Architecture as discernment: a reflection on the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral, 1940-62

Sixty years since its consecration, the architectural historian Henrik Schoenefeldt reflects on the theological questions underlying the plans for the post-war reconstruction of Coventry Cathedral. Covering the period from 1940 to 1962, this article explores the role of architecture in giving outward expression to the Cathedral Council’s discernment of a ministry reconciliation with a focus on Christian unity. At first this emerging identity articulated itself architecturally in symbolic acts and temporary interventions within the physical remains of the old cathedral. This was followed by proposals for the rebuilding, which culminated in Sir Basil Spence’s final design. However, completed in 1962, his design not only reflects aspirations, but also the past ecclesiastical barriers towards ecumenicism. This suggest that its architecture did not represent a conclusion, but only an intermediate stage within a much longer, and still ongoing, process of discernment.