Church Architecture

St. Christopher’s-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church // 1892

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In 1891, a proposal was made to build a summer Episcopal chapel, to be known as St. Christopher’s by the Sea, on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor, Maine. This project was supported by local area residents and by the summer community on Grindstone Neck. The construction of the church started in 1892, but it was not until August 6, 1893 that the first service was held in the chapel. The Rev. Julius Atwood, rector of St. James’ Church in Providence, Rhode Island, officiated and preached the first sermon. The church was designed by Lindley Johnson, a Philadelphia-based architect who also summered in a cottage on Grindstone Neck and designed other cottages in the colony. The Shingle style chapel is architecturally unique and rustic, a quality which is also visible at the interior, which is rustic in appearance with exposed beams and shingled walls.

United Church of Christ Southbury // 1844

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Originally, the parishioners living in present-day Southbury would travel to Woodbury Center to attend church services. This changed after the Southbury parish was incorporated in 1731, voting to erect a church a year later. Founded in 1732, the Southbury Congregational Church was dwelled in several sites until the third church was built on the present site in 1844. This Greek Revival style church features Doric pilasters and Ionic columns at the recessed portico with a large pediment above with ornate scroll carvings around the clock. The church remains well-preserved and a visual landmark on the Main street.

Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church // 1875

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Built in 1875, this large Gothic Revival church was built specifically to serve as a place of worship for the French Roman Catholic immigrants from Canada who began moving northern Berkshire County, Massachusetts, who were arriving to work in North Adams’ brickyards and textile factories. Before 1875, the Catholic community in the region had to make due with only occasional visits from a Vermont missionary. In 1871, Father Charles Crevier arrived in North Adams to take charge of the French flock and officially form the parish of Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur, with 750 new parishioners. Funding was acquired to purchase a property in town and erect a suitable church for the large (and growing) congregation. Architect James Murphy, a relatively unknown architect who specialized in ecclesiastical designs, furnished the plans for the church. After loss of industry and a declining population, the church closed in 2005, and the property was sold to the city of North Adams in 2008. The city faced repairing the church building as recently as 2016 with about half of the $100,000 budget coming from the city directly. Its future is unknown, but the town hoped to sell it for a renovation into a hotel or other use to activate the downtown area.

Middlebury Congregational Church // 1935

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Located next door to the Middlebury Town Hall, the Middlebury Congregational Church has a very similar history to its Classically inspired counterpart. The congregational church here was established in 1791, less than a year after a separate Middlebury ecclesiastical society was granted and the first church here was erected in 1794. Decades later, a more traditional and larger church was desired by the congregation, so they had a Greek Revival style church built in 1839. Nearly 100 years later, the church (and adjacent original town hall building) burned in a large fire in April 1935. Undeterred, the congregation hired architect Elbert G. Richmond, AIA (1886-1965), who as a young man worked in the New Haven office of J. Frederick Kelly, Connecticut’s first and most famous restoration architect. The present building is a near-replica of the mid-19th century church building, and even has a bell that was recast from pieces of the old bell that crashed through the building during the earlier fire. Talk about rebirth!

Southport Congregational Church // 1875

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Southport was and still is a part of Fairfield, Connecticut, but it has long been very different from the geographic center of town. Largely due to distance, Fairfield Congregationalists in the Southport area of town sought to establish a new parish to worship closer to home. By the 1840s, their request was granted and a small wood-frame Greek Revival house of worship was built in 1843. By 1871, the increase in population and wealth in the village necessitated a new, larger church. The congregation hired the architectural team of Lambert and Bunnell who made a huge statement here! It is constructed of granite ashlar masonry with a steeply pitched roof and soaring spires.

Trinity Parish Chapel, Southport // 1872

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The Trinity Episcopal Church in the Southport section of Fairfield, Connecticut was established in 1725. As the parish and town grew, a large and architecturally stunning church was erected in 1862, and housed services for some of the wealthiest and well-connected residents of Connecticut. During Rev. Edward Wells’ rectorship, it was decided that a parish school was needed, and as an ardent believer in religious training, he started planning for a new chapel for use as a school. The Trinity Parish Chapel was designed by Southport architects Disbrow & Taylor and erected 1871-72. This Gothic Revival building is an excellent example of the rural church architecture which enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the country during the mid 19th century. Designed on a simple rectangular and decorative wooden bell cote, the small chapel’s board-and-batten siding and modest though strong Gothic details create a composition which compliments the more grand church just steps away. The chapel was originally built as a free-standing building, but was connected by a large, brick addition in the 20th century.

Former West Acton Universalist Church // 1868

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This beautiful church in Acton, Massachusetts was built in 1868 by the Universalists of West Acton who sought a house of worship closer to their homes, rather than taking horses to the other part of town every week. The building exemplifies the influence of both Gothic Revival and Italianate styles on rural churches of the time. Gothic elements include the double pointed lancet windows with quatrefoil ornament, buttresses, and pointed lancet panels on the tower and belfry. Italianate elements include the rusticated base and the corbel table at the eaves. Religious services ceased in 1925. At that time, the church building was bought by leading men in the village who gave the building to the West Acton Women’s Club, which began in 1890 by Lucy Mead (the wife of Oliver Mead, who built the Mansard home nearby). In the 1950’s, the church was used as a community center. It is now home to a local performing arts center, Theatre III Box Office.

Whitingham Community Church // 1862

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This simple, Greek Revival, frame church has a prominent pediment, corner pilasters, and two part steeple. It is built into a steep bank at the side of the road as it curves and descends into Whitingham Village, making it one of the most visible buildings in town. This church was originally built in 1862 by the Methodists who moved their congregation from their old and deteriorated church in the original Whitingham settlement on Town Hill. By the 1870s, the Methodist congregation was in decline. The Baptist congregation started holding meeting at this church regularly in Sadawga Village in 1879 and then purchased it. They made repairs and alterations in 1881. In historic photographs c. 1890- 1920s, the church’s steeple had third and fourth sections consisting of a narrow octagonal section topped by a small bell shaped dome. By the 1940s photographs show these had been removed. The building now serves as the Whitingham Community Church. My friends who tag along with me on visits throughout New England always say that every town has at least one old, white church. They aren’t wrong!

First Baptist Church of Stoneham // 1892

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In 1891, the Baptist Society of Stoneham, Massachusetts unveiled that it had acquired funding and approved the plans for its first purpose-built church building in town. The organization met in a shared chapel in town since its founding in 1870. The new church would be unique in the Boston suburb as the only in town to be of the Queen Anne/Shingle style. A prominent site on South Main Street was acquired and work began in 1892 to erect the new house of worship. The design of the church is credited to the firm of L.B. Volk & Sons, a firm who specialized in church buildings with commissions all over the country. The church is complex in plan and combines brick and shingle siding in its construction with a prominent two-story tower with rounded corners and stained glass rondels (round windows).

First Baptist Church of Blue Hill // 1817

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In 1793, Rev. Daniel Merrill was ordained at the newly-organized Congregational Church in Sedgwick, Maine. Soon after the religious revival of 1799, Rev. Merrill changed his belief from a congregationalist to a Baptist; and in 1805, he and most of his church members were baptized by immersion. Rev. Merrill was
then re-ordained and installed as pastor of a newly-formed Baptist Church in town there. Baptism took hold in Maine (which was then still a part of Massachusetts), and in 1813, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a resolution incorporating the Baptist Society of Bluehill. Funds were gathered and the Baptist Church in Blue Hill began construction in 1817. In 1856, as Blue Hill saw great prosperity, the building was renovated by retired ship carpenter and local builder, Thomas Lord. The updated Greek Revival design has many pilasters and details that highlight the wealth and success of the Baptists in Maine.