Category: Churches

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Stockbridge (1884)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Stockbridge

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at 29 Main Street in Stockbridge, was founded in 1834 and in the 1840s a church was erected to designs by Richard Upjohn. The present stone church was built in 1884 of Berkshire limestone. It was designed by Charles F. McKim, who donated his services, and contains stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge. The church was a gift of Charles Butler in memory of his wife, Susan Ridley Sedgwick Butler. Stockbridge residents Norman Rockwell and Daniel Chester French were parishioners of St. Paul’s.

First Congregational Church of Stockbridge (1824)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Stockbridge

First Congregational Church of Stockbridge

At 4 Main Street in Stockbridge is the the First Congregational Church, built in 1824. The church began in 1734 with John Sergeant‘s mission to the Mahican people of the Berkshire Hills. The first church building, erected in 1739, stood where the Chime Tower is today. The second church building, built in 1785, stood at the foot of Old Meeting House Road. The current brick church was restructured in 1865 to accommodate a Johnson Organ.

Former First Church/Daniel Low Building (1826)

by Dan//Churches, Commercial, Gothic, Salem

Former Church, Salem

The fourth meetinghouse of Salem’s First Church was built in 1826 on the same site as its three predecessors (now 121 Washington Street at Essex Street). Originally designed by Solomon Willard and Peter Banner of Boston, retail stores were on the ground floor with the church using the spaces above. The building was significantly altered in the Victorian Gothic style and much enlarged around 1874. When First Church merged with North Church in 1923, the former church was acquired by Daniel Low & Company, a company that sold fine gifts and jewelry. The store was in business from 1874 to 1995.

Naumkeag Trust Company (1900)

by Dan//Banks, Churches, Colonial Revival, Commercial, Salem

Naumkeag Trust Company

The building at 217 Essex Street in Salem was built in 1900 to house the retail store of W.E. Hoyt Company. A decade later, the Hoyt Block was acquired by the Naumkeag Trust Company, which hired Boston architects Franklin H. Hutchins and Arthur W. Rice to remodel the interior to become a bank building. The history of the Naumkeag Trust Company is related in Vol. II of the Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts (1922):

The Naumkeag Bank was incorporated March 17, 1831, with $200,000 capital, subsequently increased to $500,000. It commenced business in the Benjamin Dodge store building, on Essex street, opposite the Essex House, then was moved to the Manning building, and in 1872 to the second floor of the Asiatic building, Washington street. David Pingree was its first president. In 1864 this institution was changed to the Naumkeag National Bank.

It then became the Naumkeag Trust Company, which was established October 7, 1909. The building is now home to The Gathering at Salem, an interdenominational Christian church.

Mater Dolorosa Roman Catholic Church (1901)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Holyoke

Mater Dolorosa Church

Mater Dolorosa Parish in Holyoke was established in 1896 as a Polish Roman Catholic parish. Worship took place in the basement of Our Lady of the Rosary Church until Mater Dolorosa Church, at 173 Lyman Street, was dedicated in 1901. Mater Dolorosa Catholic School opened a decade later. The church was closed in 2011 when Mater Dolorosa parish was merged with Holy Cross to form the new Our Lady of the Cross parish. This occurred came following a ruling from the Vatican after five years of appeals and court actions to prevent the closing. Next came controversy between the Catholic Diocese of Springfield and those who want to establish a Polish historic district on Lyman Street that would include the deconsecrated Mater Dolorosa Church. The proposed historic district was rejected by the City Council, but efforts to save the building continue. UPDATE: The church was demolished in December, 2018.

Still River Baptist Church (1832)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Harvard

Still River Baptist Church

The Baptist Church in the community of Still River in the town of Harvard was organized in 1776 by fourteen members of Harvard’s First Church. In 1782, the Baptist Society acquired the first meeting house building used in nearby Leominster. It was dismantled and reassembled as the Still River Baptist Church on land donated by the congregation’s first pastor, Dr. Isaiah Parker. The old meeting house was moved again to serve as a parsonage when the current church was built in 1832. Various alterations were made to the 1832 church over the years, including an addition in 1902. In 1967, the building, which is located at 213 Still River Road, was acquired by the Harvard Historical Society with the stipulation that they preserve the sanctuary, organ (added in 1870), and various furnishings. The Society converted the vestry into exhibit space