The home of the Yale Repertory Theatre is located on Chapel Street in New Haven. Originally built as Calvary Baptist Church in 1871, the building’s steeple was removed in 1966 when it was deconsecrated and sold to become a theater. The church was designed by Rufus G. Russell, who had trained with Henry Austin.
Originally constructed on Yale’s Old Campus in 1842-46 to serve as a library, Dwight Hall and Chapel was converted in 1931 to contain the Dwight Memorial Chapel, honoring Timothy Dwight. An early example of the Gothic Revival style, it was Yale’s first Gothic building and is currently Yale’s second oldest surviving building. It was designed by Henry Austin and in 1931, after the library had moved to a new building, its interior was remodeled by Charles Z. Klauder. The building is home to the organization known as Dwight Hall (formerly the Yale University Christian Association), which will be moving to a different building in 2010.
In front of the Chapel is a statue of former Yale President Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green, located just southwest of Center Church, is the third church comprising New Haven Green‘s carefully laid out plan of the Federal Period. At the time of its construction (1813-1814), Trinity Church, designed by Ithiel Town, was the most unusual of the three, as it was one of the very first three Gothic-style buildings in the United States. Town’s design has been significantly altered over the years, with the original wooden upper section of the tower being replaced by the current stone structure (and a pyramid, removed in 1930). Other changes include the addition of a chancel in 1884, by Henry Congdon. Town also designed Hartford’s first Gothic Episcopal church, which is now Chist Church Cathedral.
The Samuel Nye House, on Prospect Street in Willimantic, was built around 1875. It is a Gothic Revival house, notable for its two stone chimneys.
The first St. Joseph Church, Bristol’s first Catholic church, was built in 1855. This original wood building, enlarged in 1879, was eventually replaced by the current granite church, dedicated in 1925. Designed by Joseph A. Jackson in the English Tudor Gothic style (or Perpendicular Gothic), the church is on Queen Street, facing Federal Hill Green.
Simsbury’s first Methodist church was built in 1840, centrally located in town on Hopmeadow Street. Remodeled and rededicated in 1882, it was eventually demolished in 1908 to make way for a new church building, designed in the Gothic style by architect George Keller. Built of red sandstone with terracotta roofs, the new church still followed the basic plan he had used for his early Grace Episcopal Church in Windsor, but now in a more mature style. Red sandstone had been used in the earlier church as well, although, in the period in between, he had used granite for the Elizabeth and Northam Memorial Chapels. The Simsbury church has a square castellated tower, similar to one in his design for the Ansonia Library. The Simsbury United Methodist Church also features stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
When the city of Hartford chose to have an arch over a bridge (which once crossed the Park River, now underground) as its Civil War monument, it was seeking a design quite different from the usual types of Civil War monuments. It would be the first permanent triumphal arch in America. It is also one of the earliest monuments to use the term “Civil War.” A competition was announced, which irritated the architect George Keller–as a famous designer of Civil War monuments, he was unhappy not to be commissioned or even consulted. As all of the submitted designs went over budget, Keller was eventually able to reconcile with the city and plan the monument. The structure he created still remains a unique achievement for combining Classical and Gothic elements in a unified design. It is Keller’s most famous project (along with the James A. Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio). The monument, located on the edge of Hartford’s Bushnell Park, was built of Portland brownstone and was dedicated on September 17, 1886, the anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. The ashes of Keller and his wife were later interred in the east tower. The Arch was restored in 1986-1988, but has sometimes suffered damage due to cars crashing into it.
