Monday, April 30, 2007

Theater Seating in Churches

A very interesting comment by architect Duncun Stroik here: "Mr. Stroik said the current trend of theater-style seating is a throwback to a movement in the mid-19th century, when Protestant churches in America modeled their buildings after theaters with sloping floors and individual seats. Within a few decades, churches and architects wanted to return to a more traditional look and began designing simpler worship buildings."

This is a revelation to me. I had associated theater-style seating with contemporary evangelical churches exclusively. I hadn't imagined that it was actually a 19th century reject. Is there a Catholic case to be made against slopping floors, aside from the point that they are not traditional?

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