Among the dozen or more Sunday school buildings on the Akron plan one of
the most convenient and most complete, yet not one of the most
expensive, is that connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church in
Plainfield, N. J. As this was for twenty years the church home of the
Rev. Bishop John H. Vincent, the Sunday school bears the appropriate
name of "Vincent Chapel." The plans were drawn by Mr. Oscar S. Teale,
architect. Mr. Teale was at that time the efficient secretary of the
school, and added to an architect's knowledge a worker's practical
acquaintance with the needs of the Sunday school. The chapel, as may be
seen by the diagrams, embraces a large room, with eighteen smaller
class rooms around it, nine upon each floor. The partitions of the class
rooms are so arranged as to offer no obstruction to the line of vision
from any seat in the building to the superintendent's desk and the
blackboard fastened to the wall back of it. Thus the superintendent can
see and be seen by every pupil and teacher in the building. He can also
be heard with perfect ease in every class room, as the acoustic
properties of the building are excellent.
The main room is used by the Junior Department, in which the scholars
are from eleven to sixteen years of age. The classes are seated
according to grade, the "first year Juniors" on the front row of
classes; the "second year Juniors" on the second row, etc., for four
rows, the boys on the superintendent's right, the girls on his left.
Each year, on "Promotion Sunday," the classes move one row farther from
the desk, and the new classes formed from the Intermediate Department
take the front row of seats.
The nine class rooms on the ground floor are used as follows: In the
left-hand corner, just where the most of the scholars pass in entering
and leaving, is the secretary's room. Next is the "fifth year Junior,"
into which all the girls enter after four years in the Junior Grade,
leaving their former teachers for a new one. In this class they stay
either one or two years, according to age and acquirements, and from it
are promoted to the Senior Department. The third room is that of the
"Ladies' Bible Class;" the fourth, the "Reserve Class." Next comes the
church parlor, seating a hundred people, and used by a large Senior
Class. The next room is for the "first year Intermediate," that is,
those just advanced from the Primary Department; the seventh, the
"second year Intermediate;" the eighth, a "young men's Senior Class;"
the ninth, and last, the boys' section of the "fifth year Junior," the
largest class of boys in the Junior Department.
On the ground floor are four entrances, one at each corner. As the
chapel stands at the rear of the church it was necessary to have the
principal entrance on each side of the room facing the school. This is a
slight drawback, as a rear entrance would be preferable, in order not to
distract attention to the late comers.
The partitions between the class rooms are windows of ground glass of
amber color. They are movable, so that classes can be united whenever
desirable. Those between class rooms and the main room are double doors
of ground glass, so hung that they may be swung aside easily, and
arranged when open not to interfere with the line of vision. All the
rooms are well lighted and well ventilated; and the main room, when all
the rooms are closed, has abundant light and air from a clear story
above, with movable windows.
To the gallery and its classes there are three entrances. The one from
without the building leads exclusively to the Primary Class, which, by
having its own exit, can adjourn earlier than the rest of the school.
The two other stairs are interior and lead to the gallery corridor, on
which all the class rooms of the upper floor open. These are separated
from each other and from the main room by sliding doors of amber glass,
so that they may be united or isolated at will, and in a moment. The
seats in these classes rise in tiers so that those in the rear as well
as in the front can see the platform and the blackboard. There are nine
class rooms, of which the central one is for the Primary Department, and
all the others are for the Senior classes. All the Senior classes are
large, and are kept full by promotion every year from the Junior Grade.
[Illustration: GALLERY PLAN