Tag: Orthodox

St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral (1869)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Springfield

St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Springfield

In 1865, a society was formed to establish a new Congregational church in the the north section of Springfield. The cornerstone for the new Memorial Congregational Church was laid on July 18, 1867. The church, constructed on a knoll at Plainfield and North Main Streets (an area now called Memorial Square), was designed by Richard Upjohn. The granite used for the building was the gift of Mr. William Flint of Monson. The church was dedicated on June 3, 1869. In 1940, Memorial Congregational Church merged with Hope Congregational Church (Hope Church merged with Faith Congregational Church in 1977). The former Memorial Congregational Church building was sold to the Hellenic Religious Building Fund Corporation to become St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church. A brick house on Auburn Street had become the church’s first building in 1907. The church moved to Patton Street in 1919. In 1977, one-third of the church community left to form the new St. Luke parish in East Longmeadow. St. George Church then became known as St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

St. Peter and St. Paul Orthodox Church (1944)

by Dan//Byzantine, Churches, Romanesque Revival, Springfield

St. Peter & St. Paul Orthodox Church in Springfield was founded as St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in 1916. The congregation’s first church was a brick house on Carew Street in the city’s North End, which was purchased in 1917. The church was reorganized in 1928, when it took the name of St. Peter and St. Paul Russian Orthodox Church. The original church building was later replaced by the current church, built in 1944 and designed by Arthur A. Smith. The church, which is located at 118 Carew Street, won a Preservation Award from the Springfield Preservation Trust in 2008 for the re-gilding of its onion domes in gold leaf.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Holyoke (1917)

by Dan//Byzantine, Churches, Holyoke

The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was celebrated for the first time in Holyoke in 1911 and Greek Orthodox services began to be regularly held in the city by 1914. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was built in 1916-1917. Two decades later, the mortgage for the church was retired. The Consecration of the edifice, located at 410 Main Street, took place on November 30, 1938. The church was designed by the well known Greek architect, Kyriakos Kalfas of New York City. He modeled its Byzantine design on that of the Church of the Pantocrator in Patras, Greece. A fire on January 31, 1977 extensively damaged the church, but rebuilding process soon began. Services resumed in the church by July 1978 and the building was consecrated again on October 7, 1979.

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church (1905)

by Dan//Churches, Commercial, Vernacular, West Springfield

The building at 23 Southworth Street in West Springfield was built in 1905 in a newly developing residential area subdivided into lots from the Southworth family’s farm. The building itself was never a residence, but has been a bakery, home to the Puritan Home Made Candy Company, and a store. Since 1960 it has been St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. There are plans to replace the small building in the future with a somewhat larger one having a full basement.