Church Architecture

Trinity Parish Chapel, Southport // 1872

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New England1 Comment

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.

St. Francis de Sales Church, Elka Park // 1912

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Down the street from the Old Platte Clove Post Office in Elka Park, New York, I stumbled across this large, shingled church with few houses nearby. I had to investigate! In 1888 parish lines for the Catholic church were redrawn in the area necessitating a new church near the summer colony of Elka Park. By 1891, a small, shed-like church was built here. By 1911, the small house of worship had outgrown its usefulness and it was considered a blight compared to the high-style homes nearby. A local summer resident, Francis H. Lewis funded $5,000 of the $6,500 cost of the building, and local carpenter Arthur Showers, was commissioned to erect the building. Father Keefe had conveyed to the builder some remembrances he had of a small church in France, and wished for it to be designed that way. Using local building traditions, the church was constructed of local lumber with shingled siding. The building and adjacent cemetery remain active to this day.

Rockbound Chapel // 1900

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Wrapping up our “tour” of Brooklin, Maine, I wanted to conclude with a feature on Rockbound Chapel, one of the village churches in the small coastal town. The chapel (like the Beth Eden Chapel) was constructed at the turn of the 20th century as a village church which saw increased use when the town’s population surged (relatively) in the summer months. The vernacular church building has pedimented lintels over the windows and door, and a steeple covered in decorative shingles which flare toward the base. There is something just so enchanting about these small rural chapels!

Beth Eden Chapel // 1900

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Almost at the southern, most remote tip of the Blue Hill Peninsula in Brooklin, Maine, I was stunned to come across this enchanting chapel. Completed in 1900, the Beth Eden Chapel is a small wooden frame building that appears to have been the first religious facility erected in the Naskeag area of Brooklin. Although it was erected by the Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklin, the building was dedicated to the use of all Christian sects who wished to worship in the more remote section of town. Interestingly, the vernacular church employs some late 19th-century detail including the shingled flared siding and triangular motif. The chapel appears to remain open for summer months.

Sargentville Chapel // 1889

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The Sargentville Chapel in Sedgwick, Maine was built in 1889 to provide a more convenient site for services, meetings and other community activities for residents of the Sargentville Village in town, a distance from Sedgwick’s main village. A building committee was established with the goal to erect a new chapel, and A.J. Long, a lumber manufacturer and builder submitted the lowest bid of $1,100 to “put up the building, finish the outside, and put on one coat of paint”. The offer was accepted and the first meeting in the chapel took place in January. 1890. The small chapel has been an active community space for members of the Sargentville section of Sedgwick since the late 19th century and the group continues to maintain the Victorian Gothic building extremely well to this day.

South Duxbury Church and Hall // 1855

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This is the first church ever built in Duxbury, Vermont. On December 18, 1854, at the South Duxbury schoolhouse, representatives from six denominations in the newly formed town, gathered to form the First Union Society of Duxbury. The participants were: the Congregationalists, Universalists, Free Will Baptists, Protestant Methodists, Episcopalian Methodists, and the Adventists. Twenty-five names appear on the original subscription list, indicating the pledged money or materials that each would contribute to the construction of the church. Samuel Cook Turner was contracted to build the church, with pews inside purchased by individual families to help fund the construction. The building is vernacular and modest due to the rural character of the congregations and town’s location, but it has a more Classically inspired door enframement. In 1890, funds were gathered for a church hall, which sits nextdoor. The meeting hall would serve as the meeting space for a temperance organization known as the “Independent Order of the Good Templar”. The church hall appears to have some deferred maintenance, but both buildings together share an early history of a rural and often overlooked small Vermont town.