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206-497: The congregation meets at 4101 Nebraska Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. Designated as the national church of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) , the building complex occupies a 12-acre campus comprising six separate structures. It includes a mid century modern style main church which is the third largest religious center in the nation's capital. President Dwight D. Eisenhower laid the cornerstone on October 14, 1967. The campus

412-512: A moderator at each assembly who moderates the rest of the sessions of that assembly meeting and continues to serve until the next assembly convenes (two years later) to elect a new moderator or co-moderator. Currently, the denomination is served by Co-Moderators Cecelia Armstrong and Anthony Larson, who were elected at the 226th General Assembly (2024). They followed Ruth Santana-Grace and Shavon Starling-Louis, elected in 2022. They followed Elona Street-Stewart and Gregory Bentley, elected in 2020. At

618-524: A PCUSA minister, many of these conservatives would establish what became known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. Although the 1930s and 1940s and the ensuing neo-orthodox theological consensus mitigated much of the polemics during the mid-20th century, disputes erupted again beginning in the mid-1960s over the extent of involvement in the civil rights movement and the issue of ordination of women , and, especially since

824-531: A Teaching Elder, but the Office of the General Assembly does maintain and publish a national directory with the help of each presbytery's stated clerk. This directory is also published bi-annually with the minutes of the General Assembly. A pastor cannot be a member of the congregation he or she serves as a pastor because his or her primary ecclesiastical accountability lies with the presbytery. Members of

1030-452: A book published in 2012, the windows range from the shorter windows lining the chancel sides that depict Bible stories to the two larger transept windows, each made of eight 31-foot (9.4 m) tall lancets. The north transept window contains abstract designs drawn from images in the book of Revelation. The text at the top reads "I know that my Redeemer liveth and at last will stand upon the earth" (Job 19:25). The south transept window depicts

1236-537: A brilliant state trumpet, which is mounted horizontally. The organ's inaugural concert was performed in April 1970 with Ernest Ligon at the manuals. A new solo division of orchestral instrument “voices” was added to the Hopkins Organ in 2010. This enhanced the organ's versatility and size to over 6,500 pipes. In January 1966, the congregation acquired the current property and began the design and construction of

1442-630: A bronze tablet bearing the church's new name. Today, that bronze tablet is displayed outside the Chapel of the Presidents . Edward L. R. Elson , who succeeded McCarthy in 1946, worked to inspire the denomination to the potential for Christian witness and service by a national church. On October 15, 1947, clergy throughout the denomination and the city of Washington converged at the Covenant-First Presbyterian Church for

1648-636: A collection of historic and contemporary creeds and catechisms, including its own Brief Statement of Faith . It is a member the World Communion of Reformed Churches . The similarly named Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is a separate denomination whose congregations can also trace their history to the various schisms and mergers of Presbyterian churches in the United States . Unlike the more conservative Presbyterian Church in America,

1854-476: A compromise between the two, combining modernist forms and stylized decoration. The dominant figure in the rise of modernism in France was Charles-Édouard Jeanerette, a Swiss-French architect who in 1920 took the name Le Corbusier . In 1920 he co-founded a journal called ' L'Espirit Nouveau and energetically promoted architecture that was functional, pure, and free of any decoration or historical associations. He

2060-607: A conservative Southern town. In 1866, Sunderland invited Frederick Douglass , noted black abolitionist , to speak from the church's pulpit when no other church in Washington would do so. At this time the Presbyterian denomination split when Southern presbyteries seceded as a body (the Presbyterian Church in the United States ). Although “Old First” was at the time a member of the Virginia Presbytery, one of

2266-544: A dedicatory service to establish that church as The National Church of the Presbyterian denomination. For the new national church of the denomination, the General Assembly , in conjunction with church leaders, was eager to expand the facilities to support a wider array of religious, educational, and cultural activities. His parishioner, President Dwight D. Eisenhower , whom Elson baptized in 1953, supported him in meetings with denomination leaders. The obsolescence of

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2472-579: A former Roman Catholic priest from Scotland who studied with Calvin in Geneva, took Calvin's teachings back to Scotland and led the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Because of this reform movement, the Church of Scotland embraced Reformed theology and presbyterian polity . The Ulster Scots brought their Presbyterian faith with them to Ireland, where they laid the foundation of what would become

2678-511: A generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan , Victor Horta , Hector Guimard , and Antoni Gaudí . At the end of the 19th century, a few architects began to challenge the traditional Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles that dominated architecture in Europe and the United States. The Glasgow School of Art (1896–99) designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh , had a façade dominated by large vertical bays of windows. The Art Nouveau style

2884-399: A geographical region to form a synod . Each synod contains at least three presbyteries, and its elected voting membership is to include both elders and Ministers of Word and Sacrament in equal numbers. Synods have various duties depending on the needs of the presbyteries they serve. In general, their responsibilities (G-12.0102) might be summarized as: developing and implementing the mission of

3090-564: A group of Scottish stonemasons working on the construction of the White House met for worship. Since then, the congregation has been housed in several buildings across the city. Numerous presidents as well as other national and international leaders have attended the church. In 1866, the pastor invited Frederick Douglass , noted black abolitionist, to speak from the church's pulpit when no other church in Washington other than New York Avenue Presbyterian Church would do so. The church has hosted

3296-589: A head the following year when, in response to the New York Presbytery's decision to ordain a couple of men who could not affirm the virgin birth, the PCUSA's General Assembly reaffirmed the "five fundamentals": the deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the vicarious atonement, the inerrancy of Scripture, and Christ's miracles and resurrection. This move against modernism caused a backlash in the form of

3502-467: A hotel near Chandler, Arizona , and the most famous of all his residences, Fallingwater (1934–37), a vacation house in Pennsylvania for Edgar J. Kaufman. Fallingwater is a remarkable structure of concrete slabs suspended over a waterfall, perfectly uniting architecture and nature. The Austrian architect Rudolph Schindler designed what could be called the first house in the modern style in 1922,

3708-631: A library and archives. In 2012 the William Smith Culbertson Memorial Library was designated by the national Church and Synagogue Library Association as the Outstanding Congregational Library of the United States. With a collection of over 18,000 items, the library is one of the largest religious church libraries on the eastern seaboard of the nation. The Chapman Memorial Archives is a collection of over 450,000 documents and records of

3914-649: A lighthouse-like tower in the center to inspire hope. His rebuilt city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005. Shortly after the War, the French architect Le Corbusier , who was nearly sixty years old and had not constructed a building in ten years, was commissioned by the French government to construct a new apartment block in Marseille . He called it Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, but it more popularly took

4120-653: A major exposition of modernist design in Cologne just a few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. For the 1914 Cologne exhibition, Bruno Taut built a revolutionary glass pavilion. Frank Lloyd Wright was a highly original and independent American architect who refused to be categorized in any one architectural movement. Like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , he had no formal architectural training. From 1887 to 1893 he worked in

4326-459: A minister member or elected member of the presbytery as moderator with the concurrence of the local church session. The moderator presides over the session as first among equals and also serves as a "liturgical" bishop over the ordination and installation of elders and deacons within a particular congregation. The session guides and directs the ministry of the local church, including almost all spiritual and fiduciary leadership. The congregation as

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4532-521: A national church and in 1923 established a commission to explore formally and officially create such a church in Washington. In 1930, the Church of the Covenant was selected to “furnish the congregational nucleus about which this National Church should be organized.” It was considered appropriate that the congregation of the now-demolished First Presbyterian church, with so rich a history, should move across

4738-763: A neo-gothic or neoclassical style, but these buildings were very different; they combined modern materials and technology (stainless steel, concrete, aluminum, chrome-plated steel) with Art Deco geometry; stylized zig-zags, lightning flashes, fountains, sunrises, and, at the top of the Chrysler building, Art Deco "gargoyles" in the form of stainless steel radiator ornaments. The interiors of these new buildings, sometimes termed Cathedrals of Commerce", were lavishly decorated in bright contrasting colors, with geometric patterns variously influenced by Egyptian and Mayan pyramids, African textile patterns, and European cathedrals, Frank Lloyd Wright himself experimented with Mayan Revival , in

4944-415: A new Presbyterian denomination that allows ordination of women but is more conservative theologically than PC(USA). In 2013 the presbyteries ratified the General Assembly's 2012 vote to allow the ordination of openly gay persons to the ministry and in 2014 the General Assembly voted to amend the church's constitution to define marriage as the union of two persons instead of the union of a man and woman, which

5150-515: A new church complex. A building committee considered several designs, and selected the Modernist /Neo-Gothic design by ecclesiastical architect Harold E. Wagoner . The limestone and steel structure was constructed by the Charles H. Tompkins Co. of Washington, D.C. The white marble and limestone sanctuary of The National Presbyterian Church seats 1,450 and has a traditional cathedral floor plan in

5356-501: A new style for government buildings, sometimes called PWA Moderne , for the Public Works Administration , which launched gigantic construction programs in the U.S. to stimulate employment. It was essentially classical architecture stripped of ornament, and was employed in state and federal buildings, from post offices to the largest office building in the world at that time, Pentagon (1941–43), begun just before

5562-474: A new style. They became leaders in the postwar modernist movement. World War II (1939–1945) and its aftermath was a major factor in driving innovation in building technology, and in turn, architectural possibilities. The wartime industrial demands resulted in shortages of steel and other building materials, leading to the adoption of new materials, such as aluminum, The war and postwar period brought greatly expanded use of prefabricated building ; largely for

5768-440: A nominating committee of the congregation; in addition, nominations from the floor are permissible. Elders are then elected by the congregation. All elders elected to serve on the congregation's session of elders are required to undergo a period of study and preparation for this order of ministry, after which the session examines the elders-elect as to their personal faith; knowledge of doctrine, government, and discipline contained in

5974-470: A nursery school, and other serves, and the flat terrace roof had a running track, ventilation ducts, and a small theater. Le Corbusier designed furniture, carpets, and lamps to go with the building, all purely functional; the only decoration was a choice of interior colors that Le Corbusier gave to residents. Unité d'Habitation became a prototype for similar buildings in other cities, both in France and Germany. Combined with his equally radical organic design for

6180-604: A pattern set in the first congregation of Christians in Jerusalem described in the Book of Acts in the New Testament , the church is governed by presbyters (a term and category that includes elders and Ministers of Word and Sacrament, historically also referred to as "ruling or canon elders" because they measure the spiritual life and work of a congregation and ministers as "teaching elders"). The elders are nominated by

6386-428: A pioneer in the architecture of collective housing , though his Moroccan colleague Elie Azagury was critical of him for serving as a tool of the French colonial regime and for ignoring the economic and social necessity that Moroccans live in higher density vertical housing. Late modernist architecture is generally understood to include buildings designed (1968–1980) with exceptions. Modernist architecture includes

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6592-484: A prominent architectural commentator. Its goal was to bring together designers and industrialists, to turn out well-designed, high-quality products, and in the process to invent a new type of architecture. The organization originally included twelve architects and twelve business firms, but quickly expanded. The architects include Peter Behrens , Theodor Fischer (who served as its first president), Josef Hoffmann and Richard Riemerschmid . In 1909 Behrens designed one of

6798-618: A proponent of monumental fascist architecture, who rebuilt the University of Rome, and designed the Italian pavilion at the 1937 Paris Exposition, and planned a grand reconstruction of Rome on the fascist model. The 1939 New York World's Fair marked a turning point in architecture between Art Deco and modern architecture. The theme of the Fair was the World of Tomorrow , and its symbols were

7004-502: A representative form of government, known as presbyterian polity , with four levels of government and administration, as outlined in the Book of Order . The councils (governing bodies) are as follows: At the congregational level, the governing body is called the session , from the Latin word sessio , meaning "a sitting". The session is made up of the pastors of the church and all elders elected and installed to active service. Following

7210-456: A row of white pylons in the center of a large lawn, it became an icon of modernist architecture. In Germany, two important modernist movements appeared after the first World War, The Bauhaus was a school founded in Weimar in 1919 under the direction of Walter Gropius . Gropius was the son of the official state architect of Berlin, who studied before the war with Peter Behrens , and designed

7416-595: A school on East Capitol Street, a Masonic Lodge between 1st and 2nd Streets near the Washington Navy Yard, and even the Supreme Court of the United States chamber on the ground floor of the unfinished United States Capitol . Members from the St. Andrew's group officially established First Presbyterian Church on September 15, 1812. With contributions from James Madison and James Monroe , among others,

7622-493: A strategic site at the intersection of N and 18th Streets and Connecticut Avenue NW, the heart of a fast-growing and affluent residential area. On June 28, 1887, the cornerstone of the greystone Romanesque Revival church was laid. The first service was held there on September 25, 1889. It was dedicated January 6, 1901, after the construction debt was paid. President Benjamin Harrison and inventor Alexander Graham Bell were among

7828-521: A study of Casablanca's bidonvilles entitled "Habitat for the Greatest Number". The presenters, Georges Candilis and Michel Ecochard , argued—against doctrine—that architects must consider local culture and climate in their designs. This generated great debate among modernist architects around the world and eventually provoked a schism and the creation of Team 10 . Ecochard's 8x8 meter model at Carrières Centrales earned him recognition as

8034-408: A temporary halt to the construction of new skyscrapers. It also brought in a new style, called " Streamline Moderne " or sometimes just Streamline. This style, sometimes modeled after for the form of ocean liners, featured rounded corners, strong horizontal lines, and often nautical features, such as superstructures and steel railings. It was associated with modernity and especially with transportation;

8240-421: A whole has only the responsibility to vote on: 1) the call of the pastor (subject to presbytery approval) and the terms of call (the church's provision for compensating and caring for the pastor); 2) the election of its own officers (elders and deacons); 3) buying, mortgaging, or selling real property. All other church matters such as the budget, personnel matters, and all programs for spiritual life and mission, are

8446-463: Is a machine for living in." He tirelessly promoted his ideas through slogans, articles, books, conferences, and participation in Expositions. To illustrate his ideas, in the 1920s he built a series of houses and villas in and around Paris. They were all built according to a common system, based upon the use of reinforced concrete, and of reinforced concrete pylons in the interior which supported

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8652-720: Is a name often given to the Modern architecture that emerged in Europe, primarily German-speaking Europe, in the 1920s and 30s. It is also frequently called Neues Bauen (New Building). The New Objectivity took place in many German cities in that period, for example in Frankfurt with its Neues Frankfurt project. By the late 1920s, modernism had become an important movement in Europe. Architecture, which previously had been predominantly national, began to become international. The architects traveled, met each other, and shared ideas. Several modernists, including Le Corbusier , had participated in

8858-725: Is also known as the Presbyterian Historical Society . Six agencies carry out the work of the General Assembly, two of which (OGA and PMA) are being unified, with a new staff reporting structure that seems to imply that OGA and PMA have been dissolved. These are the Office of the General Assembly (OGA), the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation , the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, the Board of Pensions,

9064-607: Is decided by a representative gathering in even years, the General Assembly . Led by the Senior Minister and supported by professional staff and volunteers, the program ministries of The National Presbyterian Church are performed by ordained clergy: As a “credal” and “Reformed” church within the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination, The National Presbyterian Church accepts and confirms the eleven documents that comprise its Book of Confessions, beginning with

9270-405: Is elected annually and is either a minister member or an elder commissioner from one of the presbytery's congregations. The Moderator presides at all presbytery assemblies and is the chief overseer at the ordination and installation of ministers in that presbytery. The stated clerk is the chief ecclesial officer and serves as the presbytery's executive secretary and parliamentarian in accordance with

9476-488: Is known as Brick Expressionism . Erich Mendelsohn , (who disliked the term Expressionism for his work) began his career designing churches, silos, and factories which were highly imaginative, but, for lack of resources, were never built. In 1920, he finally was able to construct one of his works in the city of Potsdam; an observatory and research center called the Einsteinium , named in tribute to Albert Einstein . It

9682-418: Is open to Presbyterian high school students throughout the world. The very first Youth Triennium was held in 1980 at Indiana University and the conference for teens is an effort of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the nation; Cumberland Presbyterian Church ; and Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America , the first African-American denomination to embrace Presbyterianism in

9888-468: The Auburn Affirmation  — a document embracing liberalism and modernism. The liberals began a series of ecclesiastical trials of their opponents, expelled them from the church and seized their church buildings. Under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen , a former Princeton Theological Seminary New Testament professor who had founded Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, and who was

10094-657: The Austrian Postal Savings Bank (1904–1906). Wagner declared his intention to express the function of the building in its exterior. The reinforced concrete exterior was covered with plaques of marble attached with bolts of polished aluminum. The interior was purely functional and spare, a large open space of steel, glass, and concrete where the only decoration was the structure itself. The Viennese architect Adolf Loos also began removing any ornament from his buildings. His Steiner House , in Vienna (1910),

10300-455: The Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building , in the heart of Chicago in 1904–1906. While these buildings were revolutionary in their steel frames and height, their decoration was borrowed from Neo-Renaissance , Neo-Gothic and Beaux-Arts architecture . The Woolworth Building , designed by Cass Gilbert , was completed in 1912, and was the tallest building in the world until the completion of

10506-568: The Chapel of Notre-Dame du-Haut at Ronchamp , this work propelled Corbusier in the first rank of postwar modern architects. In the early 1950s, Michel Écochard , director of urban planning under the French Protectorate in Morocco , commissioned GAMMA ( Groupe des Architectes Modernes Marocains )—which initially included the architects Elie Azagury , George Candillis , Alexis Josic and Shadrach Woods —to design housing in

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10712-546: The Chrysler Building in 1929. The structure was purely modern, but its exterior was decorated with Neo-Gothic ornament, complete with decorative buttresses, arches and spires, which caused it to be nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce". After the first World War, a prolonged struggle began between architects who favored the more traditional styles of neo-classicism and the Beaux-Arts architecture style, and

10918-583: The Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ , are fairly progressive on matters such as doctrine, environmental issues, sexual morality, and economic issues, though the denomination remains divided and conflicted on these issues. Like other mainline denominations, the PC(USA) has also seen a great deal of demographic aging, with fewer new members and declining membership since 1967. In

11124-649: The Hay Mohammedi neighborhood of Casablanca that provided a "culturally specific living tissue" for laborers and migrants from the countryside . Sémiramis , Nid d’Abeille (Honeycomb), and Carrières Centrales were some of the first examples of this Vernacular Modernism . At the 1953 Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM), ATBAT-Afrique —the Africa branch of Atelier des Bâtisseurs founded in 1947 by figures including Le Corbusier , Vladimir Bodiansky , and André Wogenscky —prepared

11330-506: The IG Farben building , a massive corporate headquarters, now the main building of Goethe University in Frankfurt. Bruno Taut specialized in building large-scale apartment complexes for working-class Berliners. He built twelve thousand individual units, sometimes in buildings with unusual shapes, such as a giant horseshoe. Unlike most other modernists, he used bright exterior colors to give his buildings more life The use of dark brick in

11536-586: The LGBT community as elders and ministers. The Presbyterian Church (USA) was established with the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States , whose churches were located in the Southern and border states , with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America , whose congregations could be found in every state. The church maintains a Book of Confessions ,

11742-580: The National Capital Presbytery and the Reformed Institute. The Children's Sunday School includes preschool, elementary and youth group classes. Child care is also provided. The church also houses archives of historical documents, and contains a library with a full range of theological and historical books. The congregation and staff support numerous caring ministries, both in the local area and at many locations around

11948-634: The National Symphony Orchestra . Communion is served on the first Sunday of each month and is open to all persons within the Christian faith. Live video of the worship service is available online . Adult Christian education classes are held on Sunday mornings, and small group studies occur throughout the week. Sessions include Bible classes, as well as classes dealing with current issues and personal growth. Lectures, conferences, and seminars are frequently hosted, including meetings of

12154-620: The Nicene Creed and Apostles' Creed , and moving to the Barmen Declaration and the Confession of 1967 . In accordance with these confessions, the church's members, clergy, and officers of The National Presbyterian Church adopted the following statement of faith: In 1947, when The National Presbyterian Church was consecrated, one of the stipulations of the denominational designation was the establishment and maintenance of

12360-694: The Palais de Tokyo and Palais de Chaillot , both built by collectives of architects for the 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne . In the late 1920s and early 1930s, an exuberant American variant of Art Deco appeared in the Chrysler Building , Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center in New York City, and Guardian Building in Detroit. The first skyscrapers in Chicago and New York had been designed in

12566-556: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland . Immigrants from Scotland and Ireland brought Presbyterianism to North America as early as 1640, and immigration would remain a large source of growth throughout the colonial era . Another source of growth were a number of New England Puritans who left the Congregational churches because they preferred presbyterian polity. In 1706, seven ministers led by Francis Makemie established

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12772-662: The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Presbyterian heritage, and much of its theology, began with the French theologian and lawyer John Calvin (1509–1564), whose writings solidified much of the Reformed tradition that came before him in the form of the sermons and writings of Huldrych Zwingli . From Calvin's headquarters in Geneva , the Reformed movement spread to other parts of Europe. John Knox ,

12978-590: The Russian Revolution of 1917, Russian avant-garde artists and architects began searching for a new Soviet style which could replace traditional neoclassicism. The new architectural movements were closely tied with the literary and artistic movements of the period, the futurism of poet Vladimir Mayakovskiy , the Suprematism of painter Kasimir Malevich , and the colorful Rayonism of painter Mikhail Larionov . The most startling design that emerged

13184-411: The United States achieved independence from Great Britain , Presbyterian leaders felt that a national Presbyterian denomination was needed, and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was organized. The first general assembly was held in Philadelphia in 1789. John Witherspoon , president of Princeton University and the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence ,

13390-483: The 18th century when Scottish stonemasons constructing the White House began holding Sunday morning worship services in a carpenters' shed on the White House grounds. By 1795, the group had grown large enough to form St. Andrew's Church and to install John Brackenridge as its minister. Church members met in private homes until 1800 when they occupied a frame structure at 10th and F Streets, NW. The small group persisted, meeting in several places between 1802 and 1811 including

13596-447: The 1920s and 1930s it became a highly popular style in the United States, South America, India, China, Australia, and Japan. In Europe, Art Deco was particularly popular for department stores and movie theaters. The style reached its peak in Europe at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, which featured art deco pavilions and decoration from twenty countries. Only two pavilions were purely modernist;

13802-422: The 1950s and 1960s. The group met once more in Paris in 1937 to discuss public housing and was scheduled to meet in the United States in 1939, but the meeting was cancelled because of the war. The legacy of the CIAM was a roughly common style and doctrine which helped define modern architecture in Europe and the United States after World War II. The Art Deco architectural style (called Style Moderne in France),

14008-445: The 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, the General Assembly of PC(USA) adopted several social justice initiatives, which covered a range of topics including: stewardship of God's creation, world hunger, homelessness, and LGBT issues. As of 2011 the PC(USA) no longer excludes Partnered Gay and Lesbian ministers from the ministry. Previously, the PC(USA) required its ministers to remain " chastely in singleness or with fidelity in marriage ." Currently,

14214-426: The 1990s, over the issue of ordination of homosexuals. The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was joined by the majority of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church , mostly congregations in the border and Southern states, in 1906. In 1920, it absorbed the Welsh Calvinist Methodist Church. The United Presbyterian Church of North America merged with the PCUSA in 1958 to form the United Presbyterian Church in

14420-428: The 20th century and became dominant after World War II until the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced as the principal style for institutional and corporate buildings by postmodern architecture . Modern architecture emerged at the end of the 19th century from revolutions in technology, engineering, and building materials, and from a desire to break away from historical architectural styles and invent something that

14626-433: The 223rd Assembly in St Louis, MO, Co-Moderators Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohmann were elected. See a complete listing of past moderators at another Misplaced Pages Article. A Stated Clerk of the General Assembly is elected to one or more four-year terms and is responsible for the Office of the General Assembly which conducts the ecclesiastical work of the church. The Office of the General Assembly carries out most of

14832-544: The British royal family, Mother Teresa and many other notable leaders. The National Presbyterian Church conducts several weekly worship services as well as many other teachings, caring and music services for the community. These services include biblical preaching, a full choir, hymns traditional and modern, and organ music of all periods. On special occasions, the musical offerings are augmented by members of local or visiting orchestral and choral groups, including members of

15038-623: The Chicago office of Louis Sullivan , who pioneered the first tall steel-frame office buildings in Chicago, and who famously stated " form follows function ". Wright set out to break all the traditional rules. He was particularly famous for his Prairie Houses , including the Winslow House in River Forest, Illinois (1893–94); Arthur Heurtley House (1902) and Robie House (1909); sprawling, geometric residences without decoration, with strong horizontal lines which seemed to grow out of

15244-817: The Confession of 1967, the Westminster Confession and Westminster Shorter Catechism , the Heidelberg Catechism , the Second Helvetic and Scots Confessions and the Barmen Declaration . An attempt to reunite the United Presbyterian Church in the USA with the Presbyterian Church in the United States in the late 1950s failed when the latter church was unwilling to accept ecclesiastical centralization . In

15450-522: The Constitution of the church, and the duties of the office of elder. If the examination is approved, the session appoints a day for the service of ordination and installation. Session meetings are normally moderated by a called and installed pastor and minutes are recorded by a clerk, who is also an ordained presbyter. If the congregation does not have an installed pastor, the Presbytery appoints

15656-669: The Covenant. Both sets are playable from either organ console in the main sanctuary or the chapel. The Tower of Faith sustained some minor damage during the 2011 Virginia earthquake , and required structural repairs. Six other buildings surround the main sanctuary structure. Originally part of the Hillcrest Children's Home, the Cotswold-style stone structures now house the National Presbyterian School, offices, and meeting spaces. The rear of

15862-833: The Esprit Nouveau pavilion of Le Corbusier, which represented his idea for a mass-produced housing unit, and the pavilion of the USSR, by Konstantin Melnikov in a flamboyantly futurist style. Later French landmarks in the Art Deco style included the Grand Rex movie theater in Paris, La Samaritaine department store by Henri Sauvage (1926–28) and the Social and Economic Council building in Paris (1937–38) by Auguste Perret , and

16068-430: The General Assembly met annually; since 2004, the General Assembly has met biennially in even-numbered years. It consists of commissioners elected by presbyteries (not synods), and its voting membership is proportioned with parity between elders and Ministers of Word and Sacrament. There are many important responsibilities of the General Assembly. Among them, The Book of Order lists these four: The General Assembly elects

16274-705: The German Werkbund, and became the head of the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1933. proposing a wide variety of modernist plans for urban reconstruction. His most famous modernist work was the German pavilion for the 1929 international exposition in Barcelona. It was a work of pure modernism, with glass and concrete walls and clean, horizontal lines. Though it was only a temporary structure, and was torn down in 1930, it became, along with Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye , one of

16480-480: The German projects gave that particular style a name, Brick Expressionism . The Austrian philosopher, architect, and social critic Rudolf Steiner also departed as far as possible from traditional architectural forms. His Second Goetheanum , built from 1926 near Basel , Switzerland and Mendelsohn 's Einsteinturm in Potsdam, Germany, were based on no traditional models and had entirely original shapes. After

16686-560: The Netherlands, and Adolf Loos from Czechoslovakia. A delegation of Soviet architects was invited to attend, but they were unable to obtain visas. Later members included Josep Lluís Sert of Spain and Alvar Aalto of Finland. No one attended from the United States. A second meeting was organized in 1930 in Brussels by Victor Bourgeois on the topic "Rational methods for groups of habitations". A third meeting, on "The functional city",

16892-544: The New School and Old School respectively. By the 1838, the Old School–New School Controversy had divided the PCUSA. There were now two general assemblies each claiming to represent the PCUSA. In 1858, the New School split along sectional lines when its Southern synods and presbyteries established the pro-slavery United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. Old School Presbyterians followed in 1861 after

17098-626: The OGA and PMA, currently planned for summer of 2025. The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) currently has oversight over the Stated Clerk and OGA, but COGA is scheduled to be dissolved on December 31, 2024, along with the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. A new Unification Management Office is planned to manage the integration of PMA and OGA. In March 2024, the former OGA Communications Director

17304-557: The PC(USA) permits teaching elders to perform same-gender marriages. On a congregational basis, individual sessions (congregational governing bodies) may choose to permit same-gender marriages. These changes have led to several renewal movements and denominational splinters. Some conservative-minded groups in the PC(USA), such as the Confessing Movement and the Presbyterian Lay Committee (formed in

17510-593: The PCUS located in Atlanta, Georgia . The merger essentially consolidated moderate-to-liberal American Presbyterians into one body. Other US Presbyterian bodies (the Cumberland Presbyterians being a partial exception) place greater emphasis on doctrinal Calvinism, literalist hermeneutics, and conservative politics. For the most part, PC(USA) Presbyterians, not unlike similar mainline traditions such as

17716-523: The PCUSA's informal influence over American life might effectively make it an established church . The Second Great Awakening divided the PCUSA over revivalism and fear that revivalism was leading to an embrace of Arminian theology . In 1810, frontier revivalists split from the PCUSA and organized the Cumberland Presbyterian Church . Throughout the 1820s, support and opposition to revivalism hardened into well-defined factions,

17922-447: The Presbyterian Church (USA) supports the ordination of women and affirms same-sex marriages . It also welcomes practicing gay and lesbian persons to serve in leadership positions as ministers, deacons, elders, and trustees. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, having 1,140,665 active members and 18,173 ordained ministers (including retired ones) in 8,705 congregations at

18128-599: The Presbyterian Church (USA) on June 10, 1983. At the time of the merger, the churches had a combined membership of 3,121,238. Many of the efforts were spearheaded by the financial and outspoken activism of retired businessman Thomas Clinton who died two years before the merger. A new national headquarters was established in Louisville, Kentucky in 1988 replacing the headquarters of the UPCUSA in New York City and

18334-719: The Presbyterian Foundation, and the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) (formerly known as the General Assembly Mission Council). Modernist architecture Modern architecture , also called modernist architecture , was an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture was based upon new and innovative technologies of construction (particularly

18540-466: The Presbyterian denomination and the Washington area was his role as a founder of what is today Gallaudet University . Presidents John Quincy Adams , Andrew Jackson , James K. Polk , Franklin Pierce , James Buchanan , Ulysses S. Grant , Grover Cleveland , and Benjamin Harrison worshiped at “Old First.” Sunderland performed the marriage ceremony of President Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom at

18746-954: The Rise of the Baptists in the Late Eighteenth Century (2008) argues they were more energetic and held frequent services better attuned to the frontier conditions of the colony. Presbyterianism grew in frontier areas where the Anglicans had made little impression. Uneducated whites and blacks were attracted to the emotional worship of the denomination, its emphasis on biblical simplicity, and its psalm singing. Some local Presbyterian churches, such as Briery in Prince Edward County, owned slaves. The Briery church purchased five slaves in 1766 and raised money for church expenses by hiring them out to local planters. After

18952-819: The Schindler house. Schindler also contributed to American modernism with his design for the Lovell Beach House in Newport Beach . The Austrian architect Richard Neutra moved to the United States in 1923, worked for a short time with Frank Lloyd Wright, also quickly became a force in American architecture through his modernist design for the same client, the Lovell Health House in Los Angeles. Neutra's most notable architectural work

19158-807: The Society of the Covenant, which became the Women's Association. One of Covenant's early missions (in 1908) was to establish a tuberculosis clinic in Beirut , Lebanon . In the early 1900s, the congregation established in Georgetown the Peck Memorial Chapel, which provided, in addition to Sunday services, a vocational education program for minorities and disadvantaged youth. Under Charles Wood, pastor from 1908 to 1928, Covenant's membership grew to 1,800. Wood, an outstanding preacher, organized and became

19364-603: The Soviet Pavilion for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925; it was a highly geometric vertical construction of glass and steel crossed by a diagonal stairway, and crowned with a hammer and sickle. The leading group of constructivist architects, led by Vesnin brothers and Moisei Ginzburg , was publishing the 'Contemporary Architecture' journal. This group created several major constructivist projects in

19570-824: The Spanish architect, whose pavilion of the Second Spanish Republic was pure modernist glass and steel box. Inside it displayed the most modernist work of the Exposition, the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso . The original building was destroyed after the Exposition, but it was recreated in 1992 in Barcelona. The rise of nationalism in the 1930s was reflected in the Fascist architecture of Italy, and Nazi architecture of Germany, based on classical styles and designed to express power and grandeur. The Nazi architecture, much of it designed by Albert Speer ,

19776-550: The U. S. Navy Sea Chanters, and the Children's Chorus of Washington. College and university choruses or orchestras also perform during tours to the nation's capital. The sanctuary's John Jay Hopkins Memorial Organ, with 115 ranks and four manuals, is matched to the scale of the edifice. It was built by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1968–1969 (Opus 1456). It is one of two Aeolian-Skinner organs in

19982-495: The United States entered the Second World War. During the 1920s and 1930s, Frank Lloyd Wright resolutely refused to associate himself with any architectural movements. He considered his architecture to be entirely unique and his own. Between 1916 and 1922, he broke away from his earlier prairie house style and worked instead on houses decorated with textured blocks of cement; this became known as his "Mayan style", after

20188-456: The United States led to the design and construction of enormous government-financed housing projects, usually in run-down center of American cities, and in the suburbs of Paris and other European cities, where land was available, One of the largest reconstruction projects was that of the city center of Le Havre, destroyed by the Germans and by Allied bombing in 1944; 133 hectares of buildings in

20394-486: The United States of America (UPCUSA). Under Eugene Carson Blake , the UPCUSA's stated clerk, the denomination entered into a period of social activism and ecumenical endeavors, which culminated in the development of the Confession of 1967 which was the church's first new confession of faith in three centuries. The 170th General Assembly in 1958 authorized a committee to develop a brief contemporary statement of faith. The 177th General Assembly in 1965 considered and amended

20600-691: The Washington, D.C., area and around the world. The church's musical organizations include: The church is home to the “Music at National” concert series featuring major arts organizations for their subscription series and special events. Regulars include the Washington Bach Consort, the City Choir of Washington, Washington Master Chorale, the Washington Chorus, Choralis, the United States Army Chorus,

20806-741: The White House. Orators of the day who spoke from the church's pulpit included Daniel Webster , Henry Clay , Henry Ward Beecher , and T. DeWitt Talmage , who later became pastor of First Presbyterian Church and then editor of the Christian Herald magazine. In addition to Sunderland (who served as Senate Chaplain from 1861 to 1864), four other pastors of National Presbyterian Church congregations served as Senate Chaplains: John Brackenridge (1811–1814); John Clark (1818–1819); Reuben Post (1819–1820); and Edward L.R. Elson (1969–1981). (A total of 14 Senate Chaplains have been Presbyterians). By

21012-484: The administrative duties of the presbytery, often with the additional role of a pastor to the pastors. Presbyteries may be creative in the designation and assignment of duties for their staff. A presbytery is required to elect a Moderator and a Clerk, but the practice of hiring staff is optional. Presbyteries must meet at least twice a year, but they have the discretion to meet more often and most do. See "Map of Presbyteries and Synods" . Presbyteries are organized within

21218-405: The architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc . In his 1872 book Entretiens sur L'Architecture , he urged: "use the means and knowledge given to us by our times, without the intervening traditions which are no longer viable today, and in that way we can inaugurate a new architecture. For each function its material; for each material its form and its ornament." This book influenced

21424-509: The belief that Christianity needed to be re-interpreted in light of modern scientific theories such as evolution or the rise of degraded social conditions brought on by industrialization and urbanization ). Open controversy was sparked in 1922, when Harry Emerson Fosdick , a modernist and a Baptist pastoring a PCUSA congregation in New York City, preached a sermon entitled "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" The crisis reached

21630-480: The beliefs of the PC(USA) by declaring the creeds by which the Church's leaders are instructed and led. Complementing that is the Book of Order which gives the rationale and description for the organization and function of the Church at all levels. The Book of Order is currently divided into four sections – 1) The Foundations of Presbyterian Polity 2) The Form of Government, 3) The Directory For Worship, and 4) The Rules of Discipline. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has

21836-618: The best-known landmarks of modernist architecture. A reconstructed version now stands on the original site in Barcelona. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, they viewed the Bauhaus as a training ground for communists, and closed the school in 1933. Gropius left Germany and went to England, then to the United States, where he and Marcel Breuer both joined the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Design , and became

22042-484: The boundaries of a particular synod (see below ); it may be more accurate to refer to them as "trans-geographical." Three PC(USA) synods have a non-geographical presbytery for Korean language Presbyterian congregations, and one synod has a non-geographical presbytery for Native American congregations, the Dakota Presbytery. There are currently 166 presbyteries for the 8,705 congregations in the PC(USA). Only

22248-646: The buildings designed between 1945 and the 1960s. The late modernist style is characterized by bold shapes and sharp corners, slightly more defined than Brutalist architecture . The International Style of architecture had appeared in Europe, particularly in the Bauhaus movement, in the late 1920s. In 1932 it was recognized and given a name at an Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City organized by architect Philip Johnson and architectural critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock , Between 1937 and 1941, following

22454-553: The campus. The Chapel of the Presidents, which seats 255, provides a more intimate setting. Another series of Willet Studios windows located in the Chapel of Presidents depicts, in the major window, the history of the struggle to maintain religious freedom in America. There are also six windows portraying specific Presidents (Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Eisenhower, for whom

22660-462: The center of the fast-growing American cities, and the availability of new technologies, including fireproof steel frames and improvements in the safety elevator invented by Elisha Otis in 1852. The first steel-framed "skyscraper", The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, was ten stories high. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1883, and was briefly the tallest building in the world. Louis Sullivan built another monumental new structure,

22866-409: The center were flattened, destroying 12,500 buildings and leaving 40,000 persons homeless. The architect Auguste Perret , a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete and prefabricated materials, designed and built an entirely new center to the city, with apartment blocks, cultural, commercial, and government buildings. He restored historic monuments when possible, and built a new church, St. Joseph, with

23072-491: The chapel is named and whose original prayer is printed on the outer wall). The Tower of Faith is a 178 feet (54 m) structure that provides a landmark for the site. It contains a bell carillon consisting of 61 Flemish bell-tone generators in bronze struck by hammers, manufactured by the Schulmerich Carillon Company. In addition, there are 25 English bells, relocated from the tower of the Church of

23278-406: The church Constitution and Robert's Rules of Order. While the moderator of a presbytery normally serves one year, the stated clerk normally serves a designated number of years and may be re-elected indefinitely by the presbytery. Additionally, an Executive Presbyter (sometimes designated as General Presbyter, Pastor to Presbytery, Transitional Presbyter) is often elected as a staff person to care for

23484-400: The church complex, the other being the 38-rank, 3-manual Allen Memorial Organ in the Chapel of the Presidents . The main six divisions of the Hopkins Organ are located behind the choir at the front of the sanctuary with the pipework shielded from view behind a series of vertical screens. At the rear of the sanctuary, a 23-rank antiphonal division is located in the gallery balcony. It includes

23690-571: The church throughout the region, facilitating communication between presbyteries and the General Assembly, and mediating conflicts between the churches and presbyteries. Every synod elects a Permanent Judicial Commission, which has original jurisdiction in remedial cases brought against its constituent presbyteries, and which also serves as an ecclesiastical court of appeal for decisions rendered by its presbyteries' Permanent Judicial Commissions. Synods are required to meet at least biennially. Meetings are moderated by an elected synod Moderator with support of

23896-529: The church, its three predecessor congregations, as well as a repository of minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Presbyterian Church (USA) , abbreviated PCUSA , is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States . It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and members of

24102-512: The city and merge with Covenant in June 1930. The pastor of the combined Covenant-First Presbyterian congregation from 1930 to 1946 was Albert Joseph McCartney. McCarthy advocated a great national church. His efforts were rewarded when the General Assembly took official steps to designate Covenant-First as “The National Presbyterian Church.” The designation became effective at services held on October 19, 1947, when President Harry S. Truman unveiled

24308-693: The clergy. Disagreements over revivalism, itinerant preaching , and educational requirements for clergy led to a division known as the Old Side–New Side Controversy that lasted from 1741 to 1758. In the South, the Presbyterians were evangelical dissenters , mostly Scotch-Irish , who expanded into Virginia between 1740 and 1758. Spangler in Virginians Reborn: Anglican Monopoly, Evangelical Dissent, and

24514-535: The competition for the headquarters of the League of Nations in 1927. In the same year, the German Werkbund organized an architectural exposition at the Weissenhof Estate Stuttgart . Seventeen leading modernist architects in Europe were invited to design twenty-one houses; Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe played a major part. In 1927 Le Corbusier, Pierre Chareau, and others proposed

24720-564: The conception, design, and construction of the new church, retired in 1973 to devote full-time to his duties as Chaplain of the United States Senate , a position to which he had been elected in 1969. Over the span of more than two centuries, The National Presbyterian Church or its antecedents have sponsored, hosted, or participated in a long list of events of historic interest. The church's library and archives contain books, manuscripts, and photographs documenting occasions such as

24926-487: The concrete cube-based Ennis House of 1924 in Los Angeles. The style appeared in the late 1920s and 1930s in all major American cities. The style was used most often in office buildings, but it also appeared in the enormous movie palaces that were built in large cities when sound films were introduced. The beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 brought an end to lavishly decorated Art Deco architecture and

25132-604: The congregation erected a frame structure. This “Little White Church under the Hill” was located on East Capitol Street on the south slope of Capitol Hill, where the Rayburn House Office Building now stands. The first service in the new church was held on June 20, 1812. When the British burned and ransacked the Capitol in August 1814, the church was spared despite its proximity to the hostilities. By 1821

25338-470: The congregation generally choose their own pastor with the assistance and support of the presbytery. The presbytery must approve the choice and officially install the pastor at the congregation, or approve the covenant for a temporary pastoral relationship. Additionally, the presbytery must approve if either the congregation or the pastor wishes to dissolve that pastoral relationship. The presbytery has authority over many affairs of its local congregations. Only

25544-400: The congregation numbered 114 members. Under the leadership of Ruben Post, First Presbyterian Church erected a substantial brick edifice on 4½ Street NW, which stood for over 100 years. In 1853, Byron Sunderland began a distinguished 45-year tenure as senior pastor of the church. In 1857, Sunderland began to preach in favor of the abolition of slavery, a bold act in a city that was essentially

25750-404: The construction of clusters of slender eight- to ten-story high-rise apartment towers for workers. While Gropius was active at the Bauhaus, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe led the modernist architectural movement in Berlin. Inspired by the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands, he built clusters of concrete summer houses and proposed a project for a glass office tower. He became the vice president of

25956-438: The decades after independence many American Protestants , including Calvinists (Presbyterians and Congregationalists), Methodists , and Baptists , were swept up in Christian revivals that would later become known as the Second Great Awakening . Presbyterians also helped to shape voluntary societies that encouraged educational, missionary, evangelical, and reforming work. As its influence grew, many non-Presbyterians feared that

26162-443: The decision to resign include struggling efforts since 2016 to unify the OGA and PMA agencies, and struggling efforts to return to normal following the pandemic. The Stated Clerk is also responsible for the records of the denomination, a function formalized in 1925 when the General Assembly created the "Department of Historical Research and Conservation" as part of the Office of the General Assembly. The current "Department of History"

26368-405: The designer Marcel Breuer . Gropius became an important theorist of modernism, writing The Idea and Construction in 1923. He was an advocate of standardization in architecture, and the mass construction of rationally designed apartment blocks for factory workers. In 1928 he was commissioned by the Siemens company to build apartment for workers in the suburbs of Berlin, and in 1929 he proposed

26574-432: The destruction of the old First Church gave rise to many other Presbyterian congregations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Church of the Covenant. On March 11, 1883, eleven men, meeting in the home of Supreme Court Justice William Strong at 1141 H Street, N.W., formed the nucleus of The Church of the Covenant. Officially organized on October 13, 1885, with 53 charter members, this congregation acquired

26780-424: The direction of the denomination, but wishing to continue in a Reformed, Presbyterian denomination. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which does not allow ordained female clergy, separated from Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1973 and has subsequently become the second largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), which gives local presbyteries

26986-416: The draft confession and sent a revised version for general discussion within the church. The 178th General Assembly in 1966 accepted a revised draft and sent it to presbyteries throughout the church for final ratification. As the confession was ratified by more than 90% of all presbyteries, the 178th General Assembly adopted it in 1967. The UPCUSA also adopted a Book of Confessions in 1967, which would include

27192-423: The earliest and most influential industrial buildings in the modernist style, the AEG turbine factory , a functional monument of steel and concrete. In 1911–1913, Adolf Meyer and Walter Gropius , who had both worked for Behrens, built another revolutionary industrial plant, the Fagus Factory in Alfeld an der Laine, a building without ornament where every construction element was on display. The Werkbund organized

27398-445: The early 20th century, First Presbyterian's neighborhood had become largely commercial, and members were increasingly dispersed throughout the city. The Federal Government changed the name of 4½ Street to John Marshall Place and acquired the church site to erect court buildings. The congregation worshiped there for the last time on May 11, 1930, and then merged with the Covenant Presbyterian Church. The urban growth that ultimately led to

27604-442: The earth, and which echoed the wide flat spaces of the American prairie. His Larkin Building (1904–1906) in Buffalo, New York , Unity Temple (1905) in Oak Park, Illinois and Unity Temple had highly original forms and no connection with historical precedents. At the end of the 19th century, the first skyscrapers began to appear in the United States. They were a response to the shortage of land and high cost of real estate in

27810-417: The ecumenical functions and all of the constitutional functions at the Assembly. The Stated Clerks since reunion are: James Andrews (1984–1996), Clifton Kirkpatrick (1996–2008), Gradye Parsons (2008–2016), J. Herbert Nelson (2016–2023), Bronwen Boswell (2023–2024) (interim), and Jihyun Oh (2024–). Bronwen Boswell was appointed Acting Stated Clerk in June 2023 to serve the remaining year of Nelson's term. She

28016-614: The end of 2022. This number does not include members who are baptized but not confirmed , or the inactive members also affiliated. For example, in 2005, the Presbyterian Church (USA) claimed 318,291 baptized but not confirmed members and nearly 500,000 inactive members in addition to active members. Its membership has been steadily declining over the past several decades; the trend has significantly accelerated in recent years, partly due to breakaway congregations. Average denominational worship attendance dropped from 748,774 in 2013 to 431,379 in 2022. Presbyterians trace their history to

28222-400: The existing church building, along with the lack of space to expand, were among the determining factors for selecting a new location. In January 1966 the congregation acquired its current property and began the design and construction of a new church complex. For three years during construction, the congregation worshipped in the Capital Memorial Seventh Day Adventist Church. The cornerstone of

28428-462: The first American presbytery at Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania , which was followed by the creation of the Synod of Philadelphia in 1717. The First Great Awakening and the revivalism it generated had a major impact on American Presbyterians. Ministers such as William and Gilbert Tennent , a friend of George Whitefield , emphasized the necessity of a conscious conversion experience and pushed for higher moral standards among

28634-449: The first glass and metal curtain wall . These developments together led to the first steel-framed skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884 by William Le Baron Jenney and based on the works of Viollet le Duc. French industrialist François Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete, that is, concrete strengthened with iron bars, as a technique for constructing buildings. In 1853 Coignet built

28840-415: The first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four-storey house in the suburbs of Paris. A further important step forward was the invention of the safety elevator by Elisha Otis , first demonstrated at the New York Crystal Palace exposition in 1854, which made tall office and apartment buildings practical. Another important technology for the new architecture was electric light, which greatly reduced

29046-415: The first president of the Washington Federation of Churches. It was with this ample Covenant congregation that First Presbyterian Church merged. That it chose Covenant rather than another Presbyterian congregation in Washington was due in large measure to the movement for a national Presbyterian church in the nation's capital. Throughout the 19th century, the General Assembly received numerous proposals for

29252-510: The following: The headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are located in Louisville, Kentucky . As a member of this body, The National Presbyterian Church is governed according to the polity of the denomination . Responsibility for governance rests with an elected group of Ruling Elders (presbyters) of the church called the Session . Pastors or ministers are elected by the Session; they are called Teaching Elders. Regional groups of churches are gathered into Presbyteries, and overall policy

29458-614: The foundation of an international conference to establish the basis for a common style. The first meeting of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne or International Congresses of Modern Architects (CIAM), was held in a chateau on Lake Leman in Switzerland 26–28 June 1928. Those attending included Le Corbusier, Robert Mallet-Stevens , Auguste Perret , Pierre Chareau and Tony Garnier from France; Victor Bourgeois from Belgium; Walter Gropius , Erich Mendelsohn , Ernst May and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from Germany; Josef Frank from Austria; Mart Stam and Gerrit Rietveld from

29664-429: The friendless, and to any who may be in distress both within and beyond the community of faith." In some churches, the responsibilities of the deacons are taken care of by the session, so there is no board of deacons in that church. In some states, churches are legally incorporated and members or elders of the church serve as trustees of the corporation. However, "the power and duties of such trustees shall not infringe upon

29870-425: The globe. They include: Other programs include small groups, men's ministry, women's ministry, older adult fellowship, children's and youth ministries and the Board of Deacons. The 1,000-seat main sanctuary has superb acoustics and one of the largest pipe organs in Washington, D.C. It accommodates a variety of musical styles in its worship and concerts. It also is a sought-after venue for visiting musical groups from

30076-667: The headquarters of a shipping company, and was modeled after a giant steamship, a triangular building with a sharply pointed bow. It was constructed of dark brick, and used external piers to express its vertical structure. Its external decoration borrowed from Gothic cathedrals, as did its internal arcades. Hans Poelzig was another notable expressionist architect. In 1919 he built the Großes Schauspielhaus , an immense theater in Berlin, seating five thousand spectators for theater impresario Max Reinhardt . It featured elongated shapes like stalagmites hanging down from its gigantic dome, and lights on massive columns in its foyer. He also constructed

30282-400: The industrialization many constructivist buildings were erected in provincial cities. The regional industrial centers, including Ekaterinburg , Kharkiv or Ivanovo , were rebuilt in the constructivist manner; some cities, like Magnitogorsk or Zaporizhzhia , were constructed anew (the so-called socgorod , or 'socialist city'). The style fell markedly out of favor in the 1930s, replaced by

30488-424: The inherent danger of fires caused by gas in the 19th century. The debut of new materials and techniques inspired architects to break away from the neoclassical and eclectic models that dominated European and American architecture in the late 19th century, most notably eclecticism , Victorian and Edwardian architecture , and the Beaux-Arts architectural style . This break with the past was particularly urged by

30694-406: The meantime, a conservative group broke away from the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1973, mainly over the issues of women's ordination and a perceived drift toward theological liberalism. This group formed the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Attempts at union between the churches (UPCUSA and PCUS) were renewed in the 1970s, culminating in the merger of the two churches to form

30900-418: The mid-1960s) have remained in the main body, rather than leaving to form new, break-away groups. Several Presbyterian denominations have split from PC(USA) or its predecessors over the years. For example, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church broke away from the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PC-USA) in 1936. More recently formed Presbyterian denominations have attracted PC(USA) congregations disenchanted with

31106-400: The military and government. The semi-circular metal Nissen hut of World War I was revived as the Quonset hut . The years immediately after the war saw the development of radical experimental houses, including the enameled-steel Lustron house (1947–1950), and Buckminster Fuller's experimental aluminum Dymaxion House . The unprecedented destruction caused by the war was another factor in

31312-475: The mission of the church, showing historical figures in science, art, politics, and ecclesiastical endeavors such as astronauts. The text at the top reads "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10). The designers of the main church building also incorporated space for the traditional 19th century Tiffany and Booth stained glass windows saved from the historic previous church. Other stained glass windows, new and antique, are visible around

31518-451: The modernist Fagus turbine factory. The Bauhaus was a fusion of the prewar Academy of Arts and the school of technology. In 1926 it was transferred from Weimar to Dessau; Gropius designed the new school and student dormitories in the new, purely functional modernist style he was encouraging. The school brought together modernists in all fields; the faculty included the modernist painters Vasily Kandinsky , Joseph Albers and Paul Klee , and

31724-476: The modernists, led by Le Corbusier and Robert Mallet-Stevens in France, Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany, and Konstantin Melnikov in the new Soviet Union , who wanted only pure forms and the elimination of any decoration. Louis Sullivan popularized the axiom Form follows function to emphasize the importance of utilitarian simplicity in modern architecture. Art Deco architects such as Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage often made

31930-556: The more grandiose nationalist styles that Stalin favored. Constructivist architects and even Le Corbusier projects for the new Palace of the Soviets from 1931 to 1933, but the winner was an early Stalinist building in the style termed Postconstructivism . The last major Russian constructivist building, by Boris Iofan , was built for the Paris World Exhibition (1937), where it faced the pavilion of Nazi Germany by Hitler's architect Albert Speer . The New Objectivity (in German Neue Sachlichkeit, sometimes also translated as New Sobriety)

32136-434: The most innovative expressionist projects, including Bruno Taut 's Alpine Architecture and Hermann Finsterlin 's Formspiels , remained on paper. Scenography for theatre and films provided another outlet for the expressionist imagination, and provided supplemental incomes for designers attempting to challenge conventions in a harsh economic climate. A particular type, using bricks to create its forms (rather than concrete)

32342-423: The name of the Cité Radieuse (and later "Cité du Fada" "City of the crazy one" in Marseille French), after his book about futuristic urban planning. Following his doctrines of design, the building had a concrete frame raised up above the street on pylons. It contained 337 duplex apartment units, fit into the framework like pieces of a puzzle. Each unit had two levels and a small terrace. Interior "streets" had shops,

32548-504: The need of supporting pillars, replaced stone and brick as the primary material for modernist architects. The first concrete apartment buildings by Perret and Sauvage were covered with ceramic tiles, but in 1905 Perret built the first concrete parking garage on 51 rue de Ponthieu in Paris; here the concrete was left bare, and the space between the concrete was filled with glass windows. Henri Sauvage added another construction innovation in an apartment building on Rue Vavin in Paris (1912–1914);

32754-404: The new church was laid by President Eisenhower on October 14, 1967, and the congregation first worshipped in its new home on September 7, 1969. The year 1969 also marked the opening of the National Presbyterian School, a private school that now serves preschool through sixth-grade students. The school is open to children of all faiths in the Washington area. Edward L. R. Elson , who had overseen

32960-474: The new congregation's worshipers. The Church of the Covenant flourished with strong lay leadership and a succession of pastors whose reputations extended throughout the denomination and the nation. Teunis S. Hamlin, a strong preacher, helped secure a site for the George Washington University . He also served as President of the Board of Trustees of Howard University for many years. Members of Covenant Church were active on many fronts. In 1885, its women founded

33166-465: The northern PCUSA's Old School and New School factions reunited as well and was known as the "Northern Presbyterian Church". The early part of the 20th century saw continued growth in both major sections of the church. It also saw the growth of Fundamentalist Christianity (a movement of those who believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible as the fundamental source of the religion) as distinguished from Modernist Christianity (a movement holding

33372-405: The option of allowing ordained female pastors, broke away from the United Presbyterian Church and incorporated in 1981. A PC(USA) renewal movement, Fellowship of Presbyterians (FOP) (now The Fellowship Community ), held several national conferences serving disaffecting Presbyterians. FOP's organizing efforts culminated with the founding of ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO),

33578-401: The pavilion of the Soviet Union, topped by enormous statues of a worker and a peasant carrying a hammer and sickle. As to the modernists, Le Corbusier was practically, but not quite invisible at the Exposition; he participated in the Pavilion des temps nouveaux, but focused mainly on his painting. The one modernist who did attract attention was a collaborator of Le Corbusier, Josep Lluis Sert ,

33784-484: The powers and duties of the Session or of the board of deacons." The deacons are a ministry board but not a governing body. A presbytery is formed by all the congregations and the Ministers of Word and Sacrament in a geographic area together with elders selected (proportional to congregation size) from each of the congregations. Four special presbyteries are "non-geographical" in that they overlay other English-speaking presbyteries, though they are geographically limited to

33990-433: The presbytery (not a congregation, session, synod, or General Assembly) has the responsibility and authority to ordain church members to the ordered ministry of Word and Sacrament, also referred to as a Teaching Elder, to install ministers to (or remove them from) congregations as pastors, and to remove a minister from the ministry. A Presbyterian minister is a member of a presbytery. The General Assembly cannot ordain or remove

34196-410: The presbytery can approve the establishment, dissolution, or merger of congregations. The presbytery also maintains a Permanent Judicial Commission, which acts as a court of appeal from sessions, and which exercises original jurisdiction in disciplinary cases against minister members of the presbytery. A presbytery has two elected officers: a moderator and a stated clerk. The Moderator of the presbytery

34402-402: The pulpit, communion table and lectern which are the focus of the corporate worship. A raised tiered choir loft is behind the chancel with the screened organ chambers behind. The sanctuary is illuminated by 73 faceted stained glass windows designed by Willet Studios of Philadelphia . The windows comprise one of the largest collections of faceted glass in the United States. Described in detail in

34608-405: The purely geometric trylon and periphery sculpture. It had many monuments to Art Deco, such as the Ford Pavilion in the Streamline Moderne style, but also included the new International Style that would replace Art Deco as the dominant style after the War. The Pavilions of Finland, by Alvar Aalto , of Sweden by Sven Markelius , and of Brazil by Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa , looked forward to

34814-421: The pyramids of the ancient Mayan civilization. He experimented for a time with modular mass-produced housing. He identified his architecture as "Usonian", a combination of USA, "utopian" and "organic social order". His business was severely affected by the beginning of the Great Depression that began in 1929; he had fewer wealthy clients who wanted to experiment. Between 1928 and 1935, he built only two buildings:

35020-426: The reformed tradition. Since 1907, Montreat, North Carolina has hosted a youth conference every year. In 1983, Montreat Conference Center became a National Conference Center of the PC(USA) when the northern and southern denominational churches reunited. The Constitution of PC(USA) is composed of two portions: Part I, the Book of Confessions and Part II, the Book of Order . The Book of Confessions outlines

35226-409: The reinforced concrete building was in steps, with each floor set back from the floor below, creating a series of terraces. Between 1910 and 1913, Auguste Perret built the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées , a masterpiece of reinforced concrete construction, with Art Deco sculptural bas-reliefs on the façade by Antoine Bourdelle . Because of the concrete construction, no columns blocked the spectator's view of

35432-410: The responsibility of the session. In addition, the session serves as an ecclesiastical court to consider disciplinary charges brought against church officers or members. The session also oversees the work of the deacons , a second body of leaders also tracing its origins to the Book of Acts. The deacons are a congregational-level group whose duty is "to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to

35638-409: The rise Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, most of the leaders of the German Bauhaus movement found a new home in the United States, and played an important part in the development of American modern architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright was eighty years old in 1947; he had been present at the beginning of American modernism, and though he refused to accept that he belonged to any movement, continued to play

35844-444: The rise of modern architecture. Large parts of major cities, from Berlin, Tokyo, and Dresden to Rotterdam and east London; all the port cities of France, particularly Le Havre , Brest, Marseille, Cherbourg had been destroyed by bombing. In the United States, little civilian construction had been done since the 1920s; housing was needed for millions of American soldiers returning from the war. The postwar housing shortages in Europe and

36050-426: The seceding groups, a vote of the church's congregation was split. As a result, the church was not attached to any presbytery for five years. In 1862, under a new presbytery it became part of the Philadelphia Synod . Sunderland served as Chaplain of the United States Senate during the Civil War and again in the 1870s and was a friend and adviser to President Abraham Lincoln . Among the pastor's many contributions to

36256-400: The shape of a cross. The design of its 65-foot (20 m) ceiling gives the appearance of an inverted ship's bow, more specifically Noah's Ark , symbolizing its purpose as a place of refuge and safety. In accordance with Reformed Christian principles, the walls of the sanctuary were unadorned to focus attention on the preaching from the pulpit. The chancel area contains the liturgical cent with

36462-409: The shooter in the body count . Bronwen's political perspective on the shooting has been contrasted with purely nonpolitical perspectives from other denominations. Jihyun Oh was installed in July 2024 as the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and promoted by the Unification Commission in October 2024 to lead the interim unified agency. The Unification Commission is overseeing a unification of

36668-406: The site includes a parking area, which is used during the work week by employees from adjacent sites including WRC (NBC4) TV. An acre immediately in front of the sanctuary building (facing Nebraska Avenue, NW) is landscaped and contains a marble Fountain Court and stone walls engraved with Biblical verses. The congregation that eventually became The National Presbyterian Church traces its heritage to

36874-399: The spirit of Italian Rationalism of the 1920s continued, with the work of architect Giuseppe Terragni . His Casa del Fascio in Como, headquarters of the local Fascist party, was a perfectly modernist building, with geometric proportions (33.2 meters long by 16.6 meters high), a clean façade of marble, and a Renaissance-inspired interior courtyard. Opposed to Terragni was Marcello Piacitini,

37080-437: The stage. Otto Wagner , in Vienna, was another pioneer of the new style. In his book Moderne Architektur (1895) he had called for a more rationalist style of architecture, based on "modern life". He designed a stylized ornamental metro station at Karlsplatz in Vienna (1888–89), then an ornamental Art Nouveau residence, Majolika House (1898), before moving to a much more geometric and simplified style, without ornament, in

37286-404: The start of hostilities in the American Civil War with the formation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America . The Presbyterian Church in the CSA absorbed the smaller United Synod in 1864. After the war, this body was renamed the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) and was commonly nicknamed the "Southern Presbyterian Church" throughout its history. In 1869,

37492-475: The structure, allowing glass curtain walls on the façade and open floor plans, independent of the structure. They were always white, and had no ornament or decoration on the outside or inside. The best-known of these houses was the Villa Savoye , built in 1928–1931 in the Paris suburb of Poissy . An elegant white box wrapped with a ribbon of glass windows around on the façade, with living space that opened upon an interior garden and countryside around, raised up by

37698-400: The style was often used for new airport terminals, train and bus stations, and for gas stations and diners built along the growing American highway system. In the 1930s the style was used not only in buildings, but in railroad locomotives, and even refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. It both borrowed from industrial design and influenced it. In the United States, the Great Depression led to

37904-439: The synod's Stated Clerk. There are currently 16 synods in the PC(USA) and they vary widely in the scope and nature of their work. An ongoing current debate in the denomination is over the purpose, function, and need for synods. See also the List of Presbyterian Church (USA) synods and presbyteries . The General Assembly is the highest governing body of the PC(USA). Until the 216th assembly met in Richmond, Virginia in 2004,

38110-490: The teachers of a generation of American postwar architects. In 1937 Mies van der Rohe also moved to the United States; he became one of the most famous designers of postwar American skyscrapers. Expressionism , which appeared in Germany between 1910 and 1925, was a counter-movement against the strictly functional architecture of the Bauhaus and Werkbund. Its advocates, including Bruno Taut , Hans Poelzig , Fritz Hoger and Erich Mendelsohn , wanted to create architecture that

38316-415: The use of glass , steel , and concrete ); the principle functionalism (i.e. that form should follow function ); an embrace of minimalism ; and a rejection of ornament . According to Le Corbusier , the roots of the movement were to be found in the works of Eugène Viollet le duc , while Mies van der Rohe was heavily inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel . The movement emerged in the first half of

38522-479: The wake of the First Five Year Plan – including colossal Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (1932) – and made an attempt to start the standardization of living blocks with Ginzburg's Narkomfin building . A number of architects from the pre-Soviet period also took up the constructivist style. The most famous example was Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow (1924), by Alexey Shchusev (1924) The main centers of constructivist architecture were Moscow and Leningrad; however, during

38728-403: Was a prototype for the modernist office buildings that followed. (It was torn down in 1957, because it stood in the zone between East and West Berlin, where the Berlin Wall was constructed.) Following the rise of the Nazis to power, he moved to England (1933), then to the United States (1941). Fritz Höger was another notable Expressionist architect of the period. His Chilehaus was built as

38934-454: Was also a passionate advocate of a new urbanism, based on planned cities. In 1922 he presented a design of a city for three million people, whose inhabitants lived in identical sixty-story tall skyscrapers surrounded by open parkland. He designed modular houses, which would be mass-produced on the same plan and assembled into apartment blocks, neighborhoods, and cities. In 1923 he published "Toward an Architecture", with his famous slogan, "a house

39140-445: Was an example of what he called rationalist architecture ; it had a simple stucco rectangular façade with square windows and no ornament. The fame of the new movement, which became known as the Vienna Secession spread beyond Austria. Josef Hoffmann , a student of Wagner, constructed a landmark of early modernist architecture, the Stoclet Palace , in Brussels, in 1906–1911. This residence, built of brick covered with Norwegian marble,

39346-432: Was composed of geometric blocks, wings, and a tower. A large pool in front of the house reflected its cubic forms. The interior was decorated with paintings by Gustav Klimt and other artists, and the architect even designed clothing for the family to match the architecture. In Germany, a modernist industrial movement, Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation) had been created in Munich in 1907 by Hermann Muthesius ,

39552-429: Was ineligible to apply for the stated clerk position in 2024, and has limited responsibilities focused primarily on completing plans for the 2024 GA and unification of the OGA and PMA. Her partial characterization of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump as "two lives lost at a Pennsylvania rally" blurs the distinction between perpetrator and victim, unlike definitions of mass shootings that often do not include

39758-441: Was intended to awe the spectators by its huge scale. Adolf Hitler intended to turn Berlin into the capital of Europe, grander than Rome or Paris. The Nazis closed the Bauhaus, and the most prominent modern architects soon departed for Britain or the United States. In Italy, Benito Mussolini wished to present himself as the heir to the glory and empire of ancient Rome. Mussolini's government was not as hostile to modernism as The Nazis;

39964-792: Was launched in the 1890s by Victor Horta in Belgium and Hector Guimard in France; it introduced new styles of decoration, based on vegetal and floral forms. In Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi conceived architecture as a form of sculpture; the façade of the Casa Batlló in Barcelona (1904–1907) had no straight lines; it was encrusted with colorful mosaics of stone and ceramic tiles. Architects also began to experiment with new materials and techniques, which gave them greater freedom to create new forms. In 1903–1904 in Paris Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage began to use reinforced concrete , previously only used for industrial structures, to build apartment buildings. Reinforced concrete, which could be molded into any shape, and which could create enormous spaces without

40170-413: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. The site also includes the National Presbyterian School, which provides pre-school-to-Grade 6 education. The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools and is open to all children. The National Presbyterian Church dates its origins to 1795, when

40376-513: Was modern, but it was not modernist; it had many features of modernism, including the use of reinforced concrete, glass, steel, chrome, and it rejected traditional historical models, such as the Beaux-Arts style and Neo-classicism ; but, unlike the modernist styles of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, it made lavish use of decoration and color. It reveled in the symbols of modernity; lightning flashes, sunrises, and zig-zags. Art Deco had begun in France before World War I and spread through Europe; in

40582-458: Was named PCUSA Communications Director and the former PMA Communications Director was named PMA Vision Integration & Constituent Service Manager. Nelson is the first African American to be elected to the office, and is a third-generation Presbyterian pastor. Nelson announced he would not seek re-election to a third term, and stepped down as Stated Clerk in June 2023, a year before his second term ended. Reported tensions that likely influenced

40788-406: Was poetic, expressive, and optimistic. Many expressionist architects had fought in World War I and their experiences, combined with the political turmoil and social upheaval that followed the German Revolution of 1919, resulted in a utopian outlook and a romantic socialist agenda. Economic conditions severely limited the number of built commissions between 1914 and the mid-1920s, As result, many of

40994-467: Was purely functional and new. The revolution in materials came first, with the use of cast iron , drywall , plate glass , and reinforced concrete, to build structures that were stronger, lighter, and taller. The cast plate glass process was invented in 1848, allowing the manufacture of very large windows. The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was an early example of iron and plate glass construction, followed in 1864 by

41200-498: Was ratified (by the presbyteries) in 2015. This has led to the departure of several hundred congregations. The majority of churches leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA) have chosen to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or ECO . Few have chosen to join the larger more conservative Presbyterian Church in America , which does not permit female clergy. Since 1983 the Presbyterian Youth Triennium has been held every three years at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, US, and

41406-424: Was scheduled for Moscow in 1932, but was cancelled at the last minute. Instead, the delegates held their meeting on a cruise ship traveling between Marseille and Athens. On board, they together drafted a text on how modern cities should be organized. The text, called The Athens Charter , after considerable editing by Corbusier and others, was finally published in 1957 and became an influential text for city planners in

41612-479: Was supposed to be built of reinforced concrete, but because of technical problems it was finally built of traditional materials covered with plaster. His sculptural form, very different from the austere rectangular forms of the Bauhaus, first won him commissions to build movie theaters and retail stores in Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Berlin. His Mossehaus in Berlin was an early model for the streamline moderne style. His Columbushaus on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin (1931)

41818-449: Was the Kaufmann Desert House in 1946, and he designed hundreds of further projects. The 1937 Paris International Exposition in Paris effectively marked the end of the Art Deco, and of pre-war architectural styles. Most of the pavilions were in a neoclassical Deco style, with colonnades and sculptural decoration. The pavilions of Nazi Germany, designed by Albert Speer , in a German neoclassical style topped by eagle and swastika, faced

42024-457: Was the first moderator . Not all American Presbyterians participated in the creation of the PCUSA General Assembly because the divisions then occurring in the Church of Scotland were replicated in America. In 1751, Scottish Covenanters began sending ministers to America, and the Seceders were doing the same by 1753. In 1858, the majority of Covenanters and Seceders merged to create the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA). In

42230-428: Was the tower proposed by painter and sculptor Vladimir Tatlin for the Moscow meeting of the Third Communist International in 1920: he proposed two interlaced towers of metal four hundred meters high, with four geometric volumes suspended from cables. The movement of Russian Constructivist architecture was launched in 1921 by a group of artists led by Aleksandr Rodchenko . Their manifesto proclaimed that their goal

42436-504: Was to find the "communist expression of material structures". Soviet architects began to construct workers' clubs, communal apartment houses, and communal kitchens for feeding whole neighborhoods. One of the first prominent constructivist architects to emerge in Moscow was Konstantin Melnikov , the number of working clubs – including Rusakov Workers' Club (1928) – and his own living house, Melnikov House (1929) near Arbat Street in Moscow. Melnikov traveled to Paris in 1925 where he built

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