Neo-Gothic Revival

Christ Church, Swansea // 1900

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Designed in the mode of a traditional English country church, the Christ Church of Swansea is among the finest Neo-Gothic Revival edifices in New England and evokes a sense of history and tradition despite only being built in 1900. The church was funded by benefactors, Frank Shaw Stevens and Elizabeth Case Stevens, who lived down the street in the town’s largest mansion. After the death of her husband Frank, Elizabeth began a large gifting campaign to the Town of Swansea, and funded the construction of the town’s library, school, and this church (they had already funded the 1891 Town Hall). For the village church, Elizabeth hired their friend, and renowned English-born architect, Henry Vaughan, who designed the building with heavy granite walls, lancet windows and a facade dominated by an entry tower with rounded corner all capped by battlements. The Christ Church of Swansea resembles an old Medieval English church but in a New England village, amazing work as always Mr. Vaughan!

St. John’s Episcopal Church of Sharon // 1902

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The small yet architecturally significant St. John’s Episcopal Church in Sharon, Massachusetts, was built in 1902 from plans by one of the premier ecclesiastical architects of the early 20th century. Episcopalians in Sharon began demanding their own house of worship in the late 19th century, and by the turn of the century, had funding to erect their own chapel. Boston-based architect, Ralph Adams Cram, of the firm Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, designed the building, which fits within the scale of the residential neighborhood it is located within. St. John’s is an example of Neo-Gothic Revival architecture, a style which Cram became known for, with a fieldstone base, three feet thick, and stucco gabled facade above with tripartite windows with diamond-cut colored glass. The chapel was expanded at the rear, but maintains its rustic charm at the street.

Hopedale Unitarian Church // 1898

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The Hopedale Unitarian Church, also known as the Draper Memorial Church, is located in the former industrial village of Hopedale, Massachusetts, and is one of the finest examples of the Neo-Gothic style in the state. The church was funded by brothers George Albert and Eben S. Draper of the Draper Corporation, the largest employer in town, offering to build the new edifice as a memorial to their parents, George and Hannah Draper. The church replaced an earlier, wood-frame church, built on the site in 1860 by supporters of Adin Ballou, a founder of the Hopedale Community, a utopian community that eventually failed. The Drapers hired Boston architect, Edwin J. Lewis, an active Unitarian who had designed several churches around New England by this time. His plan was “English Gothic of the Perpendicular period” made of Milford granite with Indiana limestone trimmings and a roof of green slate. At the interior, roof trusses were left exposed “as in the old English Parish churches” with oak finishes and flooring and memorial stained glass windows by prominent artists. The church remains a visual and historical landmark for the community with an active congregation who preserve the significant building.

Clara Hall Elliott Memorial Church // 1909

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This handsome stone church in South Willington, Connecticut, was commissioned in 1909 by Gardiner Hall Jr., a terminally ill industrialist, in memory of his late daughter Clara, who tragically died in 1899 at the age of 30. The church was used by area residents, many of which included mill workers hired to work at Mr. Hall’s factory nearby and lived in mill housing just behind this church. Following the construction of this Memorial Church in South Willington, Baptist and Congregational Churches of Willington merged to form the Federated Church of Willington, which has worshiped at this location ever since. Neo-Gothic Revival in style, the church is constructed of multicolored random ashlar sandstone with limestone trim and features a corner clock tower with belfry, buttresses, stained glass windows, and limestone tracery. The church was designed by Boston architect, Thomas Marriott James and was completed by 1911.

Benjamin Franklin College & Pauli Murray College, Yale University // 2017

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Opened in 2017, the two newest residential colleges at Yale University, Benjamin Franklin College and Pauli Murray College, became a case study in how contemporary buildings can honor traditional design while introducing 21st-century amenities. Designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), the two large dormitories reinforce Yale’s legacy of collegiate Gothic architecture while reading as new construction to the trained eye. The two buildings feature unique layouts to create enclosed courtyards and are stylistically designed as fraternal twins, similar in size and palette but each enjoying its own identity and organization. RAMSA architects were inspired by James Gamble Rogers’ 1930s Colleges at Yale, which (like at Harvard) were inspired by the college systems at Cambridge and Oxford in England which create enclosed quads or courtyards for students in self-contained housing. Like Rogers’ Neo-Gothic Yale buildings, the Franklin and Murray Colleges feature battlements, stained and leaded glass windows, iron gateways, towers, and hidden stone gargoyles. The two buildings are a tour de force of Traditional Architecture that blends new and old in all the best ways.

Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall // 1931

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Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, a handsome Collegiate/Neo-Gothic Revival style building at the corner of Prospect and Grove streets, was built in 1931-1932 as three, interconnected buildings in a single composition. Architect, Clarence C. Zantzinger, designed the building, with its facade dominated by a 11-story corner tower flanked by four-story wings. The building replaced the Old Sheffield Hall (later known as South Sheffield), originally a hotel built by James Abraham Hillhouse around 1820, which later served as the Yale Medical Institution, later renovated and expanded for the Sheffield Scientific School, which officially merged with Yale University in 1956. The new building is named for its historic connections with the Sheffield Scientific School, also following donations by John W. Sterling and Lord Strathcona. Steel-framed and clad with Indiana limestone, the building commands the prominent corner site.

Somerville Y.M.C.A. // 1904

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The Somerville Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) building on Highland Avenue is a stately four-story Neo-Gothic/Tudor Revival style building that is threatened with demolition. Originally built in 1904, the building was designed by the Boston firm of Brainerd, Leeds and Russell, and was published in architectural publications of the time due to its functional plan and design. For 120 years, the building has housed community spaces in the form of reading and game rooms, a gymnasium, auditorium, and more. Fast-forward to today, the building has suffered from deferred maintenance and the organization has purchased adjacent buildings with the plan to raze multiple structures, including this building, and build a massive, boxy new YMCA. Personally, I think it would be a shame to see the original building demolished, when it could be incorporated into the new design.

St. George’s Episcopal Church, Central Falls // 1922

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Tucked away in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the dense city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, this Neo-Gothic style church more closely resembles an English country church than one typically found in a dense, industrial city. This is the St. George’s Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Central and Clinton streets, and built for the local Episcopal congregation there in 1922. The church was designed by the Rhode Island architectural firm of Clarke & Howe and is built of rough-faced stone with limestone trim. The highlight of the design is the large central tower with lancet, stained glass window, and belfry. 

Saint Lawrence Catholic Church // 1896

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The parish known today as Infant Jesus-St. Lawrence Church was established in 1898, two years after its original chapel building – shown here – was erected to serve as a mission church of St. Mary of the Assumption in Brookline Village. The St. Lawrence Church was built in 1896 on Boylston Street in the Chestnut Hill/South Brookline area of the town, built to serve a more local, well-off population in the area. The church (and the adjacent rectory) was designed by Franz Joseph Untersee, a Swiss-American architect, and Brookline resident, who designed many Roman Catholic churches throughout the eastern part of United States. The Neo-Gothic church building is built of wood and stone with stucco and applied half timbering. Besides the large stained glass window and applied ornament, the church is notable for its square, irregularly-laid granite tower with crenelation. The church remains active in the community and very-well preserved inside and out.

Little Building // 1917

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The Little Building sits prominently at the busy corner of Boylston and Tremont streets overlooking the Boston Common. Like the Colonial Theater next door, the Little Building was designed by architect Clarence Blackall and named after its developer and owner, John Mason Little. Blackall designed the Little Building in the Neo-Gothic style with a steel frame and a two-story Tudor-arched entrance on Boylston Street. The original facade was granite and cast stone, and the floors were made from reinforced concrete. The building replaced the Hotel Pelham which occupied the site since the 1850s. After being completed in 1917, the Little Building was considered significant enough that it was featured in American Architect and Building News, highlighting many architectural details inside and out. The Little Building was advertised as a “City Under One Roof” with 600 offices, dozens of shops, a post office, restaurants, and connections to the nearby subway and theaters. Emerson College purchased the Little Building in March 1994 for $5 million and converted the building to dormitories. After years of deteriorating masonry, Emerson College hired Elkus Manfredi Architects to oversee a full renovation of the building, including a sweeping facade restoration and the insertion of three glazed elevations between street-facing light wells. The “new” Little Building is a splendid re-imagining of a historic building, showing how old buildings can be renovated to meet contemporary uses through well intentioned design and care.

Old Chicopee High School // 1917

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The Old Chicopee High School building is located at 650 Front Street, between the two major population hubs of Chicopee Center and Chicopee Falls and is one of the finest examples of Collegiate Gothic/Neo-Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts. The school building was constructed in 1917 from plans by architect, George E. Haynes as a central high school, a single building where pupils from all over the city could be educated. The population growth of Chicopee in the early decades of the 20th century necessitated additions and reworking of the spaces of the building, eventually outgrowing the building after WWII. In 1961, plans for a contemporary high school were completed and this building became a middle school for the City of Chicopee. Architecturally, the building stands out for its siting and high-quality design. The main facade features a central clock tower which contains the main entrance. The use of brick with cast stone trim and the castellated parapet add much dimension to the large building. The City of Chicopee have done a commendable job maintaining this important landmark.

Administration Building – Elms College // 1932

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Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts began as the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms, a Catholic boarding school for girls established in Pittsfield by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1897. The academy was relocated to Springfield Street in Chicopee through the efforts of Bishop Thomas D. Beaven in 1899. The Academy provided elementary and secondary education with a Normal School component that prepared young women for careers in teaching. In 1924, Bishop O’Leary announced the intention to expand the school into higher education, creating a women’s college. The college charter was approved in 1928 and the Academy became the College of Our Lady of the Elms. Planning and construction of the Administration Building (later renamed Berchmans Hall in 1983) began immediately after the incorporation of the College in 1928. Designed by John W. Donohue, the official architect of the Diocese of Springfield at the time, Berchmans Hall is a landmark example of the Collegiate Gothic/Neo-Gothic style that proliferated higher education and ecclesiastical buildings in the early decades of the 20th century. Completed in 1932, the new building included offices, modern classrooms and laboratories. The back section contained a gymnasium in the basement and an auditorium on the main floor. The building remains the main building on the Elms College campus and serves as an important visual anchor to the school.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Newton // 1915

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The Trinity Episcopal Church in Newton Centre is one of the most unique and architecturally significant buildings in the village. Episcopalians began meeting in Newton Centre by at least 1889 and began discussions about erecting their own church. A small wood-frame chapel was built (since relocated and used by the Newton Parks Department) and provided worship space for years until the 1910s when the congregation acquired enough funds to build a more substantial structure. The cornerstone for the new church, which was designed by architect George W. Chickering, was laid in May of 1915, and the building was completed in 1916. Modeled after the stunning King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England, the high-style Gothic edifice is notable for the crenelated parapet and pinnacles rising above the buttresses.

Former First Congregational Church, Newton // 1904

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The former First Congregational Church (now the Greek Evangelical Church of Boston) of Newton Center, Newton, is a landmark example of the Neo-Gothic architectural style for a church building. Built in 1904, the structure resembles an English village church in the form of a Roman Cross with short trancepts. The structure is constructed of Quincy granite and was designed by the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. The First Congregational Church of Newton was originally established in 1664 as a parish church when Newton was still a part of Cambridge (then known as Newtowne). The parish has had six meeting houses built by the Congregation, with the last four on this site. Seeing dwindling membership in the mid-20th century, First Church in Newton dissolved in 1972, after more than 300 years of service to the Newton community. Luckily, the newly formed Greek Evangelical Church of Boston would buy the church that same year and has maintained the significant edifice ever-since!

Tudor Lodge // c.1850

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A rambling Gothic Revival style house in the mode of the picturesque Gothic estates in England, can be found tucked away in Newport, Rhode Island. This is Tudor Lodge, a stuccoed summer “cottage” notable for its stucco siding, moulding over all the windows, broad crenellated parapets, and a hip-roof porte-cochère in front of the principal entrance. The house was supposedly originally built as a summer residence for Nicholas Redwood Easton around 1850. After his death, the property was purchased by members of the Gibbs (Gibbes) Family, who owned much of the land in this part of town, giving nearby Gibbs Avenue its name. The property was purchased around 1900 by William Rogers Morgan, a New York City banker, who greatly remodeled and named the estate, Tudor Lodge, giving the house its present appearance. The estate was converted to four condominium units in 1980.