Practicable Socialism, New SeriesBarnett, S. A. (Samuel Augustus)
Religion
Practicable Socialism, New Series
Barnett, S. A. (Samuel Augustus)
Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems; Working class
churches, is, I believe, prejudicial to Church interests, as it
certainly is to the dignity of the neighbourhood in which they stand.
The Church might help much in town-planning if it would change its
policy, and, instead of dropping unconsidered and trifling buildings at
frequent intervals over a new suburb, build one grand and dominant
building on some carefully chosen site to which the roads would lead.
The Directors of the Hampstead Garden Suburb as a private company have
shown what is possible. They have crowned the hill at the base of which
20,000 people will soon be gathered, with the Church, the Chapel, and
the public Institute. This hill dominates the landscape for miles round,
and is the obvious centre of a great community of people. The Church by
adopting a like policy would at once give a character to a new suburb,
the convergence of roads would be marked, and order would be brought
into the minds of builders planning out their different properties. The
architects would be conscious of the centre of the circle in which they
worked, and the houses would fall into some relation with the central
building. Every one would feel such a healthy pride in the grandeur of
the central church that it would be more difficult for things mean and
unsightly to be set up in its neighbourhood. The church buildings in the
City of London, or those which are seen towering over some of the newer
avenues in Paris, or those familiar in our country towns and in
villages, often seem as if they had brought together the inhabitants and
were presiding over their lives. They look like leaders and suggest that
the world is a world of order. The Bishop of London’s Fund, or the
authorities who direct the principal building policy, and spend annually
thousands of pounds in its pursuit, have thus a great opportunity of
giving direction to the expansion of London. They might by care in the
selection of sites, and by generous expenditure at the direction of a
large-visioned architect, do for the growing cities or towns of to-day
what the builders of the past did for the cities and towns of their
time. The Church by its direct action might thus give a great impetus to
town planning, the need of which is in the mouths of all reformers.
But it may be asked whether the Church ought to contribute to the making
of beauty at the cost of its own efficiency. Has not the State one duty
and the Church another? Without answering the question it is I think
easy to show that a new policy would cost less money, and be more
efficient in promoting worship. It is obviously no more costly to build
one magnificent building for £25,000 or £30,000 than to build three
ordinary buildings at £8000 or £9000 each, while the maintenance of the
three, with the constant expense of repairs, must be considerably
greater.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account