Thesis (M.A.)--B.Y.U. Dept. of Church History and Doctrine.

Thesis (M.A.)--B.Y.U. Dept. of Church History and Doctrine. / Electronic thesis. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Utah State University, 2009. / Department: History. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Web.

Thesis (M.A.)-- Brigham Young University. Dept. of History. / Bibliography: leaves 195-203.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the functions: ordinances, meetings, programs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the development of the physical plant. Inversely, the effect of Church house forms on the development of Church function was investigated. It was found that:1. In Latter-day Saint Church development, form has always followed function.2. Function has influenced form to a great extent. Priesthood, meeting, or other program needs are a prime factor in changing the form and design of Church buildings.3. Form has influenced function only insofar as the physical plant lags so far behind new programs as to make the implementation of new functions difficult.4. Function has influenced the form of Church buildings until they have become more specialized and "functional" to suit the exact purpose and need for which they have been built. Function first stimulated the creation of the form, then perfected it.

During the twentieth century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints altered its policy of gathering converts to “Zion,” a centralized location in the western United States, instead encouraging permanent Mormon settlement throughout the world. In order to achieve a dispersed global membership, the Church constructed regional buildings necessary to facilitate the fundamental socioreligious aspects of the faith. Temples provided exclusive ritual space, helping preserve a distinctive form of worship among diverse religious populations. Meetinghouses furnished community space for weekly spiritual worship, religious instruction, ecclesiastical administration, and social activities, enabling connection among other believers as well as non-Mormon visitors. Chapter 1 focuses on the central role of temple-building in Mormon Zion-building; without a regional temple, a Mormon landscape was incomplete and therefore perpetually transient. The second and third chapters explore the under-scrutinized role of meetinghouses in Mormon Zion-building. Chapter 2 examines the form and function of meetinghouses, giving attention to stylistic modernization and the evolving multiuse social hall turned basketball gymnasium. Chapter 3 chronicles the evolution of the Church architecture program, which relied heavily upon standardization and branding during the final half of the twentieth century. Chapter 4 observes the construction of the Mormon cultural landscape in Washington D.C. that helped mend the contentious past between the Church and the federal government. Chapter 5 studies the construction of meetinghouses and a temple in Greater Boston, which afforded access to the intellectual and economic opportunities of the Eastern Establishment. Chapter 6 serves as a concentrated lens into Mormon landscapes of training and education in Provo, Utah. Together, these six chapters reveal the modern Mormon landscape as one that achieves relative uniformity across a worldwide Church membership and hard-won acceptance within the American religious landscape. The basic programs for modern temples and meetinghouses demonstrate their unique roles in the balancing act of belonging to larger communities as a religious minority while retaining a discernible identity. This dissertation argues that the Church adopted a corporate strategy to efficiently expand into non-Mormon landscapes, maintain control over religious programming, and preserve a resilient yet adaptable socioreligious identity among its membership.

In the years 1920-80 the Mormon Church developed, expanded and refined an architectural program based on the concept of the standard plan. Standard plan buildings were selected, individualized and built for local ward units under the direction of the Church Building Department which created uniform standards of quality and appearance across the worldwide Church and created a tangible link between foreign members and the central Church.Although functional and financial considerations directed virtually all design decisions and formed the operative basis of the program other elements also determined the nature of the Mormon approach to building. Growth, in the membership, more than any other single factor, affected the nature of building in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mid-century emphasis on the accelerated missionary program, internationalization of the Church, and the emphasis on global uniformity of Church programs led to the use of the standard plan as the exclusive method of new construction in 1980.