Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting

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Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting - side view of exterior of meeting room.jpg
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia

The Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting is a monthly meeting (congregation) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). First meeting in 1924, they were the first "United" monthly meeting, reconciling Philadelphia Quakers after the Hicksite/Orthodox schism of 1827. The original Meeting House, built in 1931, was located at 100 E. Mermaid Lane in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was replaced in 2012-2013 by the current meeting house, located at 20 E. Mermaid Lane, which incorporates a Skyspace designed by Quaker light artist James Turrell, the second such installation to be incorporated into a working religious space. [1] The new Quaker meeting house is the first to be built in Philadelphia in eighty years. [2]

Monthly Meetings are, traditionally, the basic unit of administration in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The term "Monthly Meeting" comes from the Quaker practice of holding a monthly Meeting for Business, separate from Meeting for Worship which is usually held once a week on Sunday.

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is known for its high incomes and real estate values, as well as its private schools.

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Contents

The Meeting House is an active center for worship and the activities of the Monthly Meeting. [3] Since 1955, it has been a part of the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting. [4] The meeting has participated in the Yearly Meetings of Friends. The multi-purpose building offers a variety of programs that are open to both Quakers and non-Quakers. [3] The meeting works with the Northwest Interfaith Hospitality Network to provide short term housing for families in transition. [2] It also engages with other community organizations such as the Friends Council and Mt. Airy Learning Tree.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, or PYM, is the central organizing body for Quaker meetings in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, area.

Formation of the meeting

In 1924, the Abington (Orthodox) and Philadelphia Quarterly (Hicksite) meetings in Philadelphia established the Chestnut Hill United Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, a united meeting for worship. [4] Their first meeting was at the home of Robert and Elizabeth Yarnall on November 9, 1924. [5] They were the first monthly meeting to reconcile members of the Hicksite and Orthodox Yearly Meetings, a schism that had split the Friends in 1827. [5] [6] The group was officially recognized by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1933, becoming the Chestnut Hill Monthly meeting. [4] [5]

Elias Hicks American preacher

Elias Hicks was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the first major schism within the Religious Society of Friends. Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks.

Original meeting house

Exterior, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6688-3.tif
Exterior, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia
Interior, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA-6688-7.tif
Interior, 100 East Mermaid Lane, Philadelphia

The original Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House at 100 East Mermaid Lane was built in 1931. [7] The building was one story high, in a sprawling ranch-style building with a low-pitched gable roof. The facade was made of stucco and rubble stone over load-bearing concrete block. The building contained a meeting room and adjacent space, which could be joined by opening folding doors between them; a central gabled vestibule, a kitchen, restrooms and classrooms. Windows let in the light. [5]

The building at 100 Mermaid Lane was innovative for a Quaker meeting in a number of ways. The "ranch-style" design was reminiscent of residential architecture, connecting traditional meetinghouses with more modern domestic forms. A fireplace hearth was substituted for the "facing benches" traditionally used by ministers and elders. The partitions that had traditionally separated men and women during meeting for business were removed. In this way, the design of the meeting house emphasized the equality and the lack of hierarchy of the meeting. [5]

The building of the new meeting house led to an unanticipated increase in membership, almost doubling the meeting in size. [5] The meeting house's limited space and poor accessibility for older members were factors in the eventual decision to build a new meeting house. [8] The decision to build a new space was taken after many years of considered deliberation. [3] The original building was eventually sold to United Cerebral Palsy. [7]

United Cerebral Palsy

United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) is an international nonprofit charitable organization consisting of a network of affiliates. UCP is a leading service provider and advocate for adults and children with disabilities. As one of the largest health nonprofits in the United States, the UCP mission is to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with disabilities through an affiliate network.

Modern meeting house

Exterior, 20 Mermaid Lane, with stormwater garden Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House 20 Mermaid Lane DSCF1897.jpg
Exterior, 20 Mermaid Lane, with stormwater garden
Retractable roof for Skyspace Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting - closeup of front entrance.jpg
Retractable roof for Skyspace

The modern Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House at 20 East Mermaid Lane was designed by architect James Bradberry of Bryn Mawr, working with natural light artist James Turrell and Chestnut Hill Meeting members. It is intended as a modern embodiment of Friends’ testimonies of simplicity and equality. The meeting house incorporates a permanent light installation donated by Turrell. [9] Turrell's 76th Skyspace, it is entitled Greet the Light. [8] It is the second Turrell skyspace to be located within a Quaker meetinghouse, [8] and was inspired by its predecessor, Live Oak Friends Meeting House in Houston, Texas. [3]

Approximately 2/3 of the cost of the building was raised by members. [9] The meeting also received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to help fund the project. [10] Ground was broken for the new building, the first new Quaker meeting house to be built in 80 years, in May 2012. [9] The new meeting house was constructed between August 2012 and August 2013. [8] In spite of construction delays due to an incident of arson that caused substantial damages, the new building opened for worship in September, 2013. [11] [12] [13] [14]

The two-story L-shaped building is sited on a partially wooded 1.8 acre-site not far from the location of the original meetinghouse. Emphasis was placed on green architecture, sustainability and environmentally friendly construction practices. [3] [8] Built in a former quarry, the surroundings are naturally landscaped and include green stormwater management features. The building was expected to meet LEED platinum standards of construction. [15]

The main entrance to the building has floor-to-ceiling windows and a slate floor. Sliding pocket doors connect the foyer and the meeting room . A 600 square foot "gathering room" contains a fireplace and a library. A 1200 square foot social room adjoins a kitchen and opens to an outdoor terrace. The second floor includes classrooms and a mini-kitchen and a handicapped-usable bathroom and shower, essential for the work of the Interfaith Hospitality Network. The building is wrapped on several sides by a wide porch, reminiscent of traditional meetinghouses. [7]

The skyspace is installed in the 36-foot-high vaulted ceiling of the 1600-square-foot meeting room. The room has plain white walls with 24-foot-high windows, their sills deep enough to sit it, that fill the room with natural light. The floor is made of reclaimed long leaf yellow pine. The skyspace was first opened to the public for selected sunrise and sunset viewings of Turrell's Skyspace Greet the Light on October 20, 2013. [7] A viewing lasts approximately 50 minutes, at dawn or dusk. When the retractable roof is opened, light from the sky enters the meeting space through the skylight, combining with a sequence of pre-programmed LED lighting around the vaulted ceiling. The roof is not opened for viewing in bad weather. [12]

"Upon entrance, visitors are welcome to lie down in the meeting room and await the sunrise or sunset. Part of the roof quietly slides away, revealing a rectangular shape that opens directly to the sky. In the ceiling, Turrell created what he calls a “sensing space,” a space that opens to and draws light from another source. What happens next challenges how we think we know what we think we see. For about 50 minutes, we can revel in the sensing space’s one-of-a-kind experience. LED lights in colors found in the sky — rich pinks, violets, and blue-greens — line the lower ledge of the ceiling. Color seeps into the space, making light present. At times, the rectangular opening appears to be floating; at others, it seems solid. As subtleties transition into dramatic changes, our perception of the world becomes an illusion, literally." [16]

See also

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Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse

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Old Kennett Meetinghouse

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Chichester Friends Meetinghouse

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Green Plain Monthly Meetinghouse historic former Quaker house of worship near South Charleston in Clark County, Ohio

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Appoquinimink Friends Meetinghouse

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Friends Meetinghouse (Wilmington, Delaware) meetinghouse in Wilmington, Delaware

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Skyspace architectural design by James Turrell

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Mercer Street Friends Center is located in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The building was built in 1858 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 1971. It now houses the main offices of Mercer Street Friends, a Trenton-based Quaker-affiliated social service agency founded in 1958.

Fair Hill Burial Ground cemetery in Philadelphia

Fair Hill Burial Ground is a historic cemetery in the Fairhill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by the Religious Society of Friends in 1703, it fell into disuse until the 1840s when it was revived by the Hicksite Quaker community of Philadelphia, which played an important role in the abolition and early women's rights movements. The cemetery is currently operated by the Fair Hill Burial Corporation, which is owned by Quakers and neighborhood community members.

Live Oak Friends Meeting House is a Quaker meeting house located at 1318 West 26th Street in the Heights area of Houston, Texas, United States. The meeting house, which was completed in December 2000, was designed and built to house the Live Oak Friends Meeting, which was formed in 1954. The building features a permanent installation by the artist James Turrell, known as the Skyspace or One Accord. It has been described as an architectural "idealization of Quaker testimonies like peace and equality."

Twelfth Street Meeting House

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Many historic Friends meeting houses in Pennsylvania were constructed in colonial times and are listed individually by the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and others are contributing buildings in historic districts. Several Friends meetings, the equivalent of church congregations in other denominations, were founded in Pennsylvania by the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers in the early 1680s. Thirty-two extant meeting houses, the equivalent of church buildings, were constructed before 1800. Over 100 meeting houses built before 1900 were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in a survey that led to their publication of Silent Witness, Quaker Meeting Houses In The Delaware Valley, 1695 To The Present in 2002.

Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House

The Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House is a historic place of worship for members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in rural Columbia County, Pennsylvania, near Numidia on Quaker Meeting House Road.

References

  1. ↑ Meads, Helen (2015). "The Quaker Meaning of Light (and James Turrell's work)" (PDF). www.academia.edu.
  2. 1 2 "Go Inside and Greet the Light: Turrell Skyspace opens at the new Chestnut Hill meeting house". Friends General Conference. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Sharpe, Andy (November 8, 2011). "First Quaker meetinghouse in 80 years set for Chestnut Hill-Mt. Airy border". Flying Kite. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting". Quaker Meeting History. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CHESTNUT HILL FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE 100 E. Mermaid Lane Philadelphia HABS No. PA-6688" (PDF). HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Historical Quaker Sites in and around Philadelphia". Quaker Information Center. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Crimmins, Peter (October 15, 2013). "Turrell Skyspace, pairing light and space, set to open to the public". NewsWorks. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Skyspace at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting". Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 "CH Friends break ground for new meetinghouse". Chestnut Hill Local. May 15, 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Mazzaccaro, Pete (December 2, 2010). "Hill friends get $75,000 NEA grant for new meetinghouse "Skyspace"". Chestnut Hill Local. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Chestnut Hill's 'Skyspace' ideal for silent reflection". Chestnut Hill Local. December 18, 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  12. 1 2 Rybak, Sue Ann (November 13, 2014). "Arson couldn't extinguish 'light' at Hill Meetinghouse". Chestnut Hill Local. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  13. ↑ Hurdle, Jon (January 17, 2013). "Philadelphia Vandalism of Quaker Building Is Seen by Some as Union Intimidation". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  14. ↑ Sherf, Barbara. "Reaction to the new Chestnut Hill Quaker Friends meetinghouse". CommunicationsPro. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  15. ↑ Shea, Jana (August 31, 2012). "Construction begins on Chestnut Hill meetinghouse and Turrell Skyspace". Newsworks. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  16. ↑ DiMarco, Christa (April 19, 2014). "James Turrell's 'Greet the Light' at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting". Broad Street Review. Retrieved 13 October 2016.

Coordinates: 40°04′07″N75°11′46″W / 40.0685°N 75.1960°W / 40.0685; -75.1960

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