Category: Churches

Grace Church, Salem (1926)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Salem

In 1858, a group of parishioners from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Salem established Grace Church, which would be constructed at 385 Essex Street later that year. The parishioners wanted to found a second Episcopal Church in Salem that would be closer to their homes in the western part of the city. By 1924, the original wooden Gothic building of Grace Church was deemed no longer adequate. It was structurally unsound–one could stand against the wall and shake the whole building. In 1926, a new church was built on the same site. Initial plans for a Georgian Revival structure were eventually changed and the completed church was designed by architect Philip Horton Smith in the Gothic Revival style. Three years later, the church was connected to an adjacent Federal-style residence, Burrell House, which is used as a parish house.

Stearns Steeple (1873)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Collegiate, Gothic

A striking landmark on the campus of Amherst College is Stearns Steeple, which stands in front of the Mead Art Museum. It is the only surviving part of the College Church, built in 1873. A gift of William F. Stearns, son of College president William A. Stearns, the Gothic church was designed by William A. Potter of New York. The Steeple’s bells, cast in 1871, were given by George Howe as a memorial to Amherst men lost in the Civil War. Stearns’ gift required that the building only be used for religious purposes, but Sunday services were transferred to the College Chapel in 1933 and discontinued in 1946, with the result that the church was no longer used regularly. It was razed in 1949 to make way for new buildings, although the steeple was spared as a monument to the church. To become a freestanding structure, the steeple was enclosed using materials from the demolished church.

Former Masonic Temple, Springfield (1924)

by Dan//Churches, Egyptian Revival, Neoclassical, Organizations, Springfield

The former Springfield Masonic Temple, located at 339-341 State Street, was built between 1924 and 1926. Before its construction, the Springfield Masons used an earlier Masonic Hall at the corner of Main and State streets. The 1924 Temple is a Springfield landmark, with a monumental neo-classical exterior built of Indiana limestone with terra cotta trim. The facade features Egyptian Revival details, including four columns above the doorway, and symbols characteristic of masonry. Above the colonnade is a frieze with the dates A.L. 5924 and A.D. 1924, and the Latin inscription: “Aedificatum Ut Lux Splendesceret” (“Erected That Light Might Become Brighter”). In 2007, the Masons sold the building to the International Communion of the Holy Christian Orthodox Church, under the leadership of Archbishop Timothy Paul Baymon. The building is now used as a church called the Basilica of the Holy Apostles.

Former First Baptist Church of Northampton (1904)

by Dan//Churches, Northampton, Romanesque Revival

In 1822, Benjamin Willard, an itinerant Baptist missionary, began preaching in Northampton. He soon organized a Baptist church, which was formally recognized by the Baptist Association Church Council in 1826. A church building was constructed by builder Isaac Damon on West Street in 1828-1829. A fire on December 29, 1863 damaged the building, and services were held in Northampton Town Hall for a year and a half while repairs were made. A new church, at the corner of Main and West Streets, was completed in May 1904 and dedicated May 22, 1904. In 1988, the First Baptist Church of Northampton joined the First Congregational Church to form the First Churches of Northampton, with worship continuing at the Congregational meeting house. In 1993, the former Baptist Church building was sold to Eric Suher of Holyoke. Restoration of the long vacant building has proceeded slowly, but Suher is continuing with plans to convert it into a conference and banqueting facility.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Northampton (1893)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Northampton

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton was established in 1826. The original wooden church was located on on Bridge Street and was designed by Thomas Pratt, a noted local builder. His son, architect William Fenno Pratt, later added the steeple and served as the church’s organist and choir director from 1836 to 1861. A new stone church, the gift of philanthrophist George Bliss of Brooklyn, New York, who was originally from Northampton, was built on Elm Street, adjacent to the campus of Smith College, in 1893. The church was designed by R.W. Gibson of New York and was built by the Norcross Brothers of Worcester.

First Congregational Church, South Hadley (1895)

by Dan//Churches, Romanesque Revival, South Hadley

While still a part of Hadley, South Hadley acquired its own minister and meeting house around 1733. When a new meeting house was built in 1761, a split occurred which eventually led to the erection of a separate meeting house in the eastern section of town, which became the town of Granby in 1768. A third church was built in 1815 and a fourth in 1875. This latter building was destroyed in the great fire of 1894. It was then replaced by the current building of the First Congregational Church.

College Hall, Amherst (1828)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Collegiate, Greek Revival

College Hall in Amherst was built in 1828-1829 as the third meeting house of the First Congregational Church of Amherst. It was built on land donated by Amherst College in return for the right to hold commencement and other ceremonies in the church. When a new Congregational church was built on Main Street in 1867-1868, the College purchased the old church building, which was expanded and remodeled (with the addition of new columns to the front) and rededicated in 1905. Continue reading “College Hall, Amherst (1828)”