Southampton Friends Meeting House, 710 Gravel Hill Road, Southampton, Bucks County, PA

Significance: Built between 1969 and 1970, Southampton is among the most recently constructed Friends' meeting houses in the Delaware Valley. Its ultra-modern design reflects a break in tradition with regard to both exterior appearance and interior plan. Changes in Quaker thought and practice that occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were manifested in the design of meeting houses such as this one. By so doing, many of the once-essential elements of meeting houses were excluded from modern designs. The "facing benches," where the ministers, elders, and overseers presided over the meeting for worship, were eliminated along with its occupants' strict oversight. And the benches that once faced them are in-the-round, further disregarding any hierarchy among members. The focus formerly provided by the facing benches is substituted with a picture window that looks out onto the woods. Southampton also is missing the partition that traditionally divided meeting houses into separate apartments for men's and women's business meetings. Like many twentieth-century meeting houses, Southampton provides space for the larger functions of the meeting; the meeting room is designed to be used as a multi-purpose facility, and there is a kitchen, library, and restrooms. Southampton was designed by a professional architect, Bert Klett, and was erected by a contractor, E. Allen Reeves. Although guided by these professionals, the meeting members took an active role in the design and execution of the meeting house as is indicative of Quaker practice.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N828
Survey number: HABS PA-6656
Building/structure dates: 1969- 1970 Initial Construction