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Ozayr Saloojee
University of Minneapolis College of Design
School of Architecture UMN Twin Cities 89 Church St S E
Minneapolis, MN 55455 1 [email protected]
Keywords: Eliel Saarinen, Eero
Saarinen, Christ Church Lutheran, modern architecture
Research
The Next Largest Thing:
The Spatial Dimensions of Liturgy in Eliel and Eero Saarinens Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis
Abstract. Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was designed by Eliel Saarinen, then 75, and added to by his son Eero Saarinen 10 years later. Deeply loved by its community, it also serves as a touching example of the relationship between the father and the son. This present examination looks at the building on various scales, underscoring the finesse and material elegance of the building complex, the spatial genius and expertise of Eliel Saarinen, and the deferential addition by Eero.
Written into the National Register of Historic Places, Eliel and Eero Saarinens Christ Church Lutheran was named as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in early 2009. Widely considered to be Eliel Saarinens masterwork, the church has been hailed as the singular building example that heralded a new direction for ecclesiastic architecture in the United States. Completed in 1949, Eliels sanctuary sits in the words of his grand-daughter Susan Saarinen quietly there.1 It is an unprepossessing building from the exterior, a massing of simple forms largely rectangular seeming solids, faced with Chicago brick and Mankato Stone, occupying the corner of 34th Avenue South and East 33rd Street in Minneapoliss Longfellow neighborhood. Its exterior belies its interior, which demonstrates Eliel Saarinens consummate skill as an architect capable of understanding the scale of experience as an essential part of liturgy and as an evocative catalyst for a deep and personal sense of spirit. Approached by the local congregation shortly after World War II, Pastor William Beuge wrote a challenging letter to Saarinen, then head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Ann Arbor: I asked him if it were possible in a materialistic age like ours to do something truly spiritual. The young pastor observed that, He soon showed me.2
An important question during this ongoing research into Christ Church Lutheran has regarded how to approach a reading of this building. This research and this writing is not the...