Rotch and Tilden

Church of Our Saviour, Brookline // 1868

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The Church of Our Saviour of Brookline, Massachusetts, is an architecturally and historically significant church complex in the Longwood neighborhood that has ties to those who established this neighborhood into what it is today. The church was built in 1868 by the brothers Amos and William Lawrence, in honour of their father, Amos Lawrence. The church was established by twelve established Boston-area families who wanted to grow the Episcopal diocese in the area. They hired architect, Alexander Rice Esty, who designed the building in the Gothic style, and it was completed in February 1868. The church was expanded numerous times with a transept chapel designed by the firm Sturgis and Cabot (1893) to the memory of Sarah Appleton Lawrence (wife of Amos A. Lawrence); a parish hall designed by the firm of Cabot and Chandler (1880); and a rectory, designed by architect Arthur Rotch (1886). The church remains an active congregation and is lovingly preserved by the congregants.

Rectory

William and Octavia Apthorp Mansion // 1885

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This unique four-story brick townhouse on Otis Place in Beacon Hill, Boston, was built in 1885 by the architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden for Mrs. Octavia L. Apthorp and her husband, William F. Apthorp. Elevated on a tall brick basement, the exterior of the house is richly detailed with masonry decoration in what has become known as the “panel brick” style; with an elaborate brick entrance archway, paneled pilasters at the third floor, and vertical brick lintels above the windows. Over the ground floor windows near the entrance, iron grates with spear-like finials give the design a Medieval/English Queen Anne presence. William F. Apthorp was the only son of Robert Apthorp, a prominent Boston attorney and abolitionist who lived across the street at 2 Otis Place. William was a pianist and teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music and writer who married Octavia (sometimes spelled Octavie) Loir Iasigi in 1876, she was also from a well-connected Beacon Hill family.

St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church // 1877

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Initially erected in 1877 and enlarged several times thereafter, the St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor is an excellent example of ecclesiastical architecture in the state of Maine. The original church building had been erected in 1877-78 at a cost of about $7,000 from designs by the New York architect Charles C. Haight. Within eight years of its construction, space limitations caused the church to undertake a major expansion. Designed by the Boston architectural firm of Rotch and Tilden, this building campaign – carried out in 1885-86 – dramatically changed the church’s appearance by developing a cross shaped plan that made use of the original structure for transepts and added a larger nave, semi-circular apse, and an imposing crossing tower. The numerous building campaigns designed by both prominent and lesser known architects, have produced a rich eclectic architectural legacy that mirrors the development of Bar Harbor.

“Greenlawn” // 1887

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West Street in Bar Harbor was laid out in 1886, and developers laid out house lots on both sides, with larger, more expensive land right on the water. One of the earliest homes built on the street is Greenlawn, constructed in 1887 for William Rice, an industrialist who co-founded Rice & Hutchins, a shoe manufacturing company with main offices in Boston. The architectural firm of Rotch and Tilden, comprised of partners Arthur Rotch and George Thomas Tilden. Both had studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Both had worked at the architectural firm of Ware and Van Brunt, and would be best known for their Gilded age mansions in New England. By 1896, the cottage was owned by William L. Green, which is likely when the cottage’s name “Greenlawn” stuck. The house recently sold for $4.25 Million and the interiors are gorgeous!