions place a
limit upon lateral extension.
Land surface at the disposal of this
church, as is the case in most large cities.
is comparatively small. The only thing to
do is to go up in the air. Buiness enterprise
has found this necessary for some years.
There is little wonder that big downtown
churches, branching out into institutional
work, find ii necessary TO erect sRyscrap-
ers in order to provide accommoda lions for
the many branches undertaken. Never be-
fore, however. has one church been tie re-
cipient of Slu,oG0,Oo0 to provide what NAV
be called (without the slightest irreverence)
the greatest ecclesiastical plan the world
has ever seen.
New York's first skyscraper church, not
as large, however, as the Cleveland struc-
ture will be. Is the Broadway Tabernacle.
at Broadway and seth street. 1t rises to
height of ten stories. Nearly one hundred
iai Sc anu 1"iIth iooHls are 10 be Iound III
this structure, including auditorium chap
els halls. parlors, kitchens and Offices Al
though occupying a site but eighty feet
wide and 1871 feet long, the Tabernacle can
house 5000 persons in its various halls and
assembly rooms. ---. ~
In the basement Is an entertainment hall
that is designed like the interior of a thea
ter, except that 1t is without the rising
tiers of galleries. Connected with it's stage
are dressing rooms: there are footlights
and lights In the proscenium arch, and il
is equipped with drop curtains and appro-
pirate scenic backgrounds
In this room are given lectures concerts
and such other entertainments as are
deemed proper for church 1t can also be
used as a banquet hall and for church
talrs. Devoted to the various Institutional
features of church work in a great city ire
the other floors of the skyscraper. One en-
tire floor, for instance, is given over to a
museum, In which will be kept historical
relics of the church from its earliest DAYS.