Church steeples and spires are perhaps the signature physical characteristic that identify buildings as places of Christian worship.
While individual denominations have varying explanations about the role steeples and spires may or may not play as a statement of faith, one thing is clear — steeples are a hallmark of Christian churches.
Rev. Charles Hammond of the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake said he relates steeples to tradition and does not see them as a theologically loaded symbol in his church. They're more of an identity element.
"It's probably the grandest advertising sign that you could ever come up with," he said.
First Presbyterian, located at 12 C Street, has one main tower and several smaller steeples.
Rev. Hammond believes Presbyterians are less reliant on symbols than most other churches, and the symbols with stained glass windows the most dominant symbolic characteristics in its churches.
Carlene Shafer, co-owner of Schafer Manufacturing in Troutman, N.C., said steeples have become a conventional element for most churches. Her company manufactures fiberglass church steeples for use in the United States and Canada.
"Steeples point people to the church," she said.
Schafer said church steeples are such a visible element that they create neighborhood landmarks which people use as a frame of reference to get
around the area or or in giving directions to non-locals.
Definitions regarding steeples, spires and church towers share common elements. Webster's Dictionary says a steeple is a tower that rises above the main structure of a building — especially a church; a spire is anything that tapers to a point and a tower is simply a structure relatively high for its length and width.
In olden times, steeples usually housed a bell, which called believers to church services or alerted residents to area emergencies or disasters. The height of the steeples, which were often the tallest structure in the town, helped the sound to spread easily over an area. Today, said Schafer, steeples often include lighting elements and chimes.
About 95 percent of the steeples the company sells today include a cross at the top of the structure, Schafer said.
Steeples are not for all churches, however. The Evangelical Free Church, 6515 S. 3110 East, in Salt Lake City, has no steeple. A large cross on the front of the building provides its identifying characteristic. Church leaders said the lack of a steeple holds no religious connotation; it was simply an architectural preference.
And, the lack of a steeple has little to do with religious activity. Jehovah's Witnesses meeting houses are relatively plain structures that avoid spires, crosses and other overtly religious symbols.
Richard Wolf, an elder in the North Salt Lake congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, said Kingdom Hall meeting houses are simple structures, usually built in just a few days.
"We have beautiful Kingdom Halls, but they are practical and designed for Bible study," he said.
The church doesn't believe in crosses and members feel that by not including steeples, the buildings avoid the "pomp" most displayed by many church structures.
The First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake, 569 S. 1300 East, includes one of the Valley's tallest steeples and the Cathedral of St. Mark, 213 E. 100 South, has perhaps the most traditional bell tower of any church in the area,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commonly uses steeples in its buildings. Its Salt Lake temple has six prominent spires. In recent months, some of the church's Wasatch Front chapels that were built in the mid-1980s when spires built on concrete slabs rather than on top of the buildings was a popular concept, have been undergoing remodeling and at many, steeples are once again moving to the rooftops.
Rev. Hammond said the steeples play more of an identifying role for LDS chapels since the LDS church does not use crosses on its buildings.
The use of spires, steeples and towers on Christian church buildings became a common element around the eighth century. Steeples symbolically pointed to heaven. Early towers in churches were also symbolic that the prayers of church members would ascend to heaven.
Religious architecture is "theology in brick and mortar," according to Rev. James Field, the director of the Office of Worship at the Catholic Archdiocese in Boston. He believes that traditional religious architecture has always had a dominant vertical element pointing to the heavens.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com