Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington

In the early 1940s, leaders from All Souls Church, established in 1821 as the first Unitarian church in Washington, D.C., encouraged its suburban members to start new Unitarian communities in their respective areas. The first one established in the suburbs was the Unitarian Church of Arlington with support and funds from the "mother church," All Souls. The original building was designed by architect and church member Earl B. Bailey. It was a brick Colonial Revival building containing an auditorium, a kitchen, an office for the minister, and a few meeting rooms. By 1950, church membership had reached almost 250. The success of the Arlington church convinced All Souls minister Arthur Powell Davies to establish the Greater Washington Association for Unitarian Advance (later renamed the Greater Washington Association for Unitarian Universalist Churches) in 1950. The organization was founded to assist with establishing additional Unitarian congregations in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and All Souls and the Arlington church were its first members. According to one UUCA minister, "Charles Goodman spent a lot of time with the congregation and incorporating the values and theology of the congregation into the design of the building." UUCA's sanctuary is one of only three churches designed by Goodman and his only church building in Virginia. Prominent members, past and present, at UUCA include Representative William R. Ratchford of Connecticut and Arlington County Board Member Jay Fisette, Virginia's first openly gay elected official. Activism Like other Unitarian congregations, UUCA is a liberal church that has been active in social justice causes and interfaith dialogue throughout its history. In June 1956, UUCA minister Weston, who was also president of the Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice, received a letter of gratitude from Martin Luther King Jr. Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, Bolling v. Sharpe, which made segregation in Washington, D.C.'s public schools illegal, Virginia Governor Thomas B. Stanley sought input from the state's citizens. UUCA was the only Virginia church that spoke out in favor of integration. The church continued to support civil rights causes in the 1960s, registering black voters from Arlington County, and renaming its 1949 building (now demolished) Reeb Hall in honor of James Reeb, an All Souls minister who was killed by segregationists while protesting in Selma, Alabama. Since the 1970s, church members have continued to advocate social justice causes including, but not limited to, environmentalism, women's rights, LGBT rights, and affordable housing. From the 1990s until it was demolished in 2011, Reeb Hall was rented out to nonprofit groups including the Northern Virginia chapter of Habitat for Humanity and Arlington Street People's Assistance Network. Since the 1990s, Kol Ami, a Reconstructionist Jewish community, has met at UUCA in the library and fellowship rooms. ==Design and location==

The church is located on a 3.97 acre (1.61 ha) lot on the southwest corner of Arlington Boulevard (U.S. 50) and South George Mason Drive near the Arlington Forest neighborhood. The property extends south to First Place South, a residential street where the church parsonage is located. A large parking lot, where Reeb Hall once stood, is on the south and west sides of the property. Church attendees access the building's 1994 wing from the parking lot via concrete walkways and a concrete pedestrian bridge beneath a steel canopy. South of the church is the Memorial Wall and Garden, dedicated in 1996. The landscaped garden includes concrete walls, paths, and benches. Concrete blocks inscribed with the names of church members are also found throughout the garden. South of the garden is a playground, built in 2007, that is enclosed by a wooden fence. The 1964 sanctuary, which faces the road intersection, is on the northeast corner of the property on a wooded knoll. UUCA is composed of three sections: the 1964 sanctuary is a rectangular-shaped, two-story reinforced concrete building; the 1994 addition is a two-story rectangular-shaped concrete structure on the south side of the sanctuary; the 2013 addition is a two-story square-shaped concrete structure on the east side of the 1994 addition and southeast corner of the sanctuary. The two additions "complement the original building in their scale, style, material, and fenestration pattern, and fulfill Goodman’s original plans to expand the church with additional space for educational, administrative, and social functions." They are set back and at a lower height in deference to the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a precast concrete building designed in the brutalist style. It features an overhanging concrete flat roof, concrete block foundation, and corrugated concrete wall panels. Square clerestory windows are on the north, east, and west sides of the building's top level and narrow fixed-light windows are on the first floor. The east and west sides of the sanctuary are five bays wide while the north and south sides feature three bays, a large central bay with a smaller bay on each side. The bays are defined by tall concrete columns, spaced apart, that stand from the ground to the underside of the roof. Pale blue wooden doors flanked by black wooden frames provide access to the sanctuary while there are two narrow doors on the north side. The main entrance to the sanctuary is on the south side where the 1994 addition is sited. The 1994 addition runs along the entire south side of the sanctuary and extends west past the building. It is a building that includes a social hall, classrooms, and office space. Like the sanctuary, the 1994 addition features a flat roof and concrete foundation. The concrete walls are a lighter color than the sanctuary and are also smoother. A one-story terrace was originally on the southeast corner of the 1994 addition, but this was replaced by the 2013 addition, named the Celebration Center. The Celebration Center is also faced with light-colored concrete and has a random-coursed stone facing on its east side. Similar to the sanctuary, it features an overhanging roof and wrapping clerestory windows. The sanctuary's meeting space measures by 62 feet and features a polished reinforced concrete floor set in a large grid pattern. The north, east, and west walls are faced with beige brick while the ceiling is exposed concrete. The sanctuary's design allows for the meeting space to have natural lighting which is complemented by patterned rows of light fixtures along the ceiling. The fixtures are the original black-painted, metal cylinders designed by Goodman. A 2.5 foot (0.76 m) high concrete platform stage, now covered with wood, is on the north wall. It features a wheelchair ramp obscured by a decorative wood screen. Seating in the meeting space is composed of padded, moveable pews and chairs. There are two staircase lobbies on the south side of the meeting space that lead to the first floor. The east staircase provides access to the choir balcony via concrete dogleg stairs and an elevator installed in 1974. Goodman chose to place the choir on the south side of the space because he considered it "the most desirable location for a choir." The balcony features stepped stairs for choir members and a large pipe organ. The ground floor is a north-south corridor plan with an east-west corridor on the south side giving access to the staircases. The lower floor, which includes meeting and storage spaces, features concrete floors in most areas, concrete block dividing walls, and concrete ceilings. ==See also==