Housing Committee's Work is Done
Diocesan Press Service. March 11, 1963 [VIII-17]
After more than four years of patient and dedicated service, the Committee on Housing the Business Operations of the National Council (in other words, the people who "built" the new Episcopal Church Center) presented its final report to the Council at the February meeting in Greenwich, Conn.
The Rt. Rev. Frederick J. Warnecke, Bishop of Bethlehem and committee chairman, declared of the Center. "We hope it will be a good and honest tool in the life of the Church. We pray that it will enable the Church to pursue its mission with greater effectiveness in the life of our time. We ask God to accept this handiwork devoutly offered and to grant that it may minister grace and joy to those who use it. "
The report of the committee, which was appointed in December, 1958, first reviewed the steps leading to the decision to build the Church's own building on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and 43rd Street in New York City. With this decision made, the report stated that "we set before ourselves certain goals.
"First, the building must be functionally sound. As part of this we were concerned not only with operation but with maintenance and future cost. Then we were determined to build with quality in mind and not to cut corners by sacrificing good materials, adequate workmanship, or proper design. Thirdly, we were nonetheless aware of the need for a rightful economy.
"Finally, though far from last in our thoughts, we wanted the building to speak for the Church. We hoped to do this not by appliqued crosses or false gothic widows, but by honesty of design, by integrity in the use of its materials, and by relevance to American contemporary life."
The report also commented on the cost of the building. "The figure that is being commonly used in the Church is that of $5,750,000, " it said. "It should be understood that this includes not only the land cost but also a very large sum for furnishings. An ordinary commercial building would certainly not have a chapel in it. Beyond this, in the offices we have supplied within this figure all partitions, all furniture, all draperies, all carpeting, etc.
"We are not turning an empty shell over to the Church, but a home furnished and ready to live and work in. The building itself has cost less than four million dollars. This is extraordinary for a building of this quality in New York City," the report asserted.
In presenting the report, Bishop Warnecke interjected a personal note which indicated that the committee's work was not always arduous. "I was on vacation in Austria during the final negotiations for the property, " he said. "In our hotel abroad we were treated with courtesy but quite casually until a cablegram arrived asking my approval for the purchase of the property at a cost of $1,050,000 - an astronomical figure in Austrian shillings. I was suddenly promoted to a place of great deference by the staff."
In addition to Bishop Warnecke, the housing committee included Mrs. William H. Hannah of Long Island, Richard Goetze of New York; Lindley M. Franklin, Jr., Treasurer of National Council; B. Powell Harrison, Jr., of Virginia; and the Rev. Canon Almon R. Pepper, director of the Council's Department of Christian Social Relations.