The Baha’i House of Worship in Chicago

At Chicago U.S.A., on the shore of Lake Michigan, the Baha’i House, of Worship has recently been completed. The foundation was laid by the hands of Abdul Baha himself in 1912.

The Baha’i Temple has aroused the enthusiastic interest of architects because of the new principles of design and decoration which Mr. Louis Bourgeois incorporated in his unique model of the completed structure. It has drawn the attention of engineers because of the unusual problems of construction which had to be solved in order to bring the architect’s plans into actual existence. But the problems presented and solved in the Baha’i House of Worship and the accessory institutions which will be added include those of an even more fundamental significance than the ones presented to the architect and engineer.

Humanity to-day is entering into the dawn of a new age. Customs and institutions of an outworn civilization are disintegrating. When the world has been cleared of their debris, the foundation of a new world order will rise, and on it the new civilization of universal brotherhood and peace will be established. The Baha’i Temple is the expression in material form of the spiritual power which will establish the age of peace and co-operation throughout the world. It is a symbol of the Divine Will which, in this new day, will weld all mankind into a great spiritual brother-hood, in which differences of race, nationality, class and creed will cease to separate men into suspicious, warring groups.

Structurally, the Temple is remarkable as it comprises a steel, reinforced concrete and glass frame-work, on which has been placed the highly ornamental surface material. It is a nonagon, or nine-sided structure; each side having the form of a circular arc, with a large door way in the centre: and the whole edifice gives the appearance of extending welcoming arms to the people approaching from every direction. It has nine avenues, nine gardens, nine pools, and nine fountains playing in the gardens.

Entering anyone of the nine doors, one passes through a hallway into the central circular room or auditorium. Out of this main hall open radially (and separated by the hallways) nine smaller rooms, comparable to chapels in a cathedral. The central domed hall has an area of about 4,000 square feet and will seat about 700 people. The nine auxiliary rooms will seat about 100 persons each.

The building of this structure has been financed by the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, assisted by contributions from all parts of the world. The land on which the House of Worship stands was acquired at intervals from 1909 to 1914, at a total cost of about $125,000. The structure rests upon nine caissons of steel and concrete, which are sunk 120 feet in the ground in order to reach bedrock. The caissons and the foundation structure cost some $200,000. The total cost has been bout $930,000.

Let us now turn from the description of the physical structure and building the Baha’i House of Worship to a consideration of its social and spiritual significance.

To the Baha’i the oneness of mankind is ‘no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope.’ It necessitates so close a sense of unity with all men that prejudices of class, race, nationality and creed must be absolutely destroyed. The more intimately man understands and serves all people the nearer he comes to the knowledge of God. The Baha’i seeks to attain ‘transparent fellowship’ with every human being he meets, in order that a truly Divine Unity may be spread through the world.

Worship in the Baha’i Temple is a privilege freely offered to all men and women, who, forsaking the limitations of prejudices and creeds, seek to enter into a true spiritual communion with God, and into a loving, unity with their fellows.

In Chicago, in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Baha’ when laying the foundation said:

"The purpose of places of worship and edifices for adoration is simply that of unity, in order that various nations, divergent races, varying souls may gather there and among them amity, love and accord may be realized."

This House of Worship will include a hospital and dispensary, a school for orphan children, a hospice, and a college for higher scientific education. In these institutions the principles of the oneness of mankind will be put into concrete practice. Their services will be dispensed irrespective of color, race or nationality.

The significance to the social order of the Baha’i ideal which is taking concrete form in the Baha’i House of Worship in Chicago can best be summarised in the words of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith:

"Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the evils that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is assuredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, reinforced, on the one hand, by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and, on the other, by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend."