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I've noticed that most Kingdom Halls--the meeting place for Jehovah's Witnesses--have no windows in the building. What is the reason for this? Is there a Biblical basis for it or does it come from a specific church teaching? If so, I would be interested in a citation of the official church position on this.

An example pic

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2 Answers

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It is not always the case with all Kingdom Halls. In fact there are many with windows. About as many as reasons for having no windows. A few common answers are found below:

  1. For security reasons. Normally they do not have a parish residence nearby to keep a watch on their belongings. This is a bigger problem in larger cities.

  2. Cost benefits. Windows are more expensive and time consuming to install. Plus they are not very well insulated raising heating and cooling costs.

  3. Volunteer labor. Kingdom Halls are built by volunteer Jehovah's Witnesses within a 3 day time-span: Friday thru Sunday. As mentioned above, windows are time consuming to install, and with a 3 day limit....

So, many people would answer "To save money", which is kind of a reason behind all the answers.

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Not that I don't believe you, but do you have any references for your answers? – Flimzy Jul 25 '12 at 0:13
Wikipedia talks a little about it in the beginning of the Construction Section. Other places were just answers to this question, such as here, here, and here. One that's actually on a JW site is a little bit silly. – Byzantine Jul 25 '12 at 1:10
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+1. Correct. Most Kingdom Halls around here (Ireland) have plenty of windows. In places where they don't, security is usually the main concern. Most meetings are in the evening anyway, so it really makes little difference. It's purely a practical decision. – TRiG Jul 26 '12 at 14:32
This may be true, but it sounds very odd. Why not just bars on the window like most buildings concerned about security? – Narnian Jul 26 '12 at 18:31
As I said @Narnian, not all Kingdom Halls do it; mostly in the states. And putting bars in front of a window, is more expensive than no window at all, which is negative for JW's who like to keep costs down. – Byzantine Jul 26 '12 at 19:13
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I've been in many many Kingdom Halls in my time. Many in Ireland, a fair few in the UK, and some in France, one in Switzerland, one in Athens. Also a few in the USA, though I was 12 at the time and can't recall that holiday clearly. To the best of my recollection, every single one of them had windows.

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