Episcopal

Trinity Episcopal Church, Seymour (1857)

In February 1797, a new Episcopal church was organized at a meeting in the home of Dr. Samuel Sanford in Seymour. By spring, the cornerstone for a church building had been laid but, due to a lack of funds, Union Church was only completed in 1816. Rev. Richard Mansfield served as the part-time rector until 1802. The church grew over the years and, in 1853, its name was changed to Trinity Episcopal. In 1857, the church was almost completely rebuilt, starting with only the old framework of the building, under the direction of architect Henry Austin of New Haven. There have been changes to the church over the years. The current spire is not as tall or complex than the one Austin originally built. At one time, the church also had Victorian-style ornamentation inside, but in 1997, when the church celebrated its 200th anniversary, the interior was completely renovated in the Colonial Revival manner.

Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford (1838)

Samuel Johnson, the first Episcopal clergyman in Connecticut, organized Christ Church in Guilford in 1744. The Episcopalians first used a small church, built in 1748 and located within the bounds of Guilford Green. In 1834, the church was sold, with the proceeds financing the construction, in 1834-1838, of a new Gothic-Revival church with a grandly imposing tower. Local builder William Weld constructed a chancel in 1872 and another addition, for an organ, was built in 1890.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Meriden (1867)

The history of the Episcopal Church in Meriden goes back to 1775, when a group loyal to the Church of England met secretly to worship at the Moses Andrews Homestead on West Main Street. St Andrew’s Parish was officially established in 1789 and the first church building, made of wood, was constructed in 1810 at the location of the burying ground. The second church was built in 1848 on Broad Street and later became the first church building used by St. Rose of Lima Church. The cornerstone of the present St. Andrew’s Church, at the intersection of Catlin, Liberty and East Main Streets, was laid in 1866. The church, consecrated the following year, was constructed of Portland brownstone and was designed by Henry Dudley of New York, an English-born architect known for his Gothic Revival churches.

Immanuel St. James Church (1843)

On the other side of Derby Green from the Sterling Opera House is Immanuel St. James Episcopal Church, on Minerva Street. Built in 1843, the building had two predecessors: the church on Elm Street in what is now Ansonia, at the Old Episcopal Graveyard (which was later moved across the street and attached to the Humphreys House), and its successor on Derby Avenue, which was called St. James Church. When the third building was constructed in 1843, some families continued to worship at the old church and organized Christ Church parish in Ansonia. In 1970, St. James Church in Derby began a Joint Ministry with Immanuel Church in Ansonia, and the two merged in 1991. The stone church was was built by the stonemason Harvey Johnson and the carpenter Nelson Hinman. The land for the church was donated by Sheldon Smith and Anson G. Phelps. A rectory was constructed next door in 1853.

Trinity Episcopal Church, New Haven (1814)

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.

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.