conglomerate - building has been part of many a religious group ’s strategy throughout chronicle . But no one does it expert than Scientology . The documentaryGoing Clear : Scientology and the Prison of Belief , which debuted on HBO last nighttime , offers the first in - depth sight of Scientology ’s practices , including its on-going quest to produce high - profile genuine estate .
Since it was founded in 1955 , Scientology has purchased hundreds , possibly thousands of buildings . Just how many is tough to fact - check due to the church ’s many tenuously connect affiliates , but representatives didconfirm to theHollywood Reporterthat the church service buy 62 belongings globally just in a five - yr time period between 2006 and 2011 . The Christian church owns several rural compounds which are more befitting of a cult , likeGold Base , the 520 - acre former hangout in the desert east of LA which has been turned into a training facility . But many of Scientology’smost prominent holdingsare found on busy corridors in the center of metropolis worldwide .
While these urban enclaves in place with high universe density avail the church building increase its visibility — the outsized gimcrack signage help , too — it turns out there is also an architectural agenda behind these purchases . Representatives of the Christian church have gloss that it is indeed part of the church ’s scheme tobuy and rehabilitate aging historic buildings , which in turn helps them to be see to it as worthful community partners . Of of course , this plandoesn’t always pan out .
So you may be a more informed interview extremity at your local Going Clear viewing party , here are some of Scientology ’s most audacious real demesne plus . All pic ( and theircorresponding embellishments ) good manners of the Church of Scientology . Except for the top epitome , which is from the film .
The church owns at least two dozen historical prop in the LA field , including four of the largest buildings on Hollywood Boulevard . Some , like the former Hollywood Savings and Loan construction seen here are blazing in their evangelical intentions , others like thePsychiatry : An Industry of Death Museumaren’t as obvious . But it ’s not all gorgeous Beaux Arts towers : The church also owns pot of crumbling stucco apartment which the it to domiciliate its Modern recruits and shuttle them in unlabelled omnibus to the towers for work . Director Paul Haggis , whose very public break from the church service is featured in the photographic film , says he live with four other people in one of these apartments when he first moved to LA .
Perhaps the most famous Scientology address is this 1927 replica of a French - Normandy castle at the base of the Hollywood Hills . Originally named the Château Élysée , the hotel was build for actors who need long - condition accommodation while shooting films nearby and hosted most of the major stars of the epoch . Now it ’s an event center and put up housing for Scientology ’s many diligence acolyte . For the adventurous : Anyone can have brunch in the building’sRenaissance Restaurant .
Just Hollywood - contiguous is the church ’s LA - based headquarters , housed in the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital ( the building is acknowledge as “ Scientology Hospital ” to local ) . In 2010 the church restored the building , pave an contiguous street with cobblestone and named it L. Ron Hubbard Way , and painted the complex in a lustrous Scientology blue . If you get the gargantuan signaling on the roof at just the correct slant ( the range at the top of the chronicle ) , it lines up utterly with the Hollywood Sign . Coincidence ? ? ?
Scientology ’s purchase of watershed buildings around the domain began in earnest in the 1960s . In fact , it was in 1968 when the church reanimate the original Transamerica Building in San Francisco , a notable 1909 social organization with its touch flatiron shape . As in many city , this Scientology sum is situated in a high - traffic walker sphere which is also a popular tourer destination .
In 1955 , L. Ron Hubbard himself negotiated the purchase of the first US outpost of the church , just a few engine block from the White House . This was another bright real estate move which helped to put the group as a logical religion : The building Scientology buy is located on “ Church Row , ” alongside the headquarters of many other spiritual denominations .
Although Hollywood might be the spiritual tenderness of Scientology , the official global headquarters consumes the downtown of the Florida city of Clearwater ( yes , Clearwater ) . The largest church building complex on the major planet serves as a pilgrimage site and religious hideaway , staffed by over 1000 followers . The 1920s hotel had fallen into disrepair when it was purchased by the church in the seventies , and in 2009 , it opened as one of the first freshen up buildings completed in the downtown .
open up in 2013 , Scientology ’s world headquarters is one of its few major construction which was constructed from the ground up ( yep , it just expect historical ) , although it has taken over 20 years to dispatch the building due to construction and allow delays . Also bid the Super Power Building , it is the largest building in Clearwater , consume a full metropolis block , and includes amenities like an anti - gravity simulator and something call a pain post . Ouch .
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