Gothic Revival

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church // 1833

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The St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Salem, is a landmark example of a granite, Gothic Revival church of the 19th century. The present church, which is constructed of Cape Ann granite, was the second church on the site built for local Episcopalians, replacing a wood-frame building constructed there 100 years prior. Designed by architect Isaiah Rogers, the Gothic church features a prominent entry tower with a quatrefoil window in each elevation, large lancet-arched windows in the tower and lining the sanctuary, and a crenelated parapet. When completed, St. Peter’s had Salem’s first church bell, an 1740 English bell that supposedly still graces the tower today and is said to be the oldest church bell in the United States! In 1871, the rear chapel was added to the building, from plans by George E. Harney. The chapel was built directly over the old parish cemetery, requiring some of the tombstones to be placed inside the chapel walls, while others were moved to the front of the church, creating a really unique “garden cemetery” in front of the church.

George Clark Cottage // 1847

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In 1847, George Clark (1815-1890), a Salem carpenter, purchased a house lot on Oliver Street, a block away from the Salem Common. That year he began constructing this cottage for his family. The Clark Family resided here for just a year until 1849, when George got caught up in the California Gold Rush, selling the property and moving west to make his fortune. Since Mr. Clark was back in Salem by 1850 (according to the federal census), he was likely one of the thousands of forty-niners who did not strike it rich. The Greek Revival style house is unique for its more Gothic style gable, brackets, and segmental arched windows.

Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Chicopee // 1857

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With crop failure a common occurrence in 1830s Ireland, immigration from Irish to New England surged with workers and families looking for a better life. Labor opportunities were abundant in the newly established mill town of Chicopee, with the Irish flocking here to dig canals, build dams and mills and later work in those same buildings. Their wives and daughters would work as cooks and maids, but later as operatives in those same mills. As many Irish were Catholic, it became apparent that a Catholic congregation should be established, St. Matthew’s was first organized in Chicopee in 1838. An earlier wood-frame church was built and used for a number of years until a large site on South Street was purchased by the Diocese for a new campus. Irish-born ecclesiastical architect Patrick Keely designed the church building which was constructed between 1857-1859 in the Gothic Revival style. The church was dedicated the “Holy Name of Jesus” church and exhibited sandstone-topped buttresses, rows of pointed dormers running down the clerestory on the sides, and a prominent central steeple. In 1910, the present copper spire replaced the original steeple which was damaged and burned in a lightning strike. The complex grew throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with a rectory, schools, convent and monastery built on the site. Sadly, due to dwindling membership and fiscal considerations, many of these buildings were demolished in the past decades. The church appears now to be closed and is still owned by the Archdiocese of Springfield. I hope something can be done to preserve this landmark structure and the remaining buildings on the site.

Lavalette Perrin House // c.1844

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The perfect whimsical blending of the Classical Greek Revival and the intricate details of the Carpenter Gothic styles can be found under one roof in Goshen, Connecticut; this is the Lavalette Perrin House. Built c.1844 for Lavalette Perrin (1816-1889), who graduated from Yale in 1840, and became licensed to preach in 1843. Reverend Perrin was in his late 20s when he accepted the call to become the pastor of Goshen’s Congregational Church in 1843. Upon arriving to town, he had this residence built soon after, blending two differing styles in a blissful composition. Perrin remained in Goshen until he was called to New Britain in 1858, where he remained until his death. Unique architectural features of the home include the flushboard siding, pilaster-and-lintel framed doors and windows (very rare in this form), and wave-like bargeboards. What a special home!

Gen. Davis Tillson House //1853

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The General Davis Tillson House was built in 1853 and is one of the best examples of a high-style Gothic Revival residence in the Mid-Coast region of Maine. Located on Talbot Avenue in Rockland, Maine, the house was first owned by General Davis Tillson (1830-1895), a prominent local businessman who owned lime manufacturing facilities and the town’s main wharf before enlisting for service in the American Civil War. Tillson had attended the United States Military Academy at West Point (1845-1851) but did not graduate due to an injury which forced the amputation of one of his legs. During the Civil War, Davis Tillson fought with distinction at the Battles of Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run. Promoted up to Lieutenant Colonel, then Brigadier General, US Volunteers on March 21, 1863, he later served as Chief of Artillery, and commanded defensive fortifications in the siege of Knoxville before the conclusion of the war. Afterwhich, General Tillson was selected to serve as Director of Freedmen’s Bureau in Georgia and Tennessee. The Bureau was established in 1865 by Congress to help millions of former Black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. It also attempted to settle former slaves on land confiscated or abandoned during the war. After two years in Tennessee, Tillson would return to Rockland to his home and spend the rest of his life in Maine from this home. The General Tillson House is notable for the use of brick and the steeply pitched gable roof with jigsawn bargeboards.

Ashby Congregational Church // 1835

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Combining Greek and Gothic revival styles, the 1835 Ashby Congregational Church in Ashby, Massachusetts, is a significant building showcasing the transitional tastes of ecclesiastical architecture in 1830s New England. The church had its beginnings in 1818, when a group of church members disillusioned to the current teachings separated from the town’s Unitarian roots and the accompanying meeting house, the First Parish Church. In 1820 a church for the Congregationalists was built on the opposite end of the town common. In 1835 it was sold and this, the current church building was constructed on a new site facing the Common. The original 1820 church building became the Ashby Academy and is now a Grange Hall. The design of the Ashby Congregational Church shows the leaning towards Gothic detailing wit its prominent pointed arch detailing, yet retains some traditional Greek Revival features like the two-story pediment and pilasters at the belfry.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline // 1852

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The St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Brookline, Massachusetts is an architecturally and historically significant landmark to the area. The congregation was established in 1849, and within months, in May 1850, the corporation, which was made up of wealthy Boston-area residents, accepted an offer from Augustus Aspinwall of a building lot to erect a church. Esteemed ecclesiastical architect, Richard Upjohn, the architect of Trinity Church in New York, was hired to design the church in Brookline of the same, Gothic style. The wealth of the congregation was evident by the consistent expansions of the complex, to include a chapel, rectory, parish house, and other expansions to those buildings. St. Paul’s Church is the oldest religious structure in Brookline, and almost was lost when the sanctuary was devastated by fire in 1976, leaving only its exterior walls and two stained glass windows. The congregation rebuilt the interiors and the building remains well-preserved at its exterior, built of Roxbury Puddingstone.

Katsbaan Reformed Church // 1732

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The first church on this site in Katsbaan, Saugerties, New York, was a 1732 simple stone church built by Dutch and German settlers. Church services were first held in the German language,  and gradually came to be also held in Dutch and English, as the village and surrounding area developed. The original church was rebuilt in 1816 using the same stone base, but the entrance was shifted away from the street. Larger windows and the steeple were added at this time. In 1867, the steeple was heightened and the windows were enlarged with Gothic points, giving the building its present appearance. The Katsbaan Reformed Church remains an architectural and historical landmark noting the early history of Ulster County and its growth.

St. Mary’s of the Snow Catholic Church // 1833

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In 1830 Rev. Philip O’Reilly was sent by Bishop John Dubois to establish missions and build churches along the Hudson River wherever there were sufficient resident Catholics. O’Reilly visited the village of Saugerties, in Ulster County in 1832 and began holding services in private homes. The area was home to many Irish residents working in industry, a large number of which were Catholics, and as a result, the village here became the location of the first Catholic church in the county. Father O’Reilly founded St. Mary’s in 1833 creating the first parish of the Hudson, spanning New York City to Albany, with the cornerstone of the new church laid that same year; though, the church would be dedicated a decade later. The church cemetery grew from the first graves around the church in 1833 to fill much of the church property now occupied setting the Gothic edifice in a sea of gravestones. The church grew and eventually the steeple was added in the 1860s. It is also said that the church basement was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The church (like many in the United States) has struggled to maintain its large campus, which originally contained the church, a school, and convent, but the church remains in good condition, shining like a beacon on a hill on the Hudson.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Highgate // 1831

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St. John’s Episcopal Church stands in a grove of pine trees at the southeastern end of the Highgate Falls village green in Highgate, Vermont. The church is built in a transitional style which combines the pointed arches of Gothic architecture with a unique Gothic-Palladian window, but with a traditional plan and massing commonly found in Federal style churches in New England. The church was built between 1831-1833 by Joel Whitney of nearby Enosburg, and was consecrated on May 21, 1834, by Rev. John Henry Hopkins, the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. The congregation was a full parish until 1896 and maintenance has since struggled due to dwindling use. The wooden steeple was removed in the late 20th century, but the church stands as an important architectural landmark for the small town.

Derby Cottage // c.1848

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Located off Touro Park in Newport, you may be surprised to find an early Gothic Revival style cottage obscured from view by the towering stone Channing Memorial Church. Newport has so many hidden treasures! Very little is written about this cottage, but it appears to have been built c.1848 for Richard Crowninshield Derby (1777-1854) of the famous Derby Family of Salem, Massachusetts. Richard Derby would move to Philadelphia and split his time between there, Boston, and his newly built summer cottage in Newport, Rhode Island. He did not get to fully appreciate the home as he died in 1854. The Gothic Revival cottage was inherited by his widow, Louisa S. Bomford Derby until her death and later by the couple’s two children (from both of their first marriages), Richard Catton Derby and Louisa Lincoln Lear Eyre, the mother of famed architect Wilson Eyre. The property was eventually sold by the half-siblings and the site became home to the 1880 Channing Memorial Church, which now dominates the site. Luckily for us, the cottage was spared and moved to the extreme rear of the lot and converted to the parish hall for the church.

Head Tide Church // 1838

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In the early 19th century, Head Tide was a bustling village within the Town of Alna, Maine, supported by mills at the dam, agriculture and apple orchards, boat building, fishing and forestry. As Head Tide grew in population, village leaders determined to build their own Congregational church so they would not have to travel the three miles to the 1789 Meeting House in Alna Center. The Head Tide Church in Alna, Maine was dedicated in November 1838 and sits on a hill overlooking the village. The Head Tide Church is a handsome rural Maine house of worship which exhibits a combination of Federal style, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival elements in its design. The facade displays the outline of a Grecian temple front with its six pilasters and strongly accented triangular pediment. The Federal fan motif appears above the two facade windows as well as in the center of the pediment and the Gothic Revival influence is felt in the two pointed arch windows on either side of the church and in the simple pinnacle at the top of each corner of the belfry. The church is a high-style building for the rural Maine village and is kept very well by the community. The congregation disbanded, but the church remains an important part of the town and is rented for memorial services, events, weddings.

Weare Town House // 1837

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Weare, New Hampshire has a pretty cool history. Located at the northern edge of Hillsborough County, the land presently known as Weare was granted to veterans of the Canadian wars in 1735 by Governor Jonathan Belcher, who named it “Beverly-Canada” after many of the veteran’s hometown, Beverly, Massachusetts. After various disputes over the settlement and naming of the town, it became known as “Weare’s Town” before being incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1764 as Weare, after Meshech Weare, who served as the town’s first clerk and later went on to become New Hampshire’s first Governor. The town grew slowly during the 18th and 19th centuries around five major villages, with farmland and forests connecting them. Near the geographic center of town, this Town House was built in 1837 to be a government and religious center of the town. Originally, town meetings were held on the first floor and the Universalist Church met on the second floor and the local high school was installed on the second floor in 1919. The building remains the town offices with event space for rent inside today. The building is a great example of a vernacular Greek/Gothic Revival town house of the period with a two-stage tower with pinnacles at the corners of each stage and a louvered belfry at the bell.

Yale University – Alumni Hall // 1851-1911

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Alumni Hall at Yale was designed and built between 1851-1853, at the northwest corner of Yale’s Old Campus. Its was designed by Gothic specialist architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who completed Dwight Hall (the Old Library) a some years prior. The building had a large, open floorplan on the first floor for large gatherings as well as the entrance examinations, along with the biennial examinations that every student had to take at the end of his sophomore and senior years. As the building turned 50 years old, the campus around it was already looking very different. Shifting priorities for dormitory space in the yard necessitated its demolition for Wright Hall (next post). Alumni Hall was razed in 1911, but its two crenelated towers were salvaged when the building was demolished. They were incorporated into Weir Hall which has been incorporated into Jonathan Edwards College, one of Yale’s residential colleges.

Yale University – Dwight Hall // 1842

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One of the most architecturally significant college buildings in the United States, Dwight Hall was designed to house the growing book collection of Yale College as its library. The former Yale College Library, now Dwight Hall, represents a significant shift in Yale’s campus architecture from Georgian and Federal brick buildings to the Gothic mode which the campus is largely known for today. Dwight Hall was designed by local architect Henry Austin with the guidance of esteemed architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, both experts in early high-style Gothic buildings in America. The design, to me, resembles the 1443 King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England. The structure is constructed of brownstone from Portland, Connecticut, and it is composed of a central block with two smaller flanking wings on either side connected by smaller linking spaces. At the yard facade, two octagonal towers with domed copper roofs rise, flanking a large, pointed lancet arch window that extends above the doorway. The library was outgrown fairly quickly, necessitating an annex next door and eventually collections were transferred to Sterling Memorial Library in 1930, the Old Library was converted to a chapel and community service building and is known as Dwight Hall.