Building Sacred Space
- Art Gorski
- Mar 28
- 3 min read
In addition to the great news of a new minister coming this August, the exciting work of building a
new worship space is well under way.
Unitarian Universalists have many famous buildings. The oldest church in continuous use of any denomination in the United States is the Unitarian Universalist church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the Old Ship Meetinghouse. Built in 1681, it is the only remaining 17th century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Inside the plain, unadorned walls of the meetinghouse the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks
like the inverted frame of a ship. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Less than a hundred years later Kings Chapel was built in what is now downtown Boston. The stone building, made of Quincy granite, was opened in 1754. A bell forged in England was hung in 1772. It cracked in 1814. Paul Revere recast and rehung it in 1816. Revere said it was “the sweetest bell I ever made.” It still rings every Sunday morning to summon parishioners to service. Kings Chapel became
Unitarian in 1785. They use the book of common prayer, with all the references to the Trinity removed. It is a National Historic Landmark, well worth visiting.
The most expensive Unitarian building is in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Working for Standard Oil Company, Henry Huttleston Rogers earned a personal wealth of over half a billion dollars. His mother was dedicated to her Unitarian church, so Henry used his enormous wealth to build a church to honor the memory of his mother. The church copies the style of a15th century English Gothic Cathedral. The outside is of granite and limestone. The interior woodwork consists of rare English bog oak, shipped from England and carved by wood carvers brought over from Germany. Beautiful stain glass windows cover the walls. In 1904 it cost forty million dollars to build. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The two most famous Unitarian Churches are both by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unity Temple is in Oak Park Illinois. Completed in 1908, it was Wright’s first public building. A square room, no one is more than forty-five feet from the pulpit and the congregation can see each other. Unity Temple is a National Historic Landmark and on the UNESCO World Heritage List. If you are in Chicago, I encourage you to visit it.
The second Frank Lloyd Wright Unitarian Universalist Church is the Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin. It was completed in 1951 and is also a National Historic Landmark.
I love grand buildings, but I also love simple religious buildings. We make a space sacred by saying this place, of all the places on earth, is where I will stand and say the vows when I join in union with another person. This is where I will stand and say for all the community to hear the name of my newborn child. This where I will come with a gathered community to remember and celebrate the lives of my friends and my relatives after they have died. Having been the space for these important events in our lives, each time we enter this sacred space it touches our emotions; it gives us a feeling of safety. It gives us inspiration; it lifts our spirits. You are creating such a space.