Providence Church

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church // 1860

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St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church is a landmark Gothic Revival church in Providence, Rhode Island, built in 1860 from plans by famed architect, Richard Upjohn. Constructed of gray stone with brownstone trim, the church is unique for its siting with the nave/long-side parallel to the street. The church was built for the local congregation, who two decades earlier, constructed the original St. Stephen’s Church on Benefit Street (now home to the Barker Playhouse), but sought to relocate to a more central location and in a more substantial building. With its entrance at one end and tower at the other, the nave is lined with a row of four gabled bays with lancet windows connecting the two. The church was modified over time, with Upjohn’s original intention for a 180-foot stone tower never undertaken, it would be capped by a copper-clad conical spire in 1900 from architects, Hoppin and Ely. The chancel was remodeled in 1882 by Henry Vaughan, and the Tudor Revival style Guild House immediately west of the church was built in the late 1890s Martin & Hall, architects. The congregation continues to this day, and preserves this significant building fitting of an English estate.

Old St. Stephen’s Church – Barker Playhouse // 1840

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The old St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Providence’s Fox Point neighborhood is an architecturally distinctive Greek Revival style church building located on charming Benefit Street. The church had its beginnings in 1839, when the newly established congregation called on 29-year-old Francis Vinton to serve as their first pastor. The congregation funded this small church which broke ground in 1840, and before it was completed, Rev. Vinton resigned as Rector. The building, built of stone and covered in stucco, once had a spire and belfry above the main entrance. The congregation grew over the next decade and it was soon realized that a larger and more central church should be built for members, many of whom were wealthy residents with mansions surrounding Brown College. In 1860, the parish purchased a lot on George Street, and hired architect, Richard Upjohn to design the new church in the Gothic style. For reasons of location, and possibly social class, twenty-two men and women remained here at the less fashionable church and formed a new parish, the Church of the Saviour. The smaller, mission church with its stucco walls, remained until the property was sold in 1932 to house the Barker Playhouse, reputed to be the oldest continuously operating little theatre in the United States.


First Baptist Church, Providence // 1774

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The First Baptist Church of Providence, also known as the First Baptist Church in America is the oldest Baptist church in the United States. The Church was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams, who before building this church in 1774, often met in private residences or in more plain meetinghouses to not show vanity. By the early 1770s, a new building for Providence Baptists was needed, and it was conceived in a very large (and ornate) way. Built to accommodate over 1,200 people (just under a third of the entire population of Providence at that time), this church was built “for the publick Worship of Almighty God; and also for holding Commencement”, referring to the commencement ceremonies of Rhode Island College (later Brown University), also founded under Baptist auspices. The church was designed by local amateur architect, Joseph Brown, who was likely inspired by Sir Christopher Wren’s London churches in James Gibbs’s Book of Architecture (1728). The construction was greatly aided by the fact that the British had closed the port of Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Many shipwrights and carpenters were thrown out of work and came to Providence to build the meetinghouse there. The structure was dedicated in May 1775, and the 185-foot steeple was added shortly thereafter. This was the first Baptist meetinghouse in New England to have a steeple, and it has survived dozens of hurricanes and hundreds of years of change since. The church is a National Historic Landmark and remains as one of the most significant buildings in New England.

Congdon Street Baptist Church // 1875

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The Congdon Street Baptist Church on College Hill is extremely significant as part of the rich history of Providence. Its origins began in 1819, when Moses Brown, an abolitionist, industrialist and member of the Brown Family (who profited on the institution of slavery) gave land to “the people of color” of Providence for a schoolhouse and meeting house. The original building stood slightly north of the present structure and it was built in 1821. The structure provided the first schoolhouse for Black children in Providence. In 1869 the building was torn down, without the approval or knowledge of the congregation by white neighbors because “its proximity displeased them”… Eventually the congregation arranged an exchange of lots with one of the church’s neighbors and architects Hartshorn & Wilcox were commissioned to design the new church building. Hartshorn was the successor of Thomas A. Tefft and this church echoes many of his designs in the Italianate style. The new building was completed in 1875 at the cost of $16,000. It was renamed the Congdon Street Baptist Church. The church has since 1875 served as an important landmark and gathering place for many Providence’s Black residents past and present.