1845 Church: Henry Rutgers' Generosity Preserves Ancient Roman Design - Essay Sample

Introduction

The church was built in 1845 and was mainly based in the ancient Roman temple design. The building was mainly developed because of the generosity of the landholder and philanthropist called Henry Rutgers. Their generosity resulted in the building standing on the corner of Oliver and Henry Streets (Reddy, 2020). The building resembles other buildings the main being the Temple of Portunus in Rome, Italy. The key resemblance is through the way it has a slandering Ionic style column. Such columns are located on the front and a flight of steps heading towards the front entrance.

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The church was initially referred to as the Oliver Street Meeting House. Since the first church was initially established, Baptists continue to increase in the church while using the site for over two hundred and ten years. The Mariner’s Temple Baptist Church was developed using some Greek-style, although it lacked the sculpture in it. This particular feature was the same as the one used in the Temple of Portunus. Different buildings developed on later date serve as an aspiration to the building, especially the Porch closed off by walls on both sides of the building. One of such buildings that serve as an aspiration to the building is the early medieval church known as the Santa Maria del Narance in Asturia, Spain.

Temple of Portunus, Rome, Italy- 1st Century B.C

The Temple of Portunus is one of the most preserved Italian temples. However, its dedication remains to be unclear since different sources describe various temples during this period making it challenging to identify which exactly the Temple of Portunus is. The temple forms a rectangular footprint while its plan can be termed as a pseudoperipteral rather than having a free-standing colonnade. Instead, the temple has only free-standing columns on its façade (Konecný, Sylaiou & Liarokapis, 2016). Such facades have different columns on its flanks and rear. The Temple of Portunus has a similarity with the Mariner's Temple Baptist Church where they are both supported by an Ionic colonnade. Another similarity is that they both have slender Ionic style columns only on the front.

Santa Maria del Naranco, Asturia, Spain – 10th Century

The building was originally part of the series of royal structures in the outskirts. The innovation used in the building surprised chroniclers, who even had to mention it frequently. The chroniclers were impressed by the proportions and the slender shape of the Santa Maria del Naranco. It included different decorations which made it more impressive. The transverse arches used in the building helped in allowing its support while eliminating the wooden ceilings. The building was developed based on the rectangular ground plan (Boto, 2017). The building was developed to represent a step forward from a decorative point of view. That was mainly done through the way the developers enriched the habitual standards. Santa Maria del Naranco is similar to the Mariner's Temple Baptist Church through the way they both have a porch that is closed off by walls on either side.

References

Boto, G. (2017). The Migration of Mediterranean Images: Strange Creatures in Spanish Buildings and Scriptoria between the 9th and 11th Centuries. In Romanesque and the Mediterranean (pp. 241-258). Routledge.

Konecný, R., Sylaiou, S., & Liarokapis, F. (2016). Procedural Modeling in Archaeology. In 2016 8th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES) (No. IKEECONF-2019-383). The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Reddy, J. C. (2020). The Knowledge of End-time Prophetic Scriptures Prepares Believers at Northcliffe Baptist Church to Expect Religious Persecution.