Victorian Gothic

United Church of Norwood // 1886

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Located across from the church-like Norwood Town Hall, the United Church of Norwood is a landmark example of the Victorian Gothic architecture style and an important historical landmark for the town. The cornerstone of this present church was laid in 1885 and was completed and consecrated by December of 1886. Boston architect J. Williams Beal, got his start at the firm of McKim, Mead & White, designed the church here for the local Universalists, who lost their previous church to fire in 1884. In 1934, the town’s Universalist and Methodist congregations merged and they joined together in this, as a Union Church. Built of Milford granite and pressed brick, the United Church of Norwood features a side chapel and clock in its steeple which are unique and add charm to the historic church.

Dutch Arms Chapel // 1875

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Tucked away on a side street in Saugerties, New York, this Victorian Gothic chapel has recently been given a new life for the arts. The chapel was constructed in 1875 as part of the Reformed Church of Saugerties (1852), designed by famed architect James Renwick, Jr., the architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and the Smithsonian in D.C. The architect of the chapel is not clear, but it retains similar detailing and materials to the main church. The structure was used for smaller religious meetings and a sunday school for decades until it eventually closed. The chapel was recently acquired by Isabel Soffer and Danny Melnick, co-founders of Hudson Valley Live, and has been restored and transformed into The Local: a year-round, multi-arts venue, breathing new life to the building and culture to the artistic town.

Killingly Town Hall // 1876

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The economic center of the town of Killingly, Connecticut is the village of Danielson, which is located at the confluence of the Quinebaug and Five Mile rivers. The area developed as an industrial village and prospered as the town’s center through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The present-day town hall building was originally constructed in 1876, not as a civic building, but as a multi-purpose music hall and G.A.R. Hall. The Victorian/Ruskinian Gothic style building was constructed of brick with stone trim. The building was later acquired by the town in 1906 and has served as the town offices ever since. Besides the unfortunate replacement windows, the building is well-preserved by the town.

Highgate Springs Union Church // 1877

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Rural parts of Vermont always surprises me with amazing old buildings. This white wood-frame church is known as the Highgate Springs Union Church, an 1877 edifice which effortlessly blends Victorian Gothic and Stick style details. The building became the village’s union church, providing a worship space for members of all denominations who on their own, could not afford the cost of building and maintaining a building. The small congregations eventually moved out and the church appears to now be largely unused beyond small events or weddings/funerals. I am glad to see it is kept up well at least!

Channing Memorial Church // 1880

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The Channing Memorial Church of Newport, Rhode Island was named in the memory of William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), an ardent abolitionist and founder of the Unitarian faith in America. In 1835, ten men formed the first Unitarian Society in Newport in October 1835 and met in the home of Channing’s grandfather, William Ellery, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. In 1879, the congregation’s minister, Rev. M. K. Schermerhorn, conceived the idea of a memorial to William Emery Channing, whose centenary would be the following year. He decided upon the ambitious project of a new church building and planning began immediately. On Rev. Channing’s 100th birthday, the cornerstone laying ceremony occurred in 1880. The Victorian Gothic stone church designed by Elbridge Boyden took a year to be completed and was was built from granite, cut in Lyme, Connecticut. Inside, two stained glass windows, the first ecclesiastical commission of John LaFarge, flood the interior spaces with warm colored light. The church looks much as it did when completed almost 150 years ago, thanks to an active congregation preserving this great landmark.

Charles S. Davis Cottage // c.1868

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When wealthy Boston manufacturer Charles S. Davis began subdividing his suburban Newton Centre estate, “Mount Pleasant”(last post) in the 1860s he was extremely particular on the dwellings and residents that would be his new neighbors. He sold off some parcels to friends and affluent members of the community and he also built some small gingerbread cottages – like the house seen here – for rent. This Victorian Gothic gingerbread house was rented to provide Mr. Davis with some additional income. It was eventually sold off to a private owner and has been meticulously preserved ever since.

Bunker Hill Baptist Church // 1889

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The Second Baptist Church of Jefferson, Maine, was organized in 1808 and originally rented a schoolhouse for its services. After eighty years of cramped-quarters, the members of the church had enough funds to erect their own purpose-built church, this stunning edifice on Bunker Hill Road, in West Jefferson. The congregation broke ground in 1889 and the church was dedicated in January of 1890. Apparently, the belfry was originally at the center of the roof, but the heavy bell required a new steeple to be built at the corner, in its present configuration. This well-preserved church building was a treat to stumble upon when driving through the town.

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church // 1870

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The second oldest Roman Catholic parish in Connecticut can be found in New Haven, at the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. The parish was originally established in 1832, largely by Irish immigrants who settled in the area for work. The current St. Mary’s church building, located on Hillhouse Avenue near Yale University, was designed in 1870 by ecclesiastical architect James Murphy, and it was dedicated in 1874. The construction of a Catholic church on Hillhouse Avenue was strongly opposed by the Protestant elite who lived in the area, but the congregation prevailed. The Victorian Gothic style church is constructed of local blue stone and granite and while plans by Murphy originally included a corner spire for the building, it was not built until 1982 when the building was restored courtesy of the Knights of Columbus. The Knights of Columbus fraternal organization was actually founded in 1882 in New Haven by Father Michael J. McGivney, who originally held meetings in the basement of this church.

Yale University – Street Hall // 1866

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Closing out this series on Yale’s Old Campus, I present one of the finest Victorian Gothic collegiate buildings in the United States, Street Hall. Street Hall was designed by Peter B. Wight (who had just completed the Venetian Gothic style National Academy of Design in New York City) and opened in 1866. The building opened as the Yale School of the Fine Arts, which was the first art school on an American college campus. The building was named after Augustus Russell Street (1791–1866), a Yale graduate and New Haven businessman who donated the funds for the building’s construction on the condition that all residents of the city could enroll in the school, wanting a bridge between citizens of New Haven (“Town”) and the college “Gown”). Augustus Street and his wife, Caroline Leffingwell had seven daughters together, all of whom predeceased them. It was likely the fact he was around so many women in his life that he also required the Yale School of the Fine Arts to admit both male and female students (Yale would become co-educational and admit women to all programs in 1969.) Street Hall is a landmark example of the Victorian/Venetian Gothic style with lancet arches, polychromatic stone, and trefoil and quatrefoil stone medallions. Street Hall is now connected to, and is a part of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Yale University – Lawrance Hall // 1886

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Lawrance Hall was built in 1886 following a financial gift to the college by Frances (Garner) Lawrance, as a memorial to her late son, Thomas Garner Lawrance (1862-1883), who died unexpectedly during his senior year at Yale. The building was designed by New York architect Russell Sturgis, who previously designed Farnam and Durfee halls as well as the Battell Chapel, all enclosing the northeastern edge of the Old Yard. Lawrance Hall is the last Victorian Gothic style building constructed at Yale and also Sturgis’ last commission at the college. Here, Sturgis designed a Gothic building to provide continuity to his earlier dormitories nearby, but added French flair seen at the end towers and rounded turrets at the street facade. The French inspiration may have been a suggestion by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrance as they operated Cercle anglais, an English Club in Pau, France where they occupied Villa Lawrance, when living there. Today, Lawrance Hall is the freshman dormitory for Ezra Stiles College at Yale.