Second Baptist Church (Poughkeepsie)
The Second Baptist Church is a church in Poughkeepsie , New York in the United States . It's on the corner of Vassar and Mill Streets. It is a wooden structure that was built in the late 1830s in the classical style. It is the last church of this style in the City of Poughkeepsie.
The structure has been used by various congregations of different faiths since it was built, and it was even once a synagogue , possibly nicknamed Vassar Temple , especially since it stands on land that once belonged to Matthew Vassar , who founded Vassar College . The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 20, 1972 and later became a contributing building to the Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District .
Building
The church is rectangular. The structure comprises three bays in width and six in length. The narrow side with the colonnades faces east. The building is a one-story building, although it seems there are two because the brick base is visible except for the south side. There is also an attic . The pitched roof has a low pitch .
Four pilasters on the short side and six on the long front separate the yokes. The main entrance is under a portico with Doric columns that support a flat architrave with a frieze , with alternating flat panels and triglyphs . The gable triangle is formed by a nested cornice with a small round lattice window in the center. The two doors have stained glass windows that correspond to the four larger windows on the long sides.
history
The property has been used for religious purposes since the mid-1830s. It was then bought by a split from the presbyters from the Matthew Vassars family. The design of the church is based on a textbook for builders from 1833. At that time, buildings in the classical style were popular and were built as public buildings and private houses. The presbyter secession did not last long, and in 1842 she sold it to the First Congregational Church. The change in ownership and use reflects demographics in the City of Poughkeepsie.
A few years later the parish sold the building to a private owner, who donated it to the local Masonic lodge in 1859 . The following year, the Masonic Lodge sold it to Matthew Vassar, Jr. In 1868 he sold the church to the Congregated Brethren of Israel, making it a synagogue . The sale of Vassar, the use as a synagogue and the colonnades led to the colloquial name as Vassar Temple .
Second Baptist Church and the Farmer's and Manufacturer's Bank on Market Street are the last two non-residential Classical buildings in Poughkeepsie. Others, such as the former City Hall, have been demolished and replaced.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Stephanie Mauri: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Second Baptist Church ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . May 1971. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
Coordinates: 41 ° 42 ′ 23 " N , 73 ° 55 ′ 51" W.