The Architecture of Colonial AmericaEberlein, Harold Donaldson
History
The Architecture of Colonial America
Eberlein, Harold Donaldson
Architecture -- United States; Architecture, Colonial
The galleries within are supported on Tuscan pillars and the other
woodwork, while of excellent proportions, is exceedingly simple and
dignified. It is of interest to note that the pulpit is accessible only
by climbing up through the tower; the clerks’ seats are immediately
beneath it. The organ gallery is built above the chancel which is at the
east end of the church while the pulpit and the clerks’ desk are at the
west end so that frequent processions of the clergy during the course
of the service are sometimes necessary.
In the same class with Christ Church and St. Peter’s must be mentioned
St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, S.C., and St. Paul’s Chapel, New York
City. St. Michael’s was built in 1742 from plans, it is believed,
furnished by James Gibbs, the famous English architect, while St. Paul’s
is of native American design. Both churches show the strong influence of
Wren feeling which persisted in the ecclesiastical architecture of the
Georgian era.
While speaking of ecclesiastical architecture of the Middle Colonies we
must not omit to mention the Quaker meeting houses which were ordinarily
of brick or stone and sometimes covered with a coating of roughcast.
They are rectangular in form with pitch roofs and usually display two
rows of square windows. The cornices are simple and severe and all the
woodwork is extremely plain. As a rule there are four doors, two on each
of the longer sides. The woodwork within is not infrequently devoid of
paint and has acquired a wonderfully rich colour from age. In many of
the meeting houses there are galleries although the gallery is by no
means a universal feature. The smaller and older meeting houses are
generally of one storey in height but those of later date are frequently
of two storeys and in that case ordinarily have galleries. All the
details of woodwork are so exceedingly simple that one can scarcely say
they show a marked affinity with Georgian models although they belong,
for the most part, to the Georgian period.
Nor must we forget the meeting houses erected to accommodate the various
German sects. These buildings generally displayed architectural
affinities of Teutonic character. As an example of this we might mention
the old Trappe Meeting House on the Perkiomen, or some of the Moravian
churches and Reformed churches in the interior of Pennsylvania.
It will be unnecessary to make any further mention of the Georgian
churches of New York as they are, in the main, similar to those that
have been mentioned in an earlier part of this chapter. Some note,
however, should be made of the little Dutch churches one occasionally
finds such as that at Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson. Here we see the same
persistence of Dutch ecclesiastical traditions as was noted in
Pennsylvania in the case of German traditions exemplified in the
structures like the Trappe Meeting House. The general form of the
building and the method of its execution might readily be paralleled in
Holland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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