Victorian Gothic

Boston Young Men’s Christian Union Building // 1875

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The Boston Young Men’s Christian Union was founded in 1851 by a group of Harvard students as a biblical and christian literature discussion group, which incorporated the following year. First located on School Street, the organization’s activities were to provide a focal point for the intellectual, religious, and social life of primarily middle-class, well-educated Christians. The organization grew to the point that a new building was needed, and in 1873, a site on Boylston Street was acquired as a perfect central location for the group. Architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee of Bradlee and Winslow was hired to design the structure, principally because Mr. Bradlee by then a prominent architect and public figure, was also a life member of the Union and the brother of one of its founders. The building was completed in 1875 and included ground floor retail with an auditorium, gymnasium, library, social and game rooms, and offices for the Union above and behind. Designed in the High Victorian/Ruskinian Gothic style, derived from a mixture of English, Italian, French, and some German Gothic precedents, the style emphasized complicated, asymmetrical massing, polychromy, ornate details, and lancet or Gothic arched openings, in this building a sandstone facade was used. The building became a City of Boston Landmark in 1977. In 2016, the building was converted to an affordable housing development by The Architectural Team Inc., and called “The Union”. The development provides 46 units of affordable housing, including 25 targeted to those who have experienced homelessness. What a great rebirth of the building. Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing can work together and create great projects.

Third Congregational Church of Chicopee // 1868

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The Third Congregational Church of Chicopee was built on a prominent lot on Springfield Street in 1868, replacing the congregation’s first church there, which was outgrown. The present building was designed by Charles Edward Parker, a Boston-based architect, who was an expert in Gothic architecture. He would design the Chicopee City Hall just years later. The building is constructed of brick and atop a granite base and features lancet (pointed arch) doors and windows, a corner steeple, and steep gable end with large rose stained glass window. The interior is preserved as well. Due to shifting demographics in Chicopee in the early 20th century, the church merged in 1925 with the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, forming the Federated Church of Chicopee. The congregation eventually closed and the church has sat vacant in recent years, and was briefly listed for sale in 2024, 9,339 square feet for just $200,000.

Porphyry Hall // 1880

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The Jacob E. Spring Mansion, also known as Porphyry Hall, is a high-style estate house located in Danvers, Massachusetts, that is one of the finest and most unique in the state! The house was built in 1880 for Jacob Evans Spring (1825-1905), who was born in Brownfield, Maine, and at the age of twenty, he went to Argentina and amassed a fortune in the wool business in Buenos Aires between 1845 and 1865, when he returned to the United States. Jacob and his wife, Sara Duffy, would purchase a large farm in Danvers and began planning for their family country home. Their residence was built on a high hill over two years and constructed of over 40 types of stones of irregular size and color with door and window sills of Nova Scotia freestone with arches of the doors and windows and corners of brick. The mansion was designed by architect George M. Harding of Boston, and built by several skilled masons over many months. Mr. Spring named his estate, “Porphyry Hall” with Porphyry meaning an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix; suitable for the walls of their mansion. The Spring’s lived lavishly at this home and spent nearly all of their fortune, selling the property after just ten years to the Xaverian Brothers, who opened it as Saint John’s Normal College. In 1907, the compound was re-organized as a Catholic boys prep school. In 1915, a chapel was added to the rear of the building, constructed from gray fieldstone to blend with the main house. Have you ever seen a building like this?

Rosevale // 1876

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“Rosevale” was built in 1876 as a summer residence in Newport, Rhode Island, for couple, Grace Sears Rives and William Cabell Rives. Grace was the daughter of David Sears of Boston, who developed the Longwood neighborhood of Brookline; and William was the son of William C. Rives Sr., a Virginia congressman and Senator. The High Victorian Gothic mansion was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns who formed their practice just years earlier. The house was enlarged in 1881 by architect George Champlin Mason, Sr. The stonework of the lancet windows, the large octagonal tower, and the carved moldings give the relatively boxy home a more ecclesiastical feeling. The estate retains its original siting, at the middle of a large lot between Red Cross and Rhode Island avenues, which has thus far resisted infill housing on the estate. For years, Rosevale has been occupied as a funeral home, but it appears to have sold a couple years ago.

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.

Yale University – Durfee Hall // 1871

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Following his success of designing Farnam Hall at Yale, architect Russell Sturgis was again commissioned to design Durfee Hall, the residence hall built to enclose the northern edge of the Old Campus Yard. The elongated dormitory was the largest and most imposing building on the Old Campus when it was completed and was named for its benefactor, Bradford M. C. Durfee of Fall River, Massachusetts. The exterior of Durfee is covered in a combination of sandstone and bluestone, and is accentuated with gables, ornate turrets, and large brick chimneys. Upon its completion, it was considered a “high point in Victorian Gothic Style architecture,” and critics from American Architect and Building News commented that “It will be a long time before the quiet dignity of its roof and chimneys will be surpassed anywhere.” The exterior was renovated by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.