Weird and unusual Kingdom Halls

by Junction-Guy 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  Marcos

  Kingdom Hall my parents went to in McKinney, TX used to have an outdoor toilet just before they got there in the middle 60s. One of my friends who had gone there before there was a Spanish language hall available in Dallas told me an interesting story. Seems the City had notified them a few times to get rid of the outhouse and install indoor plumbing. Came the final notice and the overseer gets up at the conclusion of one of the meetings and says, "Brothers, we have to do something about this plumbing problem or the City is gonna catch us with our pants down..." I knew the guy. He definitely said this in all seriousness.

  Any of you read the book or see the movie "Texasville"? Well, this cong was Texasville East . The same bro who told me the first story told about the time he was actually invited to give one of the prayers at a meeting. At this time messikans were allowed to go to the "white" hall. (As a matter of fact, driver's licenses listed Hispanics as white, yaaa hoo!) Anyway, he gets up to give the prayer and sincerely asks the Lord to, "forgive us for our falling-shorts (that is, shortcomings)."

  Most unusual hall I ever saw was in an old bank building in Niagara Falls, NY. It was all marble interior and even had a vault! Nice place.

  Marcos

  Edited for spelling

  Edited by - marcos on 5 January 2003 18:19:25
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  Gopher

  The Golden Valley, Minnesota (USA) Kingdom Hall was designed by a student of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was built between 1957 and 1959. (No weekend "miracles" back then!!)

  It is built up on a hill, and has a split-level entry. Its floors and walls are made entirely of Carolina marble. There's all sorts of funny angles in the building, and hardly any right angles. The place has huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the auditorium and entry-level library. The library once had a fireplace. Up until the late 70's, they had a little baptism pool downstairs. Hundreds of people would try to crowd into the little basement to see their friends and loved ones get dunked during circuit assembly weekends. They "modernized" by carpeting over the stone floor on the auditorium level and selling the beautiful baby grand piano they once had.

  They would never build another hall like this from scratch.
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  Michael3000

  Where I grew up - Interlachen, Florida - we used to rent the town hall for meetings, before we built our own KH. The Town Hall was a basic cinder block rectangular building, with a concrete floor - cold in the winter (even for Florida) & no A/C, so we sweltered in the summer, with just 3 or 4 stand-alone box fans to push the fetid, humid air around. One fan motor had a "hum" to it, & I used to hum along with it - matching the pitch of the motor with my voice. This would give a kind of "stereo" hum effect, & drive people to distraction! One of my favorite KH pastimes was to see how long I could do this without my folks catching me. What a life!

  -- Mike

  Edited by - Michael3000 on 6 January 2003 17:4:18
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  LittleToe

  I've been to one in Scotland which is along a long corridor and up a winding flight of stairs, above a chinese restaurant. It had just a single unisex washroom - ahead of it's time, as far as British KH's go - LOL.
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  Abaddon

  "where they never stood up for the songs, and they took a 10 minute intermission in between the talk and WT study"

  This rings a bell. Wasn't there something like this for a few months/years in the 1970's? It was like the Kingdom Ministry becoming Our Kingdom Service for a while. I just distinctly remmber sitting for songs and a break between meetings, and I was a kid in a London cong.

  As for weird, Marylebone, London, is in a beautiful old wooden roofed church with a (ununsed) gallery. Chelsea, London, is in a former Temperance Hall. Newton Abbot, Devon, is in an old Church, I've been to that one in Cornwall too... Truro, can't remember.
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  iggy_the_fish

  Not really weird or unusual, but Beeston cong in Notts. had old and tatty second hand cinema seats. They gave the place a seedy ambience, a sort of basement fringe art theatre feel. Perhaps the purloinment (sp?) of second hand cinema seats is not uncommon amongst KH furnishers?

  ig.
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  LittleToe

  I remember Beeston, as well as Arnold, Carlton, and a few others.

  I used to live in West Nottinghamshire, many moons ago.

  The Hall in Eastwood used to be a series of bolted together huts, before they had one of the early Quick-builds, in 1985. They were overshadowed by a billboard, advertising cigarettes, too - LOL.
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  No Apologies

  Fargo North Dakota had a very unusual diamond-shaped hall for many years. The back of the auditorium was very narrow, then it widened, then narrowed to a point where the stage was. Then they remodeled into another odd configuration. Then they finally built a new Hall a few years ago, square, but the stage was in a corner, so still slightly odd.

  Edited by - No apologies on 6 January 2003 18:15:13
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  Junction-Guy

  Here is an old topic of mine. Im bringing it to the top if any newcomers want to add anything to it.