Community Christian Church

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:32 am

True, it's hard to find much to praise in this mess. Even the original design, had it been executed with extreme care, was a bit blocky and un-church-like. Little wonder why it has never garnered any attention.

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 1:22 pm

Even the original design, had it been executed with extreme care, was a bit blocky and un-church-like.

I agree. The church looks to me like a derivation of Wright's "New Theater" for Woodstock, NY from the late '20's.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 5:31 pm

The New Theater, Woodstock, NY, 1931 (project).

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:17 am

Taste & See KC: Community Christian Church - [0:59]

David

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:18 am

Bringing this thread forward to post-outage status. Keywords: Community Christian Church , Kansas City.

Jeff Myers · Post by **Jeff Myers** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:52 pm

From In The Nature Of The Materials circa 1941

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:37 pm

The 1940 church in Kansas City bears a resemblance, in building system or at least in material palette---and in the resulting exterior expression---to the 1955 Kalita Humphreys theater in Dallas ?

S

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:45 pm

Well, I have to alter that statement; the church was to have been Gunite sprayed over a paper-backed steel wire mesh on steel-framed walls. (We have a similar material, on wood studs, in parts of my 1928 city apartment building.)

The Dallas Theater Center, on the other hand, is a concrete building, according to Storrer ...

S

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:00 am

The Guggenheim was constructed with spray applied concrete as well, shot from the structure's interior into/against plywood forms and later troweled or plastered smooth on the interior face.

The gunite used at the Guggenheim is a dry mix in which water is introduced at the nozzle which allows more time to work the concrete and for work to start and stop without problems of cold joints...(as opposed to shotcrete which is an already wet mix sprayed into or onto formwork).

https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checkl ... guggenheim

A pic of Wright at the site with raw concrete being painted:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 132535844/

and

https://www.archdaily.com/874207/the-58 ... seum-photo

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:39 am

I wonder where in the building these forms would have been employed:

And, what would have been the form surface applied to these ribs; the shape is a compound curve, so plywood would be out of the question ...

S

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:37 am

Good question...
I had figured they were some element in the lower level auditorium that I have never been inside. Steiner has a set of construction photos of the lower level, but I'm not seeing a direct match:
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Books/GuggConst57.htm

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:10 pm

Thanks. That ramp and lower-level arcade is news to me, entirely.

Come to that, what could the completed narrow curved forms in the first photo be for ...

S

loo tee · Post by **loo tee** » Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:33 am

The original color of the Community Church was pink. After a rainfall, the building looked like it had a skin disease, all splotchy. Eventually, a painting contractor named Jerome Friedson was hired to paint the building white, and he received angry protests from Wright for doing so.
The idea of the church was aborted in the sense that the entire south side--the vast parking terraces and outdoor chapel--were never built. The church was meant to be a kind of drive-in theater during nicer weather, just as the Marin County buildings border on the idea of a suburban shopping mall.
Neither, obviously, was anywhere close to Wright at his best.

Jeff Myers · Post by **Jeff Myers** » Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:45 am

Wright- ambitious genius who, at times, was stifled by incompetent contractors who failed to see or execute his vision properly.

The community church was not a failure of a Wright design, rather it is a failure of the clients budget, city, and contractor. It still is a gem but Wright was none to pleased with it because the work of art it was to be was tampered by the one who oversaw it being built.

Look to the Price Tower, Beth Shalom, Guggenheim, Ann Pfeiffer chapel as examples of great contractor/architect relationship.
The Price Tower had Haskell Culwell as the contractor, he also contracted on Beth Shalom too. Just thought to throw that note in.

These are just my opinions. I have researched some of WrightÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s designs and developed this opinion based on what I have seen scratched in on the plans.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:19 am

Couldn't find a photo of the church in pink---so here it is. Too bright, I'm sure; I like the pink/brown shadows.