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The Newton Corner Methodist Church is now a condominium building. The exterior remains unaltered.
Goodhue's partner, Ralph Adams Cram, was also a design genius. His plan for Sweet Briar College in Amherst County, Virginia, was nothing less than an architectural fantasia on English Georgian. And that coming from an architect best-versed in academic Gothic.
The scheme was only partially realized, but the design plan is itself a masterpiece. It is amazing that a leading architect, practicing at a time when academic Gothic was considered the sine qua non of responsible design, nevertheless bowed reverently to the palpable influence of Jefferson and proffered a Georgian alternative. In fact, he based much of his design on Jefferson's "Lawn" scheme at the University in Charlottesville.
Sweeeeeeet!
Was the Sts. Peter and Paul Church the one in Fall River? I never had the privilege of seeing it, but from what I hear it was a Baroque church (the only authentic baroque in our Diocese). Sts. Peter and Paul, unfortunately, burned down in the 80's, along with Notre Dame de Lourdes and St. Stanislaus, two other beautiful churches.
If you took a picture of Sts. Peter and Paul from Goodhue's book, I would love a copy of it.
Fr. Ethan, it was indeed in Fall River. I don't believe it's in Goodhue's book but I have seen photos of it in other works. I'll see if I can run it to earth. It's a most extraordinary structure! (I only have photos of the inside, however).
The only problem, of course, is that Hispanic baroque or its country cousin, the Mission style, is very much a regional architecture.
Isn't it leas a problem of being a regional architecture than an architectural style identified with a certain cultural/ethnic group? I am assuming that the proposed design for the ICKS is not out of place, given the number of German Americans in the area (a beautiful design, btw).
Papabear--true, to some degree. But not always. In the 1910s, there seems to have been an adoption by Anglo architects of a "Romantic" Hispanic baroque to symbolize California. The San Diego Exhibition of 1915 (more Goodhue work) is a paradigm of this period. It's splendid, but rather oddly detached from the cultural and religious milieu it originated from.
However, a Catholic church has a better claim on the style, and at least has the religious milieu down. Perhaps an 'Americanized' adaptation, in brick and stone, rather than in adobe, might be advanced.
(And then there are bizarre anomalies, like a mission style church in Minnesota, actually).
HEre's an image of the Fall River church, which looks a fair bit like the one in Newton Corner (which still stands, with a new copper roof, but is residential now, IIRC).
http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/
c...stpeterpaul.jpg
Liam. Whoah. That is pretty wild. I'm not sure I like the exterior as much--the front gable seems rather perfunctory--but it's rather imaginative in spots. The interior, if I can find my photo of it, is a bit more elegantly done.
Matthew,
I read your post from July 07 about spending the day "under the gilded coffers of the ceiling of the New York Public Library's immense reading room, paging through an oversized copy of Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's Architectural and Decorative Designs" with great interest!
I am wondering if you have additional images of Mr. Goodhue's work (particularly illustrations and renderings of churches and cathedrals) that you would be able to post on this blog?
I have a beautiful piece that borders on fine art and appears to be done in Goodhue's artistic style. It's an intricate pen-and-ink drawing of Chester Cathedral. I have been searching online for images of his work, but have found very few.
Thank you for posting the images.
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