Greek revival architecture

Second Baptist Church, Suffield // 1840

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Early Baptists in the area of present-day Suffield, Connecticut, organized in the western part of town, and built a church there in 1769, far from the town center, which began to rapidly develop in the early 19th century. By the turn of the 19th century, residents not wanting to travel all the way to West Suffield to attend services, petitioned to create a Second Baptist Church congregation. By 1840, the members were able to fund this handsome brick edifice, built in the Greek Revival style by architect, Henry A. Sykes, who had trained under Ithiel Town of New Haven, clearly where he mastered church designs by a prominent practitioner of the Greek Revival style in New England. The Second Baptist Church of Suffield features a massive portico on its facade with six fluted, Ionic columns supporting the pediment above. The tower of the church is two stages, one squared and the upper round, with fluted piers and Ionic columns and carved consoles. The tower is capped by a gilded dome with weather vane.

John W. Loomis House // c.1840

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This stunning home sits on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, and was apparently built as a center-chimney home in the 18th century. By the 1840s, it was purchased by John Wells Loomis (1805-1879), and altered to fit the then-fashionable Greek Revival style, replacing the center chimney with two smaller chimneys, new pilasters were added to the corners and at the entry. John Loomis was the head of the Loomis family which made a fortune in the tobacco industry in Suffield, rolling and shipping products as far away as California. He operated his cigar business in a large warehouse, now gone, behind the house. Before his death, John Loomis built his son George a house nearby, knowing that his son would carry on the business, which he did until a couple years after his father’s death, until he sold the business and moved to New Haven. The Loomis House is one of the finest examples of a Greek Revival residence in the community.

Rowe House // 1767

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One of the older homes on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, the Moses Rowe House was built in 1767 was later “modernized” to its present appearance. The house was constructed as a two-story Georgian home with minimal detailing, as the family home of Moses Rowe (1733-1799), his wife, and nine children. According to historical maps of the area, the home appears to have been purchased by Horace Sheldon, who in the 1830s, modified the home in the Greek Revival style, increasing the height of the home, adding side porches and the entablature at the roofline.

West Suffield Academy Hall // 1855

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Built in 1855 as the West Suffield Village school, Academy Hall served as one of Suffield’s public school buildings until 1913, when consolidated schools were built in town. Like in many New England communities, the old, wood-frame school building was repurposed, and due to the large agricultural community in Suffield (it was a major grower and exporter of tobacco), the old Academy Hall was occupied by the local Grange club, a social organization that encouraged families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture. The handsome structure is owned by the non-profit West Suffield Village Improvement Association, and as of April 2026, the building is leased to the Suffield Historical Society, and is available for events. The structure features a Classical door surround, corner pilasters, entablature, and a large square cupola at the gable roof.

West Suffield Congregational Church // 1839

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Nestled in the heart of West Suffield, Connecticut, the West Suffield Congregational Church remains as a unique example of the typical village church form from the first half of the 19th century. The church was established in 1743, when after decades of having to travel to the center of Suffield to worship, families in the western part of town established the Second Ecclesiastical Society. Within a year, a meeting house in West Suffield was built as a rustic structure. As the congregation thrived, a second meeting house was built in 1775 on the site of the present building, which too was rebuilt, this structure, in 1839 using the earlier foundation. The present church was dedicated in 1840 and it stands as a stunning example of a Greek Revival house of worship, with projecting portico supported by fluted Doric columns, paneled parapet, and multi-stage tower.

Greenough-Dwight House // 1829

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One of six attached houses townhouses between 70-75 Beacon Street, this stately granite-faced residence was built concurrently with its neighbors in 1828 on speculation for the Mount Vernon Proprietors, a group of wealthy Boston businessmen who helped develop Beacon Hill into the posh, architecturally significant neighborhood it is today. The Mount Vernon Proprietors knew how important Beacon Street was as the entry into the neighborhood, and thus, hired Boston’s premier architect, Asher Benjamin, to design the row. When completed, all of the houses were identical, but throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, they all deviated from the original design, some gaining additional floors, others adding bay windows, but all together form a cohesive and architecturally significant span of houses. Completed in 1829, the corner dwelling is known as the Greenough-Dwight House and it retains its original three-story rusticated granite façade with segmental arch openings. The major change to the exterior of the Greenough-Dwight House is the addition of the ornate wood oriel window with iron cresting in 1874, the oriel and facade feature the iconic purple windows, which became a status symbol in the 20th century. The story goes, that between 1818 and 1824, an English company sent shipments of glass that contained too much manganese oxide into Boston Harbor. After being exposed to sunlight for an extended period of time, the manganese oxide in the glass began to turn purple creating the colored panes we love today. Over time, many panes broke or were replaced, creating the checkerboard appearance on so many windows, but many owners in the 20th century had imitation purple glass installed as a marker of wealth and prestige, like in this house and bay, which were built after the period that the glass was brought over from England. My favorite in the row, the Greenough-Dwight House shines with its granite facade and brick end wall, with panes reflecting the sun off her violet glass windowpanes. 

United Church of Christ, Swansea // 1833

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The United Church of Christ in Swansea, Massachusetts, was built in 1833 as the second building for the congregation which was originally organized in 1693. It is believed that this was the first church in New England to admit all Christians to membership regardless of their theological beliefs, as a United or Union church. The congregation’s first meetinghouse was built prior to 1719 and was replaced in 1833 when the current building was completed. The United Church of Christ in Swansea blends Greek and Gothic Revival styles with traditional wood-frame construction and gable roof with multi-stage steeple. The facade is adorned with pilasters and louvered lancet arches, showcasing the builder’s ability to pull from multiple architectural styles for the construction.

First Baptist Church of Swansea // 1848

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The First Baptist Church of Swansea may look like a traditional, Greek Revival style church from the 1840s, a common form and style found in nearly every community in New England, but the church is home to the oldest Baptist congregation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is the fourth oldest in the United States! The church (and town’s name) was founded by Reverend John Myles (c. 1621–1683), a Baptist minister who immigrated to present-day Swansea from Swansea in Wales, who was a founder of the earliest recorded Baptist churches in Wales. During the King Philip’s War, Reverend Myles fled from the fighting to Boston and pastored the new First Baptist Church in Boston. The present Greek Revival structure, the fifth of the congregation, was built under the direction of the English-born Reverend J. J. Thatcher, pastor of the church from 1846 to 1854. The vernacular Greek Revival church features a pedimented facade with pilasters dividing the bays, and a square belfry.

Unitarian Church of Sharon // 1842

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Sharon, Massachusetts, is a small suburban community south of Boston that is lesser known than its neighbors, but the community has some great old buildings! The Town of Sharon was originally part of a 1637 land grant given by the Dorchester Proprietors to encourage new settlement in areas southward. In 1726, the lands of the present towns of Sharon, Canton and Stoughton, were separated from Dorchester and called the Stoughton Territory. Settlers in present-day Sharon found it difficult to attend mandated church services centered around present-day Stoughton and petitioned the General Court in 1739 to set off as a separate precinct. The request was granted and the Second Precinct was established, and incorporated as Stoughtonham in 1765, changing its name in 1783 to Sharon, named after the Sharon Plain in Palestine. In 1813, the local congregationalists split due to theological differences and formed a Unitarian church. The Congregationalists moved and built a new church and the Unitarians remained on this site, but the larger building was too large for their needs. They demolished the original building and constructed this church in 1842, which somewhat resembles the 1839 Congregational Church of Sharon a stone’s throw away. Like its neighbor, the Unitarian Church too retains an original bell cast by the The Revere Copper Company of nearby Canton.

Soule-Parmelee House // 1844

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The Soule-Parmelee House on Chapel Street in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood is an excellent example of a mid-19th century Greek Revival style residence though with some deferred maintenance. The stately home was built in 1844 for Henchman Sylvester Soule (1800-1860) a merchant and trader who also partook in the California Gold Rush. After Soule’s death, the stucco Greek Revival style house was purchased by Henry S. Parmelee a piano maker, founder of the New Haven Trolley line and inventor of the first practical automatic sprinkler system, which he is said to have had installed in both his factory and his home here. Today, the Soule-Parmelee House operates as a bed & breakfast as the New Haven Historic Mansion.

Elliott-Russo House // c.1835

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Located at the corner of Wooster Place and Chapel Street in the iconic Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, this early Greek Revival style house is a physical landmark showcasing the evolution of the neighborhood in the 19th and 20th centuries. The residence was built around 1835 either for or purchased early on by Matthew Griswold Elliott (1805-1892), a businessman who later engaged in politics and became Vice President of the New Haven Savings Bank and a director of the New York and Hartford Railroad. In 1890, the property was purchased by Paulo “Paul” Russo, an Italian immigrant who was born in 1859, in Viggiano, Italy. His family moved to New York in 1869 and then New Haven in 1872. Paulo opened a small market in New Haven which became the first Italian-owned business in the state of Connecticut. In 1893, Russo became the first Italian to graduate from Yale Law School and he helped foster and grow the local Italian-American community around Wooster Square. After Paul Russo, Michael D’Onofrio, also of Italian descent, purchased the home and along with his wife, brothers, and friends, D’Onofrio transformed the building into a funeral home for over a decade before the house was converted to condominiums. The Elliott-Russo House is a landmark example of a hipped-roof, Greek Revival style residence with smooth flushboard siding, pilasters dividing the bays, and unique Greek meander motifs in the window lintels.

Wrentham Congregational Church // 1834

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The Wrentham Congregational Church is the oldest house of worship in the suburban community, and the fourth consecutive meetinghouse for the congregation at the town center that was originally established in 1692. The frontier town grew slowly as a largely agricultural community and three houses of worship were built nearby the town common until 1833, when it was decided that a church worthy of its historic congregation be built. It is not clear who designed the Greek Revival church, but timbers were transported to town in 1834 for the new edifice which was completed that year. Over the following century, the church was expanded and modernized, all-the-while retaining its historic character. The four-stage steeple toppled during the New England Hurricane of 1938, and was rebuilt. The congregation remains active in the community and is a visual landmark at the town center.

John R. Hoar House // 1841

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The J. R. Hoar House on Washington Street in Warren, Rhode Island, is one of the best examples of a 1-1/2-story Greek Revival cottage in the town. The house has a full Doric portico in front, an arched second-story bedroom window in the pediment and pedimented lintels over the windows. Built in the 1841 for John Rodgers Hoar, the house has been lovingly preserved and restored by later owners.

Judge Alfred Bosworth House // c.1849

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The only two-story temple-front Greek Revival style house in Warren, Rhode Island, the Judge Alfred Bosworth House on Federal Street, is believed to be the work of great architect Russell Warren. Alfred Bosworth (1812-1862) ran a law office in Warren and Providence and represented Warren in the General Assembly from 1839 until 1854 and then served as a justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Bosworth was of counsel for Rhode Island in suits growing out of the boundary question between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, specifically around Fall River. Judge Bosworth died at home in 1862 and his widow, Anne, lived here afterwards. At the end of the century the Bosworth House was converted to an ice cream parlor, named Maxfield’s, which became a very popular attraction in town. The company, owned by Nathaniel and Julia Maxfield, attracted throngs of local residents every summer who would eat ice cream on the front yard of the house. Maxfield’s was even frequented by Providence writer, H. P. Lovecraft, when he was a young man. During the mid-1900s, the house served as a nursing home until 1988, when owners restored the house back to a residence and removed the asphalt siding that was added to the exterior around the time of the Great Depression.

Old Cooper Shop // c.1800

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This stunning Greek Revival house on Lyndon Street in Warren, Rhode Island, was according to historians, built around the turn of the 19th century as a cooper shop! A cooper as a professional, would make wooden barrels, tubs, and casks from wooden staves, which were all made in this building before it was converted and renovated around 1830 in the Greek Revival style for Deacon John J. Bickner, who was likely affiliated with the Episcopal Church across the street, which was designed by architect, Russell Warren. Due to the connection, it is possible that the renovation for Bickner was undertaken by Russell Warren as well. On its facade, the house has two-story applied pilasters which break up the bays and smooth flushboard siding which makes the house even more stately!