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Modern Snapshot: Charles Goodman’s Bethesda United Church of Christ
Charles Goodman designed the Bethesda United Church of Christ at the corner of Fernwood Road and Democracy Boulevard in 1957. The sanctuary is an octagonal room with a soaring wood-beamed ceiling. The church, on its web site, says clear windows were used in the sanctuary rather than stained glass “to make sure that we could see the world around us, and that the world could see us as well.” A very modern idea, which fit well with Charles Goodman’s design philosophy and use of vast expanses of glass. Goodman also designed two other churches in the area. In 1951, he designed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints in D.C, and in 1963, the Unitarian Church of Arlington (now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington.)