First Church of Christ Sci

Part of a series of technically informative monographs embracing a broad spectrum of internationally renowned buildings, this work deals with the First Church of the Christ Scientist, California, and includes a comprehensive set of technical drawings and working details. Bernard Maybeck's First Church of Christ Scientist is an exemplary craftsman's building, but one which defies simple categorization; it is both unique and eccentric. Maybeck was fist trained as a furniture maker and then progressed to the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. The church is both steeped in craft tradition and reliant on ceremonial axial composition ideas basic to the Beaux Arts outlook. Architecturally, it is an exuberant collage of Gothic, domestic Californian and Stick Styles, and an almost fantastic variety of materials, including carved wood, and industrial windows sashes. Yet the design has a convincing unity which contains and far transcends its sources.