Until about 400 A.D., the majority of Christian worship services were held at the homes of different members of the congregation. Today, people who attend church services or masses every Sunday or Saturday evening cannot imagine worshipping the Lord without their familiar, old church pews. Actually, the first church pews did not appear until the 1400’s, when congregations would worship from removable stone benches.
For the majority of Christians, church furniture is just one element of a worship building structure that has become an icon within Western culture. Even for the millions of people who are not Christians, churches are instantly recognizable from the often towering church steeples the rest atop traditional church roofs. Unfortunately, these awesome structures are just as vulnerable to deterioration as any other type of building.
When it comes to church construction, church steeple plans were usually separate from the blueprints used to construct the actual church building. Sometimes, church steeple design and construction was done separately, and the steeple was lifted atop of the building via crane. If you have ever seen old church steeple pictures, you can actually see the steeples being put in place. There are even church steeple pictures that depict steeples actually beginning to lean.
If this occurs, the people running the church have the option of either having the steeple replaced or restored by a top church restoration company. Either way, it must be done before a great wind storm blows the steeple from the church roof, and onto the heads of unsuspecting pedestrians.
All kidding aside, church steeples are always among the most distinctive pieces to community landscapes. As such, they have become a part of tradition to even those people who have never entered their hallowed halls. For this reason, church designers play a crucial architectural and cultural role within most cities and communities in the West.
