What we as a group came first to articulate, then to understand and finally to embrace is a basic definition of religion that reflects its Latin roots: re, "back, especially to an original or former state," plus ligare, "to bind." Those roots suggested to us that the word religion implies a universal human search to discover a feeling of connection to or unity with something outside of one's self. We saw that religion defined in that way spoke to the individual's need to relieve himself or herself of a feeling of separation or isolation; that it had less to do with the dogma of any particular faith than with words that appear regularly on the back of the Phillips Church program: "[Worship] is the common sharing of life's wonder, terror, mystery and ambiguity."
In a moment of illumination, we realized that we were talking about religion in a new way, thinking not of a specific religion, like that of Muslims or of Jews or of Catholics, but rather of a universalized experience of religion. It was, we decided, as if we were talking about Religion rather than religion. The more we understood what we meant by Religion, the more the following seemed clear to us: The Ministry of Phillips Church needs to be as concerned with the Religious dimension of all of our lives as it is with the particular religious needs of any one of us. The Ministry of Phillips Church needs to be as concerned with the questions of a seeker of Religion as it is with the practice of a follower of any particular religion.
In January 1999, the Academy's board of trustees enthusiastically approved our report, entitled "The Program of the Ministry of Phillips Church." Our committee recommended that the school's ministry-and the physical renovation of Phillips Church-address the following needs:
- Foster a congenial climate of worship for any student or group of students aligned with a particular religious tradition.
- Offer to those not aligned with any particular religious tradition opportunities to deepen their Religious lives.
- Stimulate discussion, for purposes of education and understanding, among the individuals and groups described above.
- Place students at the center of the activities of the Religious life of the school.
- Support the energies of students interested in social service.
- Recognize music and art as integral to the Religious life of the school.
- Serve the Academy family both in public moments of ceremony and in private moments of counsel.
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The handsome second-floor Wicks Room serves as a meeting place for such groups as the Islamic Society (above) and the Buddhist Meditation group (left), as well a spot for quiet contemplation for students like upper Samantha Tackeff (below).
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Not Just Repair, But Renovation
In the meantime, there was a growing sense that this repair project should really be a renovation project, one that would not only prepare the building for another hundred years of structural integrity but also, to the extent possible, design it for an Academy quite different from the Academy that had bought the building in 1922. An additional decision was made: that new stained glass would be crafted to go into the tracery at the east end of the nave that had held only clear glass in the first hundred years of the building's life (see page 19).
Working with the Boston architectural firm of Hoyle, Doran & Berry, the linear descendant of Cram and Ferguson, the building's original architectural firm, the committee decided that a spiral staircase in the west end of the building, running from the basement to the second floor, would best meet current fire safety needs. The staircase would also give the building a greater coherence, connecting its various areas literally even as we had connected them philosophically by the tenets of the program statement. Thus, a student could worship in the second-floor Wicks Room, then trot down the stairs for an Exeter Social Service Organization dinner meeting in the well-appointed kitchen of the dramatically redesigned and now open basement.
Never forgetting the building's importance as the school's central concert hall, the committee made acoustics in the nave a matter of prime importance. We first decided that, for said acoustics in the nave as well as for better sound separation between the nave and the basement, the wood of the floor of the nave would be replaced by granite tiles. We then had designed a sound system that would take advantage of the improved acoustics in matters both of recording and of amplification.
In the course of our discussions of the multiple program demands on the nave, we realized that flexibility of furniture placement was desirable and not well met by the essentially immovable pews. Recognizing the fact that they had been in the nave for many decades, we nonetheless decided that the pews should be replaced by "cathedral chairs." To that end we studied the design of many chairs, then had designed an original chair for this church and enough constructed to fill the nave.
Other notable changes include making the building universally accessible; creating a place for ablutions for Muslim worshipers; installing a sprinkler system and air conditioning; improving lighting. And now, we all wait as Fratelli Ruffatti, an Italian organ-building firm, constructs a new organ for our church, a 30th reunion gift from the class of '72 and an anonymous donor, which will be installed by early in 2004. It will put a final grand touch on a building that even now is a burnished jewel on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy.
The Father of Phillips Church
Architect Ralph Adams Cram's simple "country chapel" was the first of many buildings he designed at Exeter.
Ralph Adams Cram | |
Phillips Church was among the first churches that architect Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942) designed, but it would not be his last. As America's foremost proponent of the Gothic revival style, he went on to design churches throughout the country, culminating in his masterwork, New York's Cathedral of St. John Divine. And as founder of the prominent Boston firm of Cram, Goodhue and Wentworth (later Cram and Ferguson), he served as "campus architect" for scores of schools and colleges, including West Point, Princeton, MIT, Wellesley and Phillips Exeter.
That Cram would have such a significant role on the Exeter campus was fitting: He was born in nearby Hampton Falls, NH, the son of a Unitarian minister and the descendant of one of the town of Exeter's original founders. After graduating from Exeter High School in 1881, he apprenticed with a Boston architect and studied in Europe, before returning to Boston and opening his own firm, which quickly came to specialize in church architecture.
An early photo of Phillips Church
That firm was hired to design Phillips Church in 1896, and devised a Gothic-inspired "country chapel" of seam-faced granite with sandstone trimmings. Its "dominant feature," according to a contemporary account in The Exeter Newsletter, was its "finely proportioned tower, which stands at the inner angle and lends to the structure special impressiveness, power and dignity." Cram gracefully offset the church's rustic mass with a Gothic window that soars above the Tan Lane entrance. Phillips Church was dedicated in 1899.
Cram returned to Exeter in 1908 to design Dunbar Hall, and over the course of the next four decades, his firm was responsible for most of the major buildings on campus, including the Fourth Academy Building (1914-15), the Davis Library (1912; now the Davis Student Center), Thompson Gym (1918), Lamont Infirmary (1923), Jeremiah Smith Hall (1931), Thompson Science Building (1931), Phillips Hall (1932), and many of the brick dormitories. And his influence on the look and character of the Phillips Exeter campus continues to this day: Phelps Science Center (2001), designed by Centerbrook Architects, acknowledges and echoes Cram's signature style.
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