The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America

Abstract

In The Suburban Church Gretchen Buggeln weaves a fascinating story of the rise of the modern church-building movement in the upper Midwest, viewed as the “cradle of modern church architecture” (p. 17). The book provides a rich and detailed study of the intricate dynamics of designing and building hundreds of mid-twentieth-century Protestant churches. Buggeln investigates the complex processes of collaboration and compromise among creative architects, pastors, church-building committees, and congregations within the wider contexts of family growth and the emergence of automobile-enabled suburbs. How were these churches to be distinctive, practical, and attractive to the growing suburban population in an increasingly secular world? Momentum was created through local, national, and even international meetings, where important discussions concerned the relationship among religious belief, architectural form, and visual attractiveness. Architects provided distinctive designs for dignified, economical, beautiful, and functional sanctuaries, as well as rooms that fit the multiple roles of the suburban church. These churches broke from the restrictions of tradition and were rational and simple solutions to form and design, with architectural structure, materials, and simplified ornament honestly expressed, often using natural wood, brick, and glass to humanize the elegant spaces.