Society of the Congregational Church of Great Barrington

Last updated
Society of the Congregational Church of Great Barrington
GreatBarringtonMA CongregationalChurch.jpg
2006 photo
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°11′43″N73°21′41″W / 42.19528°N 73.36139°W / 42.19528; -73.36139
Built1883
Architect William C. Brocklesby et al.
Architectural styleRomanesque
NRHP reference No. 92000999 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 20, 1992

The Society of the Congregational Church of Great Barrington (also known as First Congregational Church of Great Barrington) is an historic church building and parish house located at 241 and 251 Main Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is the fourth church of a congregation whose first meetings were held in 1743.

Contents

History

In 1743 the congregation was founded by Samuel Hopkins, an early proponent of the theology of New Divinity. In 1883 the current stone church building was completed after a fire destroyed most of the previous structure, which had been built of locally quarried stone in 1859. In 1883 the congregation also accepted the donation by the Hopkins family of a house to be used as a parish hall. This building, also faced in local stone, was designed by Peabody & Stearns, and was previously located across the street from the church before being moved to its present location next to the church. [2]

In the 1880s the church sponsored congregant W. E. B. Du Bois as he attended Fisk University. In 1992 the church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [1]

Architecture

The church is set in the heart of downtown Great Barrington, facing west toward Main Street. The church, along with its manse and carriage house, are all built of locally quarried limestone. The church is two stories in height, with a longitudinal nave whose walls are supported by buttresses. Its roof is steeply pitched, and covered in slate. A five-story tower, 116 feet (35 m) in height, rises at the southwest corner, and is topped by a pyramidal roof with flared edges. The church was built in 1883, using parts of the previous (1859) structure, which was built from stone sourced at the same quarry, and was destroyed by fire in 1882. The church was designed by William C. Brocklesby, an architect practicing in Hartford, Connecticut. The manse and carriage barn, added in 1884, were designed by Peabody and Stearns of Boston. [3]

Notable congregants

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayley House</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Bayley House is a historic house at 16 Fairmont Avenue in Newtonville, Massachusetts, US. Built in 1883–84, it is a prominent example of Ruskinian Gothic architecture, designed by the noted firm of Peabody and Stearns. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allston Congregational Church</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Allston Congregational Church is a historic Congregational church building at 31-41 Quint Avenue in the Allston neighborhood Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1890–91 to a design by Allston native Eugene L. Clark, it is a prominent local example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. The property includes a Shingle style parsonage built about the same time. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The building presently houses a mosque and the Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Cambridge Baptist Church</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Old Cambridge Baptist Church is a historic American Baptist church at 400 Harvard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregational Church of West Stockbridge</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Congregational Church of West Stockbridge is an historic Congregational church building at 45 Main Street in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Completed in 1882 for a congregation founded in 1774, it is the town's best example of Stick style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, and continues in use by the original congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Congregational Church of Plainfield</span> Historic church in Connecticut, United States

The First Congregational Church of Plainfield is a historic Congregational church at 519 Norwich Road in Plainfield, Connecticut. It was built in 1816, for a congregation founded in 1705, to plans by noted early architect Ithiel Town, and is a relative rarity in the state as a Federal period stone church. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The congregation is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford and the Osgood House</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford and The Osgood House are a historic Unitarian Universalist church building and parsonage house at 141 and 147 High Street in Medford, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Congregational Church (Springfield, Massachusetts)</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The South Congregational Church is a historic church at 45 Maple Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. The 1875 High Victorian Gothic building was designed by William Appleton Potter for a congregation that was established in 1842, and is still active today. The building is also noted for some prominent donors who funded its construction, notably Daniel B. Wesson, Charles and George Merriam, and Daniel Harris, who owned and capitalized on the Howe truss patent for bridge design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Episcopal Church (Waltham, Massachusetts)</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Christ Church is a historic Episcopal church at 750 Main Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. The church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main Street Historic District (Easthampton, Massachusetts)</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Main Street Historic District of Easthampton, Massachusetts encompasses the historic heart of the town, running along Main Street between Northampton and Center Streets. The area has been the civic and economic heart of the town since incorporation in 1785. Most of the commercial buildings date from the 1840s to the 1880s, and are built in an Italianate style. The housing stock of the district also includes Italianate styling, but there are also a number of Greek Revival structures. The major civic structures of the town are in the district, including the town hall, public library, and the First Congregational Church, which is the second for the congregation, a brick Romanesque Revival building dating to 1851. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd Brooks Estate</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Shepherd Brooks Estate is an historic property at 275 Grove Street in Medford, Massachusetts. The 82-acre (33 ha) property is owned by the city of Medford, and managed by a trust established to preserve the property. Its principal feature is the manor house constructed in 1880 by Shepherd Brooks, a member of a prominent Medford family, and is the only major 19th-century estate to survive relatively undeveloped in the city. The grounds are open to the public daily from dawn to dusk, and tours of the house are available during the summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Church of Northeast Harbor</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The Union Church of Northeast Harbor is a historic church at 21 Summit Road in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Designed by Peabody and Stearns and built in 1887, it is a notable local example of Shingle style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The congregation is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Congregational Church and Chapel</span> Historic church in Vermont, United States

The Grafton Congregational Church, known locally as The Brick Church, is a historic church on Main Street in Grafton, Vermont. Built in 1833, it is a fine local example of vernacular Greek Revival and Gothic Revival religious architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Grafton's current Congregationalist congregation now meets primarily in the "White Church" at 55 Main Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Church of the Messiah</span> United States historic place

The Unitarian Church of the Messiah was a church at 508 North Garrison Avenue at the corner of Locust and Garrison Sts. in St. Louis, Missouri, USA and was the third church of the St. Louis congregation of Unitarians, founded in 1835. It was designed by noted Boston-based architects Peabody & Stearns in the Late Victorian style and constructed in 1880 by Charles Everett Clark, one of Peabody & Stearns' longtime contractors. The exterior walls were constructed of locally quarried blue limestone with a tawny colored sandstone quarried from Warrensburg, Missouri. The interior walls were faced with buff brick from the Peerless Brick Company of Philadelphia, among other materials. The original roof was made of red slate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Stone Congregational Church</span> Historic church in Colorado, United States

The Old Stone Congregational Church, also known as the First Congregational Church of Lyons, is a historic church in Lyons, Colorado, built in 1894-5 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housatonic Congregational Church</span> United States historic place

The Housatonic Congregational Church is a historic church building at 1089 Main Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Built in 1892 it is a prominent local example of Queen Anne Revival architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It is now home to the Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Souls Congregational Church (Bangor, Maine)</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

All Souls Congregational Church is an historic church at 10 Broadway in Bangor, Maine. Built in 1911, it is a landmark in the city, designed by the noted proponent of the Gothic Revival, Ralph Adams Cram. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The church is affiliated with the United Church of Christ; the current pastor is Rev. Chad L. Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Congregational Church Manse</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Central Congregational Church Manse is a heritage-listed manse at 21 Quarry Street, Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed and built in 1883 by Samuel Shenton. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godalming Congregational Church</span> Church in Surrey , United Kingdom

The building formerly known as Godalming Congregational Church was the Congregational chapel serving the ancient town of Godalming, in the English county of Surrey, between 1868 and 1977. It superseded an earlier chapel, which became Godalming's Salvation Army hall, and served a congregation which could trace its origins to the early 18th century. The "imposing suite of buildings", on a major corner site next to the Town Bridge over the River Wey, included a schoolroom and a manse, and the chapel had a landmark spire until just before its closure in 1977. At that time the congregation transferred to the nearby Methodist chapel, which became a joint Methodist and United Reformed church with the name Godalming United Church. The former chapel then became an auction gallery before being converted into a restaurant; then in 2018 the premises were let to the Cotswold Company to be converted into a furniture and home accessories showroom. In 1991 the former chapel was listed at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

The Lower Waterford Congregational Church is a historic church at 63 Lower Waterford Road in Waterford, Vermont. Built in 1859, it is a prominent local example of Greek Revival architecture. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church is a historic church building at 1859 Centre Street in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1900 to a design by West Roxbury native Henry M. Seaver, it is a locally significant example of Normanesque architecture, and is adorned by stained glass windows created by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his firm. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The congregation it houses was founded in 1712, and is named for the influential Transcendentalist and abolitionist Theodore Parker, who was the congregation's minister in the 1840s.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "MACRIS inventory record for the Society of the Congregational Church of Great Barrington". Commonwealth of Massachusetts.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. "NRHP nomination for the Society of the Congregational Church of Great Barrington". Commonwealth of Massachusetts.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)