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Gc 974.502 P9481 1925504
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01067 6614
1
THE MEETING HOUSE OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE
THE MEETING HOUSE OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE
A History of the Fabric by NORMAN M. ISHAM F. A. I. A.
Issued by The Charitable Baptist Society on the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Dedication of the House, May Twenty-eighth Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Five
PROVIDENCE MAY 28, MDCCCCXXV
Printed May 1925 by The Akerman-Standard Company Providence
1925504
To JOSEPH BROWN and JAMES SUMNER and the others THE CRAFTSMEN who with them wrought the House and to JAMES GIBBS who designed the Steeple
CONTENTS
Page
I. The Undertaking . I
II. The Design 3
III. The Construction . . II
IV. The Changes . 17 · ·
V. Appendices:
A. The Old Copy of Gibbs's Book 22
B. The Estimate of Cost 24
C. The List of Subscribers . . 27
D. The List of Pew Owners . 29
E. Miscellaneous Papers . 30
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE MEETING HOUSE IN THE LATE SEVENTIES Frontispiece Photograph in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society
THE PURCHASES OF LAND on page 2 Drawn from the old deeds
THE PLAN OF THE MEETING HOUSE IN 1775 opposite page 4 Drawn from measurements, 1925
THE PLAN OF ST. MARTIN'S-IN-THE-FIELDS . 16 4 Copper plate in James Gibbs's A Book of Architecture owned by The Providence Athenaeum
THE CROSS SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING WEST
6
Drawn from measurements, 1925
THE CROSS SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING EAST
6
Drawn from measurements, 1925.
THE CROSS SECTION OF ST. MARTIN'S LOOK- ING EAST.
16
6
Copper plate from Gibbs, as above
THE CROSS SECTION OF MARYBONE CHAPEL LOOKING EAST
6
Copper plate from Gibbs, as above.
THE LENGHTWISE SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH
66 8
Drawn from measurements, 1925.
THE LENGTHWISE SECTION OF ST. MARTIN'S LOOKING SOUTH . 66
8 Copper plate from Gibbs, as above.
THE THREE SPIRES . .
.
IO Copper plate from Gibbs, as above.
xi
ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued)
THE FRAMING OF THE STEEPLE . opposite page 10 Drawn from measurements, 1925.
THE METHOD OF RAISING THE STEEPLE
14 Drawn from measurements, 1925.
THE OUTSIDE OF THE MEETING HOUSE IN 1789 66 I4
Copper plate by Samuel Hill in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
THE OUTSIDE OF THE MEETING HOUSE IN THE FIFTIES . 66
"
18
Daguerreotype in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
THE EAST END OF THE MEETING HOUSE BEFORE THE OUTSIDE CHANGES 66 18
Photograph in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society
THE INSIDE OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOK- ING EAST IN 1854 .
18
Photograph owned by Prof. A. E. Watson.
THE PLAN OF THE GALLERY BETWEEN 1808 AND 1839
18
Contemporary MS. plan found by Mr. C. H. Guild.
THE CHANGES IN THE STAIRS TO THE UPPER GALLERY IN 1834 . on page 21
Drawn from measurements, 1925.
THE INSIDE OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOK- ING WEST IN 1924 . opposite page 22 Photograph owned by Prof. A. E. Watson.
THE INSIDE OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOK- ING EAST IN 1924 .
22
Photograph owned by Prof. A. E. Watson.
xii
PREFACE
It is the purpose of this book to give a brief and not too technical history of the fabric of the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church. No account of it as a whole exists, and it has never been described from an architectural point of view. Such historical accounts as are accessible are combined with the ecclesiastical history of the Church or with the annals of the College. It is wise, then, on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the dedication of the great building, to gather what there is in the records with what may reasonably be in- ferred from them, what there may be in the traditions of the congregation and of the city and what is to be learned from the house itself, and to combine these sources into one narrative which shall trace the beginnings of the enterprise, the design, the construction and the changes which have brought the fabric to what we now admire.
To those friends of the old Meeting House who have so kindly helped them in this task the thanks of the committee on the Anniversary and of the author are gratefully rendered; to the Rhode Island Historical Society for the use of its old views of the building; to the Society's president, Mr. Howard W. Preston, for advice and help, especially on the purchase of the land; to the Providence Athenaeum for permission to copy the engravings in its old Gibbs; to Mr. Frank C. Angell, for his aid in the restoration of the old pulpit; to the senior archi- tectural students of the Rhode Island School of Design for help in measurements and drawings; to Prof. Watson who has long studied the fabric; and, especially, to Mr. John Nicholas Brown, by whose courtesy are printed for the first time the documents-well-nigh priceless in a research where the destruction of the early accounts has added so much to the difficulty of the problem,-which are gathered in the appen- dices. Among these is an estimate of the cost of the building and of the resources available for meeting the charges, a paper which alone would justify the brief history here offered.
xiii
THE MEETING HOUSE of the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH in Providence
I
THE UNDERTAKING
In 1774 the congregation of the First Baptist Church had outgrown its meeting house. The old building, which stood on what is now the corner of North Main and Smith Streets, was small and it was old fashioned, for Howland, who must have known it, says it was about forty feet square and that it had only benches for seats.1 The Elder Ballou Meeting House, in Cumberland, the only contemporary building of its kind in Rhode Island which is comparatively unchanged, will reward the visitor who studies its curious benches and primitive gal- leries by giving him a nearly perfect picture of the interior of this older house of worship of the Providence Baptists.2
The authorities of the church determined, therefore, on a new building. To accomplish this, as well as to hold land and to look after the temporal affairs of the church they formed the Charitable Baptist Society the members of which agreed: "that we will all heartily unite, as one man, . . . particularly to attend to and revive the affair of building a meeting-house, for the publick worship of Almighty God, and also for holding Commencement in."3
They were not long in carrying their resolve into effect. In fact, the swiftness with which they moved is astounding. They bought land, they sent Joseph Brown and Jonathan Hammon
1. Stone, Life of John Howland, p. 29.
2. In the estimate of the cost of the new meeting house, Appendix B, the sum of £3 was allowed for "work in takg seets from old meeting house and putg in new" though there is nothing to show that this was done.
3. Char. Bapt. Soc. MS. Records, p. 1 under date of Feb. 11, 1774.
to Boston "to view the different churches and meeting-houses there, and to make a memorandum of their several dimensions and forms of architecture," and, in the beginning of March 1774, they voted that "Joseph Brown, Jonathan Hammond and Comfort Wheaton be a Committee to make a Draught of a House 90 by 70 feet together with a Tower and Steeple and make an Invoice of the Timber and other material, and ascer- tain the price of the same, and that they make Report of the same to the Society at their next meeting."1 This is the docu- mentary evidence for the tradition, constant and uniform in the town, that Joseph Brown was the architect of the meeting house. The vote leaves so little time for the study of a plan that it seems certain that a scheme had already been pretty well thought out and decided upon, and that a working plan of this was to be made from which the lists of quantities, with the prices for them, could be determined.
A little later one man, Mr. John Brown, was appointed "the Committee man for carrying on the building" and eleven others were appointed to advise and assist him, BENEFIT OR BACK ST. with meetings every 90 80 Monday evening. The I. - firstof these was at John JOHN ANGELL AMAZIAH TO WATERMAN WM. RUSSELL TO : Brown's, May 9, 1774.2 FEB . 15.174 ETAL İ JOHN JENCKES
The land first pur- chased ran south from the present Thomas Street eighty feet along what is now North Main, and back "about three hundred" to Ben- efit. The vote asking Mr. William Russell to buy this land for the
GANG WAY OF JOFEET NOW THOMAS ST.
APRIL 22 1774
JOHN JENCKES
ETAL. i
TO
1
CHAR BAPT. SOC.
JULY 28.17/ 4
42
WM. RUSSELL
WH
TO
WATERMANICH
CHAR BAPT. SOC
112
LTAL
JULY 8 . 1774.
C. B.S
APRIL 8.
1857:
-----
7
. 10
60
59
KINC OR MAIN ST.
2. THE PURCHASES OF LAND
1. C. B. Soc. MS. Records, p. 2.
2. See Appendix E. where the list is given from an original MS. memorandum.
2
300±
O ..
WATERMANS LANE
Society was passed February 14, 1774. John Angell's deed to Russell1 is dated February 15th, of that year.
This first lot, John Angell's orchard, was deeded to the Charitable Baptist Society by William Russell, July 8, 1774.2
At the meeting, early in March, when the plan was ordered, it was voted to buy land from Amaziah Waterman who, on April 22, 1774,3 deeded to John Jenckes, Nicholas Brown and others, an irregular lot on the south of the original purchase. This is marked II in figure 2.
Mr. Jenckes and the others deeded this lot to the Society, July 28, 1774.9
This left on the corner of Waterman and North Main Streets, to use the present names, a lot which was held by the Watermans until, on April 8, 1857,5 William H. Waterman and others conveyed it to the Society. This is III in figure 2.
From this original estate land has been taken, at different times, to widen Benefit, Waterman and North Main Streets, as is roughly indicated, in figure 2, by the dotted lines which give approximately the present lines of the land.
II THE DESIGN
Let us now consider the membership and the work of the com- mittee appointed to "make a Draught of a House." Joseph Brown who had lately become a member of the church, was undoubtedly the chairman, as he is named first. One of the famous "four brothers", he was not only a man of affairs but a
1. Providence Deed Book XX. p. 188. It looks as if the matter had been arranged before hand . Note the date on the List of Subscribers in Appendix C.
2. D. B. XIX., 240.
3. D. B. XX., 391.
4. D. B. XIX., 257.
5. D. B. CXLV., 296.
3
scholar of scientific attainment, who was not long after to hold the chair of Experimental Philosophy in Rhode Island College. That he was a man of taste and culture and that he was interested in architecture and had some knowledge of it is witnessed, aside from what he did for the meeting house, by the two books on the art which appear in his inventory.
Jonathan Hammond or Hammon, as it is generally spelled, was a carpenter. He is called "joyner" in 1744 in a deed from Daniel Sheldon, and "house carpenter" in 1762.1 He was sent to Boston, it will be remembered, with Mr. Brown and Mr. Wheaton. He had been to Cambridge, in 1770, with Joseph Brown and Zephaniah Andrews, on a similar errand, and, as Andrews was the master mason on University Hall and as an old account for that building mentions Hammon's judgment on "refuse boards",2 it is very probable that he was the master carpenter on the College work.
Comfort Wheaton was born in 1723 and thus was about the same age as Hammon who was twenty-one or more in 1744. He is called "housewright" in a deed of 1763.3 Both he and Hammon subscribed to the fund for building the meeting house, Hammon £12 "to be paid in Labour," Wheaton £12 "in work." Their names, with those of many other workmen, are in the list in Appendix C.
These two men, then, were put on the committee to make the invoice of timber and to give the technical and practical advice needed to embody in a "Draught," Mr. Brown's choice of a design for the Meeting House.
That choice was profoundly influenced by the churches of James Gibbs a very able architect who was practicing in Eng- land in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The meeting-houses and churches of Boston seem to have had little or no interest for the committee. Mr. Brown possessed a copy of Gibbs's "Book of Architecture", published in 1728, which contained many drawings of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, built in
1. Prov. Deed Book B-X., p. 179. D. B. XVII, 251.
2. Guild, B. U. and Manning, p. 154.
3. D. B. XVII., 315.
4
ORIGINNI STATE VNKNOWN
...
..
- --
DOWN
·
ORIGINAL STATE UNKNOWN
3. THE PLAN OF THE MEETING HOUSE IN 1775
A
1
4. THE PLAN OF ST. MARTIN'S-IN-THE-FIELDS
1726, and of other churches as well. What has long been main- tained by tradition to be the very copy owned by Mr. Brown and used in the design of the Meeting House is now in the pos- session of the Providence Athenaeum. Its history and authen- ticity are discussed in Appendix A.
The plan upon which the committee settled has no resem- blance to that of the church of St. Martin except in its two rows of columns. It is probable that the basilican plan was taken from this church or from the simpler Marybone Chapel, but there the resemblance ceases, as will plainly appear if the two plans, that of the First Baptist in figure 3 and that of St. Martin's in figure 4, be even casually compared. In fact the plan of the Meeting House is pretty nearly a product of its own time and place.
The original vote of the Society directed the committee to "make a Draught of a House 90 by 70 feet." At the next meet- ing this vote was "disannulled" and it was determined to make the building eighty feet square, its present size. The width of seventy feet is that of St. Martin's, but it may not have been chosen for that reason. The lot bought from Thomas Angell was ninety feet wide only and a building more than seventy feet wide could not well be placed upon it. Indeed, that width would be too great, and the principal door would perforce be in the end of the house, an arrangement repugnant to the feel- ing of dissenting New England and giving up the usual New England meeting-house plan with its side doors. It was probably thought by some that this narrow plan was going a little too far toward the long church, like Trinity at Newport, and away from the old broad plan of the seventeenth century.1 This may have led to the purchase of the land on the south from Amaziah Waterman, authorized at the previous meeting, which gave more space around the meeting-house while it allowed the plan to be made wider and nearer the form dear to tradition. This reduced the plan, figure 3, to a square with a tower on one side. There were five doors, one in the tower,
1. Rev. C. A. Place, "From Meeting House to Church in New England," in Old Time New Eng- land, XIII, 149.
5
one on the north, one on the south and two on the east. St. Martin's has but one principal entrance, that through the tower, which was, generally, in New England meeting-houses, no more important than any other, if as much so. Except for the lines of columns no one could accuse our committee or Mr. Brown of copying from Gibbs.
The section, however, figure 5, shows more resemblance to that of St. Martin's. Each has a barrel vault of elliptical curve over the central space, each has a gallery on two sides and two at the west end, and each has vaults in the side gallery
. ceilings. This brings the west ends into a likeness to each other. The east ends, as might be expected of church and meeting-house are quite unlike. The vaulting of Gibbs' design, moreover, figure 7, was too elaborate. The main vault was coffered and had penetrations with inclined crowns over the arches of the galleries. The aisle galleries, too, were vaulted with saucer domes on pendentives, in the manner of Wren at St. Paul's. None of this was copied. In plate XXIV of Gibbs's "Book of Architecture", however, is a section of Marybone Chapel, figure 8, which must have been taken as the pattern for the vaulting of the First Baptist; for, except- ing the Corinthian order of the columns, it is, almost line for line, the section of our meeting-house. The central space has the flat elliptical barrel, and the galleries have groined vaults on a square plan, with level crowns. Even the treat- ment of the east end can be readily translated into the Palla- dian window under an arch carried by two pilasters, the motive which our eastern wall once had.
The spire, or the steeple, as the old documents always call it, was entirely due to Gibbs. When the Church of St. Mar- tin was built the architect made four designs for the spire. One of these was selected by the vestry and was built. The other three Gibbs published in his book. They are printed side by side in plate XXX of the ancient work from which they are reproduced in figure 11. The committee-it was un- doubtedly Mr. Brown's choice-fixed upon the middle design of the three. No change was made in the design as Gibbs drew
6
5. THE CROSS SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING WEST
6. THE CROSS SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING EAST
Section from South to North
7. THE CROSS SECTION OF ST. MARTIN'S LOOKING EAST
The Section from South to North
Ja Gibbi Creh: dal:
8. THIE CROSS SECTION OF MARYBONE CHAPEL LOOKING EAST
it except in the last window stage. Gibbs had made this cylindrical. In the actual steeple this stage is octagonal, probably because it was cheaper, though we can not say that Mr. Brown was not aware that he was making an improve- ment.
The invoice made by the committee is not extant in itsoriginal form, but the substance of it has come down to us in a docu- ment called "Cost of the Baptist Meeting House now Build- ing". This consists of three pages of foolscap-three sheets each written on one side-endorsed in a different hand:
"Calculation of the cost of the Meeting house made by John Jenks Jnº Brown Cahoon & Jos Brown Made Augt 1774"
It is practically a bill of quantities and of labor very care- fully itemized and extraordinarily complete. It is of the greatest help in studying the design, for it is so nearly a specifi- cation that we can see what the designers intended as we com- pare it with what now exists and with the sections in Gibbs. It is printed in full in Appendix B.
The chief differences between the house as it was built and as we now see it are at the two ends. At the west there was, above the main gallery which then had no organ, a second gallery where the colored people sat. Such a gallery is shown in the section of St. Martin's in figure 7. It is carried by small columns set back from the main gallery front, which is also carried by columns which stop beneath it.
The upper gallery in the First Baptist is restored in figures 5 and 9 from this corresponding gallery in St. Martin's, from the lunettes which once lighted it through the the vault of the nave and which are still visible in the garret, and from certain statements in the estimate. This called for "small Pillows" under the gallery, for casing eight posts, "beede caseing" and allowed £20 for the whole carpenter work of this upper gal- lery.
There were four of these "Small Pillows to support the front [i.e. the west] Gallerys above & below," but the lower
7
pair, under the main gallery was not used. The large columns, like those at the sides, took its place.
The treatment of the Gallery front, the "Brast work to the Gallery with Belextion pannills," follows that in St. Martin'sand in the Marybone Chapel. It is like that, too, in King's Chapel, Boston. It has the drawback of cutting into the columns in an ugly manner and of having no special appearance of support. Gibbs seems to have used it deliberately, for he must have known of the expedients which Wren used to meet the problem of tall columns cut by a gallery. Perhaps Gibbs thought the less he called attention to the puzzle the better. Not all Wren's churches were of the basilican plan, that is with nave and aisles, like the First Baptist, since he varied his plans, but those that have this arrangement are provided with galleries on the two sides and at the west end. At St. Bride's, the gallery front cuts into the columns but has a pier under each end. At Christ Church, Newgate, there are piers which support the gallery and the columns rise from them. At St. James, Westminster, there are piers under the gallery and piers above it with pedestals on the gallery face, an arrangement followed at Trinity in Newport and at Christ Church, Boston.
Most Colonial churches or meeting houses in New England have galleries, but the basilican plan, with columns rising to the roof, is not so very common. The columns usually stop under the gallery which they support. Once in a while two galleries on the three sides occur, as in the Old South in Boston, and in Christ Church, Guilford, now destroyed.
The restoration of the east end involves that of the pulpit. While the exact details of this cannot be given, the general scheme can readily be reached. There was a Palladian or Venetian window in the east wall. It was closed in 1846 and so does not appear in figure 17 which shows the interior in 1854, but we can see both its location and its height from the floor in the old photograph of the exterior in figure 16. It is now set, at a greater height, in the recess for the baptistery.
One hundred pounds was set down in the old estimate for "the Pulpit & Cannepey & Communion Table allso a
8
F
E
: LUNETTE
D
YPPER GALLERY
C
CANOPY
OLD PANELS HEREN
ORIGINAL STATE NOT KNOWN
B
PULPIT.
A
9. THE LENGTHWISE SECTION OF THE MEETING HOUSE LOOKING SOUTH
The Section from Cafe to Wife of J. Martins Church.
IO. THE LENGTHWISE SECTION OF ST. MARTIN'S LOOKING SOUTH
Genteel Cushing & Curtains." This shows that there was a sounding board which it is said the late Mr. Rounds, one of the old members, could remember. The traces of the rod or chain which supported it from the ceiling are still to be seen in the floor of the garret. The window gives the height of the pulpit for, by all precedent, it was just back of the latter, with its sill about on a level with the pulpit rail. The sounding board was above it and the curtain was draped over it. On each side of the pulpit there was often, in the meeting houses, a flight of steps. In the churches, there was usually a stair on one side only. The intention seems to have been to bring the eyes of the preacher level with some point of the gallery front, a point which varied, but which seems not to have been higher than the gallery rail, as at St. Peter's, Philadelphia. The pulpit rail was apt to be on a line with the bottom of the gallery front. This may be taken as a low limit, with the mid- dle of the front for the high point.
Fortunately we can, for the form of the pulpit, do more than make these general statements. When the old pulpit was torn out, it was given, along with the box pews which were taken out at the same time, to a Freewill Baptist Church in Centredale. This church built its meeting-house in 1832, and Mr. F. C. Angell reports a statement made by his grandfather that the pulpit and pews came from a meeting-house in Provi- dence which was undergoing changes at the time the Centre- dale building was erected. The pews were finally used to panel the walls and the pulpit was put in the cellar. In 1892, the building, which had not been used for worship since 1863, was burned and with it, shame to relate, the original pulpit of the First Baptist Meeting House! One pew door remains which Mr. Angell has turned over to Prof. Watson for the Society. This agrees with the older panelling in the meeting house. It also seems to have been unpainted for some time, to judge by the color of the wood. There seems no reason to doubt the tradition and we may be thankful that Mr. Angell's memory of the old pulpit, with the seat for the deacons below it was so good that he could make a sketch which was clear
9
enough to permit the restoration which appears in figures 6 and 9.
It was intended to have one hundred and twenty pews. The estimate calls for this number and for one hundred and twenty pairs of pew hinges. Building the pews was to cost £216. The hinges, "if made by Jackson", would cost nine pounds. The floors of the pews were to be raised, as are those of the present slips, since the flooring of the house is estimated as "119 Squairs", "Exclusive of Pews."
The list of pew owners, however, given in Appendix D, gives one hundred and twenty-six pews. Each was about five feet eight inches square, with sides three feet two inches or so high. The late Mr. Wilcox worked out from such infor- mation as he could get, with the old marks on the floor, the arrangement of this old seating. His plan hangs in the meet- ing-house. The general arrangement in figure 3, was arrived at independently. The floor can no longer be examined, and checking the plan is not now possible. A number of such old pews are still in Old St. Paul's, Wickford, while Trinity, at Newport, retains its full complement, a rare occurrence.
In the gallery the estimate called for "Seets in the Gallery with out Backs . .. £10-". We have no means of know- ing whether this was carried out, but benches, with or without backs, must have been used as there were no pews till 1790 when sixty, each five feet eight inches square, were built there.
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