John Stevens | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1824 |
| Died | April 14, 1881 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | John Stevens; John Stevens & Son |
John Stevens (1824-1881) was an American architect who practiced in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for ecclesiastical design, and designed churches and other buildings across New England.
John Stevens was born in 1824. [1] His early life is unknown, and he established himself as an architect in Boston in 1850. [2] After several years primarily designing schools and private residences, he began receiving commissions for churches by the end of the 1850s. He built these churches, generally in the Romanesque Revival style, in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. From 1860 to 1862 he employed Archimedes Russell, who would later become a prominent architect in Syracuse, New York. [3] In 1869 he was briefly associated with S. F. Pratt, at which time he was working on buildings at Oak Bluffs. [4] He remained in Massachusetts until 1879, when he established a partnership with his son, J. Walter Stevens, and moved west to St. Paul, Minnesota. John Stevens & Son operated until April 14, 1881, when Stevens died while on a visit to Worcester, Massachusetts. [5]
Stevens designed a great many churches. His Baptist church in Saint John, New Brunswick, completed in 1878, was said to have been his 113th. [6] Many of his churches were built on only three basic models, which he relied on throughout his career. His contemporaries criticized him for this repetitiveness. In 1878, an anonymous writer going by "Verax" wrote in regard to his St. John church: "and as the 'outline and general features are after the Byzantine period' we may expect something similar to Mr. Stevens's previous works, which may be seen in almost every city from Calais to Lynn." [7]
At least six of his works have been listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, and several more contribute to listed historic districts.
| Year | Building | Address | City | State | Notes | Image | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1852 | Nathaniel Dearborn House | 21 Chestnut St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [2] |
| 1854 | Smith Hall | Abbot Academy | Andover | Massachusetts | Demolished. | [1] | |
| c. 1855 | Stephen Hall House | 64 Minot St | Reading | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [8] |
| 1855 | Punchard Free School | 36 Bartlett St | Andover | Massachusetts | Demolished. | [1] | |
| 1857 | Malden Town Hall | 389 Main St | Malden | Massachusetts | Demolished. |  | [9] |
| 1859 | First Congregational Church | 322 Main St | Woburn | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [2] |
| 1859 | First Parish Congregational Church | 1 Church St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | A complete rebuilding. Demolished in 1890. |  | [10] |
| 1859 | North Church | 240 Main St | Haverhill | Massachusetts | [11] | ||
| 1860 | First Congregational Church | 1 S Main St | Randolph | Massachusetts | Burned in 1936. | [10] | |
| 1860 | Reading Agricultural and Mechanical Association Building | 643 Main St | Reading | Massachusetts | Built with an elaborate mansard roof, removed in 1959. | [12] | |
| 1860 | South Church | 41 Central St | Andover | Massachusetts |  | [13] | |
| 1861 | Haverhill City Hall | Main St | Haverhill | Massachusetts | Demolished. |  | [14] |
| 1861 | Cyrus Wakefield House | 467 Main St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Demolished. |  | [15] |
| 1863 | First Parish Congregational Church | 12 Beach St | Saco | Maine | Burned in 2000. [16] Previously on the National Register of Historic Places. [17] | [18] | |
| 1863 | Third (Pavilion) Congregational Church | 270 Main St | Biddeford | Maine | Converted into the McArthur Public Library. |  | [10] |
| 1864 | First Baptist Church | 81 St Paul St | Burlington | Vermont | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [19] |
| 1865 | Trinitarian Congregational Church | 72 Elm St | North Andover | Massachusetts | [20] | ||
| 1866 | Oren B. Cheney House | 262 College St | Lewiston | Maine | Now Cheney House of Bates College. |  | [21] |
| 1866 | Masonic Temple | 326 Main St | Melrose | Massachusetts | Heavily altered. | [22] | |
| 1866 | Pine Street Congregational Church | 60 Pine St | Lewiston | Maine | Demolished. | [10] | |
| 1867 | Erastus P. Carpenter House | 47 Ocean Ave | Oak Bluffs | Massachusetts | [23] | ||
| 1867 | First Congregational Church | 1 Washburn Sq | Leicester | Massachusetts | Burned in 1900. | [10] | |
| 1867 | Pawtucket Congregational Church | 40 Walcott St | Pawtucket | Rhode Island | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [24] |
| 1868 | Memorial Hall | 22 South St | Foxborough | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [25] |
| 1868 | Wakefield Town Hall | Main and Water Sts | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Demolished in 1958. |  | [2] |
| 1870 | Court Street Baptist Church | 129 Court St | Auburn | Maine | [26] | ||
| 1871 | First Congregational Church | 171 Main St | Franklin | Massachusetts | Demolished or burned. | [27] | |
| 1871 | First Congregational Church | 150 S Common St | Lynn | Massachusetts | [2] | ||
| 1871 | Wakefield High School | 1 Lafayette St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Now the Town Hall. | [28] | |
| 1873 | First Congregational Church | 21 Calais Ave | Calais | Maine | Burned in 1992. | [29] | |
| 1874 | Melrose Town Hall | 562 Main St | Melrose | Massachusetts | Substantially burned in 1937, and rebuilt from designs by Mowll & Rand. [30] |  | [31] |
| 1876 | First Universalist Church | 169 Pleasant St | Auburn | Maine | On the National Register of Historic Places. |  | [32] |
| 1877 | Weldon (King Edward) School | 210 Wentworth St | St. John | New Brunswick | Demolished. | [33] | |
| 1878 | Central Baptist Church | 42 Leinster St | St. John | New Brunswick | Said to be his 113th church. | [33] | |
Richard Clipston Sturgis, generally known as R. Clipston Sturgis, was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts.
George Frederick Meacham was an architect in the Boston, Massachusetts, area in the 19th century. He is notable for designing Boston's Public Garden, the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, and churches, homes, and monuments in greater Boston and elsewhere in New England.
Samuel J.F. Thayer (1842–1893) was an American architect, notable for designing buildings such as the Providence City Hall and the Cathedral of St. George, as well as the town halls of Brookline, Stoughton, and Methuen, Massachusetts. He was part of the architecture firms, Martin & Thayer and Ropes & Thayer.
Charles Kirk Kirby, was an American architect who practiced in Massachusetts, Maine, and California.
James Murphy, FAIA, (1834–1907) was an Irish-American architect active in late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New England, who designed numerous Roman Catholic churches and related structures.
Elbridge Boyden (1810–1898) was a prominent 19th-century American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts, who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works are the Taunton State Hospital (1851) and Mechanics Hall (1855) in Worcester.
Shepard S. Woodcock (1824–1910) was an American architect practicing in Boston, Massachusetts during the second half of the nineteenth century.
John A. Fox (1835–1920) was an American architect. Fox practiced in Boston for fifty years and is best remembered for his works in the Stick Style.
George Milford Harding (1827–1910) was an American architect who practiced in nineteenth-century Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Charles Edward Parker (1826-1890) was an American architect from Boston, Massachusetts.
C. Willis Damon (1850-1916) was an American architect from Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Frank W. Angell (1851–1943) was an American architect practicing in Providence, Rhode Island.
Amos Porter Cutting (1839–1896) was an American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts.
J. Williams Beal, Sons, successor to the office of J. Williams Beal, was a successful architectural firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1920 by the sons of the late architect Beal, it remained in business into the 1980s.
Henry Warren Rogers (1831-1915) was an American architect practicing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Lynn, Massachusetts.
William C. Brocklesby (1847-1910) was an American architect practicing in Hartford, Connecticut.
Newhall & Blevins was an American architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, active from 1903 to 1933. It was the partnership of architects Louis C. Newhall (1869–1925) and Albert H. Blevins (1874–1946). Newhall established a practice alone in 1901, forming his partnership with Blevins in 1903. They were partners until 1919, and remained associated until the death of Newhall in 1925. After Newhall's death, the firm was reorganized as Newhall & Blevins Inc. with John W. Reth (1888–1940) as president and treasurer. Reth was an engineer and construction supervisor who had been with Newhall & Blevins for several years. The firm was dissolved in 1933, apparently due to financial troubles.
John Lyman Faxon (1851–1918) was an American architect practicing in Boston, Massachusetts, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Three of his buildings, the First Baptist Church of Newton (1888), the First Congregational Church of Detroit (1889–91) and the former East Boston High School (1898–1901), have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
Eugene C. Gardner (1836–1915) was an American architect and author of Springfield, Massachusetts. Gardner was noted both for the architectural influence of his extensive practice as well as his writings on the American home. Gardner was the most notable architect of Springfield.
Otis A. Merrill was an American architect. In association with various partners he practiced architecture in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1873 until 1900.