Churches

Simsbury United Methodist Church (1909)

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.

Eizabeth Chapel, Institute of Living (1875)

Located on the grounds of the Institute of Living in Hartford (which had begun as the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, founded by Dr. Eli Todd), Elizabeth Chapel was donated by Dr. Gurdon Wadsworth Russell in memory of his first wife. Constructed in 1875 of Westerly Granite, the chapel was designed by George Keller, utilizing a variation on the same basic plan he had made earlier for his Grace Episcopal Church in Windsor.

Grace Episcopal Church, Windsor (1864)

Constructed while he was still designing monuments for the firm of J. G. Batterson, George Keller‘s Grace Episcopal Church, on Broad Street Green in Windsor, is his earliest completed building. Just 21 years old at the time, Keller had just arrived in Hartford in 1864. The cornerstone was for the church was laid that year and the building was completed in 1865. Windsor’s Episcopal parish had been established in 1842, and their first church building was built in 1845. The church designed by Keller, in the Gothic Revival style, was enlarged and rededicated in 1934.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, East Hartford (1867)

St. John’s Episcopal Church, at Rector and Main Streets in East Hartford, was built between 1867 and 1869. The High Victorian Gothic-style church was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter, and displays that architect‘s interest in polychromatism, which he would use again in his Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House in Hartford and Trinity Church in Wethersfield, as well as in the domestic architecture of the Mark Twain House in Hartford. Rev. John J. McCook, the volunteer rector of St. John’s Parish at the time, was instrumental in bringing about the building of the church.

First Church of Christ in Mansfield (1866)

The first Congregational community in Tolland County was organized in Mansfield in 1710. The first minister was Rev. Eleazer Williams, who was succeeded by Richard Salter. The original meetinghouse was replaced by a new church in 1754 (which can be seen in an 1836 sketch of Mansfield by John Warner Barber). When that second meetinghouse was destroyed in a fire, the current church building was constructed in 1866. The First Church of Christ in Mansfield is located on Storrs Road in Mansfield Center. It was designed in the Italianate style, with its facade featuring arched windows influenced by Italian Romanesque churches. The steeple is a replacement of the original, which was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.

First Congregational Church, Bristol (1832)

In 1742, when Bristol (known as New Cambridge) was still a part of Farmington, its residents received the privilege, from the Connecticut General Court, to have their own congregational services during the winter months. A seperate ecclesiastical society was formed in 1744 and the congregation settled its first minister in 1747. Their first meeting house was soon completed on Federal Hill Green, which had been chosen as the center of the new community. A school was completed in 1754 and, later, a second meeting house to replace the first. The current First Congregational Church is the third building on the site, constructed in 1832 at the intersection of Maple Street and Prospect Place. It was designed by Benjamin Palmer in the Greek Revival style, although the steeple has a Gothic elements.

Unitarian Meeting House (1964)

Hartford’s Unitarian Congregational Society began in 1844 and their first church building, built in 1846, was located at the corner of Trumbull & Asylum Streets (it was later moved to the site of the current Trinity Episcopal Church). Their second building, constructed on Pratt Street in 1881, was known as Unity Hall and also served as a lecture and concert hall. Their third church was built in 1924 on Pearl Street. In 1962, the congregation sold that building and in 1964 a new meetinghouse was dedicated. Located on Bloomfield Avenue, the Meetinghouse of the Unitarian Society of Hartford was designed by Victor Lundy. It is a very modern and abstract design, whose nonidentical supporting piers rise towards the same point in the sky, represent the Unitarian principle of many paths leading to Truth.