Wikipedia

John Stevens (architect)

John Stevens (1824-1881) was an American architect who practiced in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for ecclesiastical design, and designed churches and other buildings across New England.

John Stevens
Born1824
DiedApril 14, 1881
Worcester, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
PracticeJohn Stevens; John Stevens & Son
South Church, Andover. 1860.

Life and career

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John Stevens was born in 1824.[1] His early life is unknown, and he established himself as an architect in Boston in 1850.[2] After several years primarily designing schools and private residences, he began receiving commissions for churches by the end of the 1850s. He built these churches, generally in the Romanesque Revival style, in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. From 1860 to 1862 he employed Archimedes Russell, who would later become a prominent architect in Syracuse, New York.[3] In 1869 he was briefly associated with S. F. Pratt, at which time he was working on buildings at Oak Bluffs.[4] He remained in Massachusetts until 1879, when he established a partnership with his son, J. Walter Stevens, and moved west to St. Paul, Minnesota. John Stevens & Son operated until April 14, 1881, when Stevens died while on a visit to Worcester, Massachusetts.[5]

Legacy

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Stevens designed a great many churches. His Baptist church in Saint John, New Brunswick, completed in 1878, was said to have been his 113th.[6] Many of his churches were built on only three basic models, which he relied on throughout his career. His contemporaries criticized him for this repetitiveness. In 1878, an anonymous writer going by "Verax" wrote in regard to his St. John church: "and as the 'outline and general features are after the Byzantine period' we may expect something similar to Mr. Stevens's previous works, which may be seen in almost every city from Calais to Lynn."[7]

At least six of his works have been listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, and several more contribute to listed historic districts.

Architectural works

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Year Building Address City State Notes Image Reference
1852 Nathaniel Dearborn House 21 Chestnut St Wakefield Massachusetts On the National Register of Historic Places.   [2]
1854 Smith Hall Abbot Academy Andover Massachusetts Demolished. [1]
1855 c. 1855 Stephen Hall House 64 Minot St Reading Massachusetts On the National Register of Historic Places.   [8]
1855 Punchard Free School 36 Bartlett St Andover Massachusetts Demolished. [1]
1857 Malden Town Hall 389 Main St Malden Massachusetts Demolished.   [9]
1859 First Congregational Church 322 Main St Woburn Massachusetts On the National Register of Historic Places.   [2]
1859 First Parish Congregational Church 1 Church St Wakefield Massachusetts A complete rebuilding. Demolished in 1890.   [10]
1859 North Church 240 Main St Haverhill Massachusetts [11]
1860 First Congregational Church 1 S Main St Randolph Massachusetts Burned in 1936. [10]
1860 Reading Agricultural and Mechanical Association Building 643 Main St Reading Massachusetts Built with an elaborate mansard roof, removed in 1959. [12]
1860 South Church 41 Central St Andover Massachusetts   [13]
1861 Haverhill City Hall Main St Haverhill Massachusetts Demolished.   [14]
1861 Cyrus Wakefield House 467 Main St Wakefield Massachusetts Demolished.   [15]
1863 First Parish Congregational Church 12 Beach St Saco Maine Burned in 2000.[16] Previously on the National Register of Historic Places.[17] [18]
1863 Third (Pavilion) Congregational Church 270 Main St Biddeford Maine Converted into the McArthur Public Library.   [10]
1864 First Baptist Church 81 St Paul St Burlington Vermont On the National Register of Historic Places.   [19]
1865 Trinitarian Congregational Church 72 Elm St North Andover Massachusetts [20]
1866 Oren B. Cheney House 262 College St Lewiston Maine Now Cheney House of Bates College.   [21]
1866 Masonic Temple 326 Main St Melrose Massachusetts Heavily altered. [22]
1866 Pine Street Congregational Church 60 Pine St Lewiston Maine Demolished. [10]
1867 Erastus P. Carpenter House 47 Ocean Ave Oak Bluffs Massachusetts [23]
1867 First Congregational Church 1 Washburn Sq Leicester Massachusetts Burned in 1900. [10]
1867 Pawtucket Congregational Church 40 Walcott St Pawtucket Rhode Island On the National Register of Historic Places.   [24]
1868 Memorial Hall 22 South St Foxborough Massachusetts On the National Register of Historic Places.   [25]
1868 Wakefield Town Hall Main and Water Sts Wakefield Massachusetts Demolished in 1958.   [2]
1870 Court Street Baptist Church 129 Court St Auburn Maine [26]
1871 First Congregational Church 171 Main St Franklin Massachusetts Demolished or burned. [27]
1871 First Congregational Church 150 S Common St Lynn Massachusetts [2]
1871 Wakefield High School 1 Lafayette St Wakefield Massachusetts Now the Town Hall. [28]
1873 First Congregational Church 21 Calais Ave Calais Maine Burned in 1992. [29]
1874 Melrose Town Hall 562 Main St Melrose Massachusetts Substantially burned in 1937, and rebuilt from designs by Mowll & Rand.[30]   [31]
1876 First Universalist Church 169 Pleasant St Auburn Maine On the National Register of Historic Places.   [32]
1877 Weldon (King Edward) School 210 Wentworth St St. John New Brunswick Demolished. [33]
1878 Central Baptist Church 42 Leinster St St. John New Brunswick Said to be his 113th church. [33]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Reed, Roger G. "The Lost Victorian Campus". Academy Hill: The Andover Campus, 1778 to the Present. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.
  2. ^ a b c d e Morgan, Keith N. Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston. 2009.
  3. ^ Hardin, Evamaria. "Archimedes Russell and Ninetenth-Century Syracuse." 1979.
  4. ^ Weiss, Ellen. "Robert Morris Copeland's Plans for Oak Bluffs." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Vol. 34, No. 1, 1975.
  5. ^ Saint Paul Globe 20 April 1881: 2.
  6. ^ -"Biographical Record for 1881: John Stevens." Annals oo the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1795-1892. Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1892.
  7. ^ American Architect and Building News 28 Sept. 1878: 111. Boston.
  8. ^ Stephen Hall House NRHP Nomination. 1984.
  9. ^ Oration, Poem, Speeches, Chronicles, &c., at the Dedication of the Malden Town Hall. Malden: Charles C. P. Moody, 1857.
  10. ^ a b c d e The Year-Book of the Unitarian Congregational Churches for 1867. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1868.
  11. ^ "HVR.709". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  12. ^ "REA.407". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  13. ^ Shivell, Kirk. The Steeples of Old New England: How the Yankees Reached for Heaven. 1998.
  14. ^ Chase, George Wingate. The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts. 1861.
  15. ^ MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Wakefield. 1980.
  16. ^ Gotthelf, Liz (19 September 2014). "First Parish to mark 10 years in new building". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  17. ^ National Register of Historic Places, 1966 to 1994: Cumulative List Through January 1, 1994. National Park Service. 1994. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-89133-254-1.
  18. ^ Images of America: Saco Revisited. Arcadia, 2009.
  19. ^ First Baptist Church NRHP Nomination. 2001.
  20. ^ "NAD.90". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  21. ^ Main Street-Frye Street Historic District NRHP Nomination. 2008.
  22. ^ "Laying of the Corner-Stone of the Masonic Hall in Melrose." Freemason's Monthly. 1 July 1866: 277.
  23. ^ "OAK.1046". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  24. ^ Pawtucket Congregational Church NRHP Nomination. 1978.
  25. ^ "FOX.11". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  26. ^ Thompson, Deborah. Maine Forms of American Architecture. 1976.
  27. ^ History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Ed. D. Hamilton Hurd. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Company, 1884.
  28. ^ "WAK.352". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  29. ^ Graettinger, Diana and Jeanne Curran. "Evening fire destroys century-old church at Calais". http://archive.bangordailynews.com/. Bangor Daily News. 22 Feb. 1992.
  30. ^ Massachusetts Reports: Decisions of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Vol. 313. 1942.
  31. ^ "MEL.20". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d.
  32. ^ First Universalist Church NRHP Nomination. 1979.
  33. ^ a b "Stevens, John". http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/. n.d.
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