EDITED: What is your favorite style of church architecture?

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In light of the recent thread I made about my parish’s plans for a new church, and romanticizing over the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest’s affinity for my beloved Baroque, I decided to make this thread.

So, what is your favorite style of church architecture? Why? How does it contribute in its own way to the structure and beauty of the liturgy itself, and how does it support and maintain, indeed encourage, harmony with all the other necessary aspects of liturgical art, such as music and vestments? I personally believe that any style rooted in the traditions of not only the Latin Church, but also those (with some concessions) of the East, can be equally suited to the Extraordinary Form or Ordinary Form. What is your take? How does it lift the eye, and so the heart, to God? Please keep in mind the qualifier I use of the architecture being able to support the liturgy, hence why I placed this thread in this forum.

I love Baroque architecture. I love the grandiose qualities. I love the fluidity of the details while maintaining symmetry in the big picture; the dichotomy provides nice, but not too stark, contrast. I love the gilded accents. I love how it connects to the Renaissance era of Europe, and elevates my mind to that period in a way no other architectural style can.

The Baroque lets me to romanticize about God. I know that heavenly realities may not be, and probably are not, like those portrayed in Baroque architecture and art, but the style lifts my petty, lowly human mind to experience God in such a high manner as to induce in me such a prayerful state that no other environment can.

I believe that the Baroque style complements gorgeously the solemnity, but also the lightness and radiance of God, the latter two qualities which, ironically, are so prized in modern-leaning Catholic church architecture. It is so hard to think about sin and the negative side of our humanity, two qualities seemingly shunned in modern-leaning parishes, when surrounded by such lofty design. In that way, I might go so far as to say that the Baroque complements those parishes attached to the average expression of the Ordinary Form even more than those attached to the Extraordinary Form!

Lastly, I love the fact that the Baroque style is “of the Church,” that is, specifically promoted by the Church in the style’s heyday. Nothing screams the primacy and imperialism of the Catholic Church in the face of the heretical times more than Baroque architecture, which I find exciting and refreshing.

This is not to say that I do not find other types of architecture rooted in the traditions of the Church, such as Gothic or Byzantine, beautiful and supportive of beautiful liturgies in all respects. I do, and I recognize those art forms for their inherent liturgical beauty for that reason, even though I don’t particularly like them as much as Baroque. I say this not to be conciliatory to anyone, but because I feel it is important to squash the notion that “any type of architecture can be beautiful, and it’s all a matter of opinion.”
 
This is my opinion, so take it as such, but with a few exceptions I cannot stand baroque. So much florid and heavily ornamented decoration really only works in a truly massive space like St Peter’s in Rome, where the sheer volume of the church dilutes it and makes it more palatable.

I am much more in tune with the Gothic and even neo-Gothic style (such as the lovely St Mary’s Cathedral in my beloved Sydney Australia). Less ornamental overload and much more of a literal lifting of the mind and heart to God, for example in the vertical emphases of the architectural detail. Plus all that gorgeous stained glass.
 
LilyM said:
This is my opinion, so take it as such, but with a few exceptions I cannot stand baroque. So much florid and heavily ornamented decoration really only works in a truly massive space like St Peter’s in Rome, where the sheer volume of the church dilutes it and makes it more palatable.

I am much more in tune with the Gothic and even neo-Gothic style (such as the lovely St Mary’s Cathedral in my beloved Sydney Australia). Less ornamental overload and much more of a literal lifting of the mind and heart to God, for example in the vertical emphases of the architectural detail. Plus all that gorgeous stained glass.
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That’s good too!
 
I’d say Gothic, as there is something about the soaring columns and pointed vaults that visually lifts the human mind heavenward.

Of course, if the space is large enough, Baroque and Romanesque can do the same.

ICXC NIKA
 
Phaedra777 said:
This! romeofthewest.com/2007/03/photos-of-saint-anthony-of-padua-church.html

I love the majesty of it. Plainer churches are fine–they’re all God’s houses–but when I’m in a space like this, I know I’m somewhere different, special. 🙂

According to the site, this was designed by a Brother and has elements of Neo-Romanesque and Neo-Gothic styles.
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Yes, the best churches, in my opinion, are the ones where you can take one glance and say, “This is, absolutely, a Catholic church, without a doubt,” without having to try to find the crucifix or something.
 
My favourite Catholic Cathedral in the UK is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool. It’s a stunning interior, prayerful, spiritual, intimate and beautiful.

http://system-x.info/wp-content/original/2009_09/cathedral_interior_hdr.jpg

http://system-x.info/wp-content/original/2009_09/catholic_cathedral_hdr.jpg

My favourite Anglican Cathedral is York Minster

http://www.liquidphoto.co.uk/samples/York-Minster-web.jpg

Favourite Church:

L’église d’Hérémence in Switzerland, dedicated to St. Nicolas

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

It feels like you are inside the mountain
 
I would have to say I prefer Byzantine style, with domes and icons and mosaics much like Westminster Cathedral (which sadly, is still a long way from completion), or more understated, rather Anglican-looking St. Martin-in-the-Fields-type styles.
 
My favorite architecture is good architecture. 😉

But seriously, I guess my favorite is the Romanesque style that used to be so common for Catholic churches here in the U.S.
 
I find it reassuring that there are so many different forms of church architecture. All were disliked in their day. Romanesque was used by the Normans to intimidate their subjugated people and was hated by the Anglo-Saxons whose own churches had been demolished to make way for the Conqueror’s statement. Gothic with its pointed arches and flying buttresses is an elaborate form of scaffolding to hold the stone roof up. It’s only time that makes us love what we regard as being part of our culture. Any of the glass and concrete buildings that survive 100 years will become regarded as part of our ancient heritage.

What we need is a room large enough to hold the congregation with the necessary facilities for celebrating the Mass and the necessary preparations. If your enjoyment of the liturgy is spoiled by the architecture, you are missing the point.

My favourite church building is St Mark’s in Canterbury (it’s been Anglican since Edward VI, but that’s only a short part of its history - we can wait). As you go in the door, it looks like a typical Victorian white-washed church. Then you turn around and realise you’ve just walked through a 1500 year old Roman wall. In the sanctuary, there is a bricked-up doorway - and the bricks are Saxon.

It’s interesting to see that someone has posted some pictures of Christ the King Cathedral in Liverpool. The church in our neighbouring parish is a scaled down version of it - apparently designed by the same architect as a working model. The roof leaks in both of them.
 
Bezant said:
I would have to say I prefer Byzantine style, with domes and icons and mosaics much like Westminster Cathedral (which sadly, is still a long way from completion), or more understated, rather Anglican-looking St. Martin-in-the-Fields-type styles.
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My favorite would be byzantine as well, especially the AMAZING Westminster Cathedral. I was lucky enough to live in London for a semester a few years back and loved visiting the Cathedral. Being there for the relics of St. Therese of Liseux was amazing. I actually LIKE the fact that the ceiling aren’t completed. Don’t know how to explain it other than to say it has a bit of a “great hall at hogwarts” effect.

I also love the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in D.C. If you want to see what Westminster might look like when its done, check out our recently finished domes!
 
My personal favourite is Baroque, but I appreciate many of the styles. I find that there are elements of all styles that I like, but at the same time, there are other elements of the same styles which don’t appeal to me. Get ready for a really, really long post… 😃

Baroque carries a majestic scale but intricate detail, which in my opinion is representative of both richness and breadth of the Church and its teachings. It is deep and intricate, and yet broad and universal. The wide spread of the building highlights the universality of the Church. Incorporating Renaissance principles of geometry demonstrates the perfect world that God has given to us imperfect beings. The strong shapes conveys our firm orthodoxy that resist the changing times and endures the rise and fall of nations. In short, it carries a lot of meaning for me. 🙂

At the same time, I’m rather partial to Gothic vaults and their emphasis on the vertical, which captures the triumph of Christ’s message and his Church. Viewed from a distance, they dominate the landscape, symbolic of the authority of the Church. As with Classical and Romanesque architecture, I like its focus on the beauty of form over details like frescoes and the such, though they are not beyond such things, as seen in the lierne vaults of Chester and Gloucester. However, Gothic exteriors can be a bit too dark and militant, with all the spires and points. I like spires, but too many don’t seem appropriate for a Church dedicated to peace. Reminds me too much of an array of stakes, spears and other such implements of war. 😛

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m not particularly swayed by Rococo either. While similar to Baroque, its palette and details can be rather too frivolous and playful, which isn’t exactly what one would like to convey in a church. The Church is immutable, not amorphous. 🤷

Byzantine architecture didn’t cross my mind for a while, until I met the Westminster Cathedral, and fell in love with it. I’ve made it a goal of mine to visit the great Hagia Sophia. Their simple yet impressive scale is something that continues to awe me. Despite this, though, I still prefer the Latin cross arrangement of Western churches to the centrally-planned Greek cross.

Lastly, modern architecture is very iffy. As a principle, I will not rule it out and rush to consider it unusable in an ecclesiastical context, but I must admit that I have not seen many particularly fine ecclesiastical examples from this style. Nonetheless, the Sagrada Familia could possibly buck the trend. While I have mixed feelings about the building as a whole (such as the enormous number of enormous spires, and the rather hive-like design both without and within), particular elements demonstrate that modern architecture can still produce a building that is characteristically a church to provide a harbour for tradition, if only there were architects who would.

As of now, I pray and hope for an architectural revival. The advent of modern architectural methods and materials show great potential. With them, it is theoretically possible to build a church grander than any before in history, and yet in line with the rich tradition of the Church. However, it seems most of the architects are too caught up in other projects in Modern architecture to really care about building churches in accordance with the Church’s patrimony. :rolleyes:

Incidentally, I have my dream church (or cathedral even!) all worked out in my head, but I don’t have the drawing or 3D modelling skills to illustrate it. And I’m no architect. 😦
 
I live in the Tucson, Az area of the country and we have the San Xavier Mission on the Indian reservation and the Cathedral in downtown Tucson and I think they are both considered Mission Style, architecturally. I like this style but hen again I’m very fluid or maybe eclectic in this regard. I’ve taken a liking to a number of styles and enjoyed their particular beauty with mostly equal appreciation. It’s taken me decades, but I now have an appreciation of modern architecture with it’s simplistic straight lines and geometrically square or rectangular shapes. But as a carpenter I always have a special place in my heart for exposed wood and lots of it and in varying shades of light and dark and what’s in between.

All that said, the style of architecture I appreciate most is the type that lends itself to prominent signs requesting silence while entering into or leaving the nave in order that those who choose to remain in proximity to the Blessed Sacrament and converse with God, may do so without undue distractions. Of course any pastor has the ability to keep the faithful on their toes in this regard by frequent reminders but that’s a task I think few priests exercise with due diligence.

Sorry if I digressed.
 
Personally, I like Gothic and Romanesque. More than anything, I’d love to see the restoration of Rood Screens, to give us back our Western equivalent of Iconostases. As much as I love icons and would love to see them in church more often, I think it would be good for us to keep our Western heritage here when we put the wall back up. Nothing sends the clear message that the mass is a sacrifice to God and not a communal brunch like a rood screen.
 
I don’t really know which style is which, but I guess I like styles that strike me as one of the more traditional styles (Gothic?) - and ones that actually look identifiably like churches rather than like village halls 😉 I like most cathedrals I’ve seen (I really liked [the Catholic] Cologne Cathedral)

A few of the Catholic churches I’ve seen here in England, and many Anglican churches (some of which, of course, were Catholic before the Reformation), fit various styles I find appealing - although many of the Catholic churches (mostly built since the easing of laws restricting Catholic religious practice in the 19th century) don’t necessarily, although I think the parishes did the best they could with available resources (and some look more traditional internally than externally).

My city is fortunate has a stunningly beautiful church (complete with traditional confessionals, and a Latin Mass on Sunday morning) - the Oratory Church of the Immaculate Conception (famous for Cardinal Newman) - which my last flat was just 10-15 minutes walk from (which the Pope visited on his visit to Britain).
 
I love Gothic architecture: there’s a kind of broody quality to Gothic churches, where you feel like you’re walking in a dark forest, and the sun shining through the stained glass windows is like the sunlight sifting through the leaves overhead.

Romanesque gives me this heavy, boxed-in feeling, so I don’t care too much for it.

I also like the kind of staid, plain lines architecture that traditional New England Protestant churches have (likely due to living in Massachusetts all my life): one Catholic church I frequent in a local “mill town” started its existence as a Unitarian church, till it closed in the 1850s or so and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate took it over when they arrived with a lot of the French-Canadian immigrants.
 
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