Victorian Gothic

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church // 1891

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Tucked away off Broad Street in the Danielson village of Killingly, Connecticut, you will find this charming and eclectic church building, long-occupied by the St. Alban´s Episcopal Church. Episcopalians began congregating in the town in the 1860s, and it would be in 1865, when an old academy building on this site was acquired and converted for use as an Episcopal church. By 1891, the relative prosperity of members of the church made it so a new church building was to be built on the site. Worcester-based architect Stephen C. Earle was hired to furnish plans for the new edifice which is eclectic with Victorian Gothic and Shingle style elements. The congregation appears to have either disbanded or merged with a nearby church as the building does not appear to be occupied. 

St. James Catholic Church, Danielson // 1870

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The St. James Catholic Church in Danielson, Connecticut, is an imposing and architecturally ornate example of a church built in the Victorian Gothic style. Catholics in town had their first Mass conducted by Rev. Michael McCabe, a Franciscan friar from Ireland, and the first service was held in a private home. They met in different halls until 1864 when they purchased the old Second Advent Chapel on Winter street and it became the first St. James Church. The congregation, largely of working-class Irish immigrants, eventually was able to afford a new church, this large brick structure, built in the form of a cross. A parish hall and school were also built next door and the campus serves as an important piece of the town´s immigrant and working-class history. 

Killingly Town Hall // 1876

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The economic center of the town of Killingly, Connecticut is the village of Danielson, which is located at the confluence of the Quinebaug and Five Mile rivers. The area developed as an industrial village and prospered as the town’s center through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The present-day town hall building was originally constructed in 1876, not as a civic building, but as a multi-purpose music hall and G.A.R. Hall. The Victorian/Ruskinian Gothic style building was constructed of brick with stone trim. The building was later acquired by the town in 1906 and has served as the town offices ever since. Besides the unfortunate replacement windows, the building is well-preserved by the town.

Streeter Cottage // 1882

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In 1881, Gilbert Streeter and his wife Rebecca purchased a small house lot in the Salem Willows for a summer cottage for them to retreat across town to during the warmer months. Gilbert Streeter was an amateur historian, businessman, publisher of the Salem Observer and was able to afford a second residence in his hometown. The Streeter cottage was built by 1882 and stands out not only for its excellent state of preservation, but for its unique architecture. The cross-gabled form cottage is covered in board-and-batten siding with bargeboards lining the eaves.

William Bates Summer Cottage // 1885

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While Salem is best-known for its First Period and Federal style buildings, the Salem Willows neighborhood features some of the finest Victorian summer cottages in the Boston area. This cottage was built in 1885 by William Marston Bates (1820-1912), a Salem-based dentist, as his summer retreat when not in the office. The Stick style cottage has a steep gable roof with jerkinhead clip at the facade and a wrap-around porch with decorative jigsawn bracketed details. The house is a well-preserved example of the style, examples of which are becoming less-and-less frequent in recent years.

Riverside Methodist Church, Porter // 1883

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The focal point of the riverside village of Kezar Falls in Porter, Maine, is this large frame church building with prominent siting and grand proportions. This is the Riverside Methodist Church, built in 1883 in the Stick/Eastlake style by Portland architect Charles H. Kimball. The first Methodist services held in the town of Porter were in 1833, when a church was formed in the small town. Soon after 1839, a gable-roofed meetinghouse with tall lancet windows was erected near where the present church stands. The original church still stands, but in a much-altered form and was used as a local fire station. The church remains owned by local Methodists and is well-preserved.

Highgate Springs Union Church // 1877

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Rural parts of Vermont always surprises me with amazing old buildings. This white wood-frame church is known as the Highgate Springs Union Church, an 1877 edifice which effortlessly blends Victorian Gothic and Stick style details. The building became the village’s union church, providing a worship space for members of all denominations who on their own, could not afford the cost of building and maintaining a building. The small congregations eventually moved out and the church appears to now be largely unused beyond small events or weddings/funerals. I am glad to see it is kept up well at least!

Haven Avenue Cottages // c.1877

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When Andrews Point in northern Rockport, Massachusetts, was opened for development by speculators Eben B. Phillips and George Babson, they envisioned the colony, “Ocean View” as a rival to other nearby summer colonies of Beverly Farms, Gloucester, and Magnolia. Roads were laid out and house lots were plotted with larger lots for big summer cottages along the coast and smaller cottage lots at the interior of the development. The rocky coast and more limited access compared to its rivals, caused Ocean View to lack in sales, but there are still some great remaining cottages to be found here. These two early cottages are great surviving examples of the modest, middle-class homes for summer residents. These two charming Victorian cottages sit side-by-side and were owned by an L. Brigham and Benjamin Lewis and both are in a great state of preservation 150 years later.

Eben Phillips Cottage // c.1877

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In the mid-1800s, Rockport, Massachusetts was best-known as one of the main ports for the quarrying and shipping of fine granite up and down the east coast of the United States. While the rocky coastline made granite a prime industry, the natural scenery also made the coastal areas desirable for residential development. While many of the coastal developments here never took-off as they did in nearby Gloucester, Magnolia, and Beverly, there are some notable summer colonies that sprouted up! In 1855, Eben B. Phillips an oil dealer in Boston, purchased undeveloped wooded lots and pastures, and slowly began to lay out roads and survey for developable lots for summer cottages on a peninsula near Pigeon Cove. The development was named “Oceanview” and it was marketed as the extreme point of Cape Ann. Development was very slow to materialize, and started in earnest in the 1870s. Eben Phillips built this summer cottage before 1877 (possibly as early as 1850), where he would spend summers until his death in 1879. The cottage retains much of its original character and is a rare survivor of the rustic style cottages which were built before the phase of larger Shingle and Queen Anne residences were built in later decades.

Channing Memorial Church // 1880

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The Channing Memorial Church of Newport, Rhode Island was named in the memory of William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), an ardent abolitionist and founder of the Unitarian faith in America. In 1835, ten men formed the first Unitarian Society in Newport in October 1835 and met in the home of Channing’s grandfather, William Ellery, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. In 1879, the congregation’s minister, Rev. M. K. Schermerhorn, conceived the idea of a memorial to William Emery Channing, whose centenary would be the following year. He decided upon the ambitious project of a new church building and planning began immediately. On Rev. Channing’s 100th birthday, the cornerstone laying ceremony occurred in 1880. The Victorian Gothic stone church designed by Elbridge Boyden took a year to be completed and was was built from granite, cut in Lyme, Connecticut. Inside, two stained glass windows, the first ecclesiastical commission of John LaFarge, flood the interior spaces with warm colored light. The church looks much as it did when completed almost 150 years ago, thanks to an active congregation preserving this great landmark.