Name

Akron Plan

General Range

1880-1920

The term "Akron Plan" describes three different threads in ecclesiastical design of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. Lewis Miller, the father-in-law of Thomas Edison, helped designed the Akron (Ohio) Methodist Church (1866-1870). The church was a High Gothic Revival building that included an attached classroom section encompassing a rotunda with small classrooms radiating outward. The Akron Plan presented an avenue for congregations from formerly nonconformist traditions to have a "modern" church with some Gothic elements that did not upset the Protestant sensibilities of their more strict members. The three threads of the Akron Plan were (1) a rotunda classroom section attached onto a High Gothic Revival church; (2) the main grouping of the Akron Plan (discussed in the next paragraph); and (3) the Akron Combination Plan, discussed separately.
 
Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, several innovative architects brainstormed ways of organizing religious space that incorporated classroom areas that could be sealed off from the main worship space. George W. Kramer was one of the most prolific of these architects. The churches that Kramer and other Akron Plan architects designed usually featured exteriors that were firmly planted in the Gothic Revival movement. The use of entry towers, rosette windows, pointed arch and lancet windows, and doors in recessed bays was standard.
 
The centerpiece of the Akron Plan is its interior plan. Most Akron Plan churches feature a half-circle or quarter-circle worship space. The floor is sloped down to the pulpit area, and radiating aisles run through the concentric rings of curved benches. Doors along the perimeter walls lead into the classrooms; in some cases, moveable partition walls were installed that could be removed to provide additional seating if attendance increased. Akron Plan churches feature a rather small chancel area where the pulpit and communion table were located.

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Municipality

Name

Address

Albion Borough

Albion Methodist Church

49 FRANKLIN ST

City of Erie

St. Patrick's Church and Rectory

130 E 4 St

Girard Borough

First Presbyterian Ch

260 E MAIN ST

North East Borough

Presbyterian Church

25 W Main St

North East Borough

United Park Methodist-Episcopal

30 N LAKE ST

Springfield Township

West Springfield United Meth Ch

13790 CHESTNUT ST

Union City Borough

First United Methodist Church

42 E HIGH ST