<p>An enormous number of churches and other religious structures have been built in Louisiana over the past 250 years, many of which still stand. Today, in New Orleans alone, there are more than 850 churches representing more than seventy denominations. The state's religious buildings encompass not only a wide range of faiths but also a striking diversity of architectural forms. In Religious Architecture in Louisiana, author Robert W. Heck and photographer Otis B. Wheeler provide the first photographic survey of this rich architectural heritage. Their goal has been not to document every religious building in the state (a nearly impossible task) but to isolate prime examples of the historically and architecturally significant. Robert W. Heck presents a brief history of Louisiana's religious architecture. He describes the dominating influence of Catholicism during the eighteenth century, during which time the original Church of St. Louis was built on the site of the present Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France, in New Orleans. He then discusses the burgeoning construction that accompanied the expansion of religious freedom following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 as Protestants and Jews erected their own places of worship. The author also considers the various architectural influences that have marked Louisiana's religious buildings, from the Colonial style of the eighteenth century, to the Classical Revival and Gothic Revival styles that predominated during the middle part of the nineteenth century, to the Eclectic style that gained currency after the Civil War and persisted until about 1930. The great part of the book is devoted to 162 religious buildings located throughout the state. In addition to presenting photographs of the structures, each place of worship is identified by name, address, date of construction (when known), and architectural style. For each building the author also provides comments on design, construction materials, and structural and decorative details. To enhance the usefulness of the book, a glossary of architectural terms and an appendix that lists those religious buildings in the state included in the National Register of Historic Places is included as well as another appendix that lists known early religious structures that are no longer standing. Religious Architecture in Louisiana will prove a valuable resource for architects, religious congregations, historic preservationists, and religious and architectural historians.</p>

Religious Architecture in Louisiana

History

HECK, ROBERT

Wheeler, Otis B.

Americas

LSU Press

This account explores, from the perspective of material and cultural history, the rise of the evangelical megachurch - a church designed to attract a large following. In 1970, there were only ten megachurches. By the mid 1990s, however, megachurches numbered around four hundred, representing nearly 2 percent of the Protestant churches in the United States. In this new study, Anne C. Loveland and Otis B. Wheeler demonstrate that evangelical megachurches and their architectural structures evolved from multiple models and influences.The authors begin by focusing on the meetinghouses of the Protestant dissenters of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and the revival structures used by itinerant evangelists in the antebellum period. They proceed to the urban auditorium churches created by evangelicals during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the gospel tents, tabernacles, and temples built by fundamentalists, holiness people, and pentecostals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: and even the modern churches constructed by liberal, mainline Protestants during the mid-twentieth century.Illustrated with more than 150 images, From Meetinghouse to Megachurch fills a significant gap in the historiography of evangelical religion in the United States. Church leaders, students of cultural and material history, church architects, or anyone interested in evangelism will find this book of great value.

From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History

Loveland, Anne C.

World

Univ of Missouri Pr

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