You might ask: “you, an atheist – and “temple” of any sort? why, or why?” And I’ll tell you, flashing my lashes over curvy shoulder: Art Deco, baby!
That was a long overdue visit. For years – especially one chilling spring 4 years ago, walking to Pratt every Sunday – I’ve been passing the building on 14th street, wishing the monumental gates were for once open and I could ascent its majestic staircase. Or, rat
her, two. No, more, as it turned out. So when the long-anticipated program of the OH weekend was finally revealed this was the first site I put on my checklist.
Architect: Vorhees, Gmelin & Walker, 1930; Kostow/Greenwood, 2011
The Centennial Memorial Temple is one of the most famous venues in all of the Salvation Army world. Built in 1929 in memory of founder William Booth’s birthday, the Centennial Memorial Temple has hosted many of the Salvation Army’s large events and has been hosting orchestra, graduations, and other churches from around world for the past several years. With its beautiful Art Deco design by New York City trailblazer Ralph Walker, the 1,350-seat venue remains a place where people are welcomed and inspired.
Our guide was the director (Leader? Supreme Shaman?Head of All Priests?) of this curious organization (“Divisional Commander, Lt. Colonel Guy D. Klemanski”, tells us the official site. I think he said he and the wife are from Australia…) I was a rather desultory listener, paying more attention to glorious angles of the ceiling and stylized thistles of the air grids than to his explanations. I gathered as much: the building was designed to be the headquarters of the Salvation Army: conglomerate of various evangelical churches that still rent the space for their functions, events and galas. One of the tourists in the group asked the inevitable “how come there are no crosses, sculptures of saints or altar, this being a church?” – question. The Commander was happy to explain, at length, as you may imagine – and I wandered off, clicking the camera to my heart’s content at beautiful stage, rows and rows of red-velvet+leather seats, limestone wainscot staggering along the wall passages, and the ceiling.
[See more in my Flickr album at the bottom of the right margin.Oops, apologies. Due to technical reasons (idiocy of the author) the whole Flickr album has been deleted irretrievably]
While not a particularly religious person I do hold the Sal Army in very high regard as they do a lot of good things. When I was growing up we had very tough times and all of my “new” clothes and many other items came from Sal Army thrift stores. I donate to them to this day.
I am not big on this space, but I love the little details like the hand rails.
Stupid me – I edited the pictures in Picasa, but forgot to save the edits! So what appears in Flickr is either too dark or insufficiently sharp. Maybe that’s why you don’t see the beauty of this building – the ceiling, in particular, is spectacular! All restored plaster, with “lacework, and all the complicated HVAC, theatrical projectors, filters, sprinklers and acoustic enhancers are above. Can’t figure out how they did it.
I, too, often make a trip to S.A. store – either to buy staff or to donate (often the same items, after a bit of use…)
Buying staff? You are doing better than me. But I could use some more staff right now. Kidding aside, I will check out the photos again. Of course I am most interested in the HVAC.
SHIT! I always do this. It sounds the same to me!
[Still, it’s better than my famous “come on!” instead of “come in!” 20 years ago…]
HVAC: yes, imagine: plaster ceiling, full of decorative angles and delicate lacework. How did they stick the ducts above, and in a way that supplies coincide with openings?
The “come in” is funny.
Without digging deeply into the prints/history of the building, it is hard to say how they did the ductwork. Likely, if it was a very old building, it originally had some sort of hydronic or steam heating system. When the advent of air conditioning came around, they could have installed a false ceiling to hold the ductwork, or done some other workaround to get that air moving.
I like going into old houses and seeing the workarounds, especially in historic buildings because working the ducts around the architecture that is not allowed to be changed really is an art form in and of itself that is underappreciated.
When you’re finally in NY on family vacation, remind me to take you to the Salvation Army Temple on 14th St, so you can make an educated guess
Will do. From the photos I am guessing false/recessed ceiling. Nowhere else the air ducts could be.