Prayers in stone
Subtitle: Christian Science architecture in the United States, 1894-1930
By: Paul Eli Ivey.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 227
Subjects: Christian Science church buildings -- United States; Architecture -- United States -- 19th century; Architecture -- United States -- 20th century
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-221) and index.