The following is reprinted from a presentation by Robert Slater, a member of the Committee, on October 2, 2007:
"George W. Kramer designed this church in 1899, just two years after he published his definitive book 'The What, How, and Why of Church building.' This book outlines and discusses the 'Akron plan' of church design, of which Kramer was the leading proponent. The 'Akron' or auditorium plan, unlike the more hierarchical cruciform plans of European architecture, arranged the congregation in such a manner as to allow equal sight and sound, as much as possible, to the whole group.
This idea, embodied in the physical structure of the building, is an essentially democratic idea indigenous to America. It could not come about in Europe where 'divine right' segregated people by status and class. The notion of equality before God, much less before temporal authority, profoundly influenced latter works such as Wright’s Unity Church of 1905.
Kramer, by his use of the so-called 'Carpenter Gothic' stylization, along with his willingness to imbue older historical forms with new ideological innovations, anticipated the proto-modernism of the Arts and Crafts movement, early Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the Green brothers.
Historically, this places Kramer and this church squarely in that group of architects and buildings, often times unheralded, who hammered out a mature American idiom separate from its European precursors. If it were not for the seminal, audacious, and innovative practice which such architects as Kramer established and matured here in America, the modernist experiment in America might not have happened.
The debt that modern architectural practice owes to such progenitors as Kramer and their work is therefore immeasurable. In a time when most architectural design is a function of systemic building techniques, driven more by accountancy than by insight, true creative innovation - embodied by Kramer’s Bay Ridge United Methodist Church - becomes valuable beyond cost.
It should also be understood that the date of Kramer’s design (1899) following so closely on the date of his book (1897) gives us a unique insight into how the built fact corresponds to the conceptual framework which produced it. Undoubtedly, Kramer must have understood that his treatise and this church, because of their dates, would serve to inform each other.
This is embodied in several physical characteristics of the church itself, such as the generous site and the prominent placement of the church on that site. Surprisingly, the choice of serpentine stone, far from the defect Easton Architects suggests it to be, serves by its color and surface qualities, to further join the church to the richly landscaped site, and so emphasizes the essential 'togetherness' concept of Kramer’s treatise.
The goal of joining building to site has been a programmatic ideal of American architecture from Kramer’s time, through Frank Lloyd Wright, through the modernist movement, all the way to the 'glass house' of Philip Johnson. That goal could not be achieved in the crowded and congested urban landscapes of Europe, but only in the abundant spaces provided by America.
Today, we find ourselves entering an age, not only of economic, but also of cultural globalization. Doubtless, the polyphony of our American song is a precedent for this new symphony of the world. But this ‘Age of Turbulence,' as Alan Greenspan calls it, while offering great promise, also brings great hazards. If we cannot find in ourselves and our communities the courage, strength, and resources to preserve the sacred places which have been bequeathed to us – such as Kramer’s Bay Ridge United Methodist Church - and which inform the very soul of our identity, then what hope can we have for our survival as a people or as a nation?"
