3. Bible House Description

The building frontage at 610 Arch Street was 13 meters wide, and the depth of the building was 18 meters. In the 1920s the frontage was completely redesigned, and then the original building was swept away in redevelopment in the early 1960s.

The original building was a double store building, with a basement and then three floors above the stores. The basement was used for general shipping purposes, and then the first floor (what Brits would call the ground floor) was the two stores. The one on the left of the picture was used for folding and mailing Towers, books, Bibles, and mottoes etc. The store on the right was the show room. Here Bibles and other supplies were displayed in cases so that the public could come in off the street and purchase. Also in this store on the right, visitors to the Bible House were received. CTR's secretary usually occupied a desk near the window in the front of this store, while CTR had a private office back at about the middle of the store, where he would come each afternoon to sign letters, etc. However, his main office or study was up on the fourth floor, off the living room.

Some of the second floor (as America would count it, in the UK it would be the first floor after the ground floor) was not used for Bible Student purposes directly and was rented out for revenue. However, it seems that Watch Tower offices like the Colporteur Department were on this floor. Below is a picture of part of the second floor from both outside and inside the building to establish this.

However, a check of trade directories of the day shows that various other businesses, including insurance and music teaching were also carried on from the Arch Street address on the second floor. With over 2500 square feet per floor it would be large enough to accommodate both. A comprehensive list of these businesses, some of which CTR had an interest in, can be found in Bernhard’s book.

Continuing upward, the third floor was the Chapel. It was a large room that could hold between three and four hundred people. There was a large motto at the back of the pulpit reading “One is Your Master Even Christ.” All the other panels on the walls contained painted mottos in color. However, most photographs of CTR preaching in “the chapel” are actually later ones taken at the Brooklyn Tabernacle where they moved in early 1909, but this was closely modelled on the Bible House.

The fourth and top floor had a number of rooms. Coming off the stairs you would enter the living room where the Bible House Family had their daily morning worship as well as other gatherings. Off the living room was the dining room with a long table to accommodate the family and visitors. Also on this top floor was CTR’s private study and the living quarters for those who were resident. When an inventory was taken of the Bible House contents it included ten beds.

Some floors were connected through speaking tubes.

An overall plan made some years ago, showed the various rooms with photographs of the different Bible House departments in operation.

You can see an uptodate version of this information along with detailed reproductions of the photographs in Bernhard’s book

It should be noted that the main source for most of the above information is Dr Leslie Jones, writing in 1929.

He also noted in his 1929 visit that the frontage had been completed redesigned. This is how the building looked in 1937.