National Register Listing

First Congregational Church

a.k.a. Congregational Meetinghouse

Church St, W of Main St., Alton, NH

The First Congregational Church is significant in the area of architecture as one of the finest Greek Revival churches in Belknap County. Built in 1853-1854, the building has been continuously used by the First Congregational Church and its successor, the Community Church of Alton. The exterior of the building is however strikingly well preserved, the public facades having changed little since its construction, save in minor details, such as the addition of two inconspicuous windows. The interior, whose original appearance is somewhat uncertain, has obviously seen more remodeling, although it still contains some attractive rooms, notably the impressive auditorium. The building's architectural significance derives, however, from its fine exterior. The church uses a traditional form, a gable-roofed main block, with its gable end serving as the main facade and a three-stage tower projecting slightly from that main facade. The monumentality of the church is emphasized by its symmetrical design and the simple geometric solids and forms of its composition. The building's dignity is further enhanced by the strong, well-crafted Greek Revival ornament, the tall pilasters and pillars, heavy box cornices, and peaked moulded window and door heads. The church is particularly notable for the sophisticated integration of the tower and the main block, which gives the building a coherent design with a strong emphasis on the main axis and the tall tower. The excellent design and craftsmanship of the First Congregational Church rank it among the best Greek Revival churches in the county. Of the twelve churches still surviving in Belknap County that were built or subsequently remodeled in the Greek Revival style, all in the three decades before the Civil War, the First Congregational Church ranks among the most sophisticated high-style examples. Only three other Greek Revival churches in the county can be truly compared to the First Congregational Church for their architectural significance. And only one other church employs as sophisticated a design. The First Congregational Church must be considered one of the finest churches in its style in the county. Although owned by a religious institution and still used for religious services, the First Congregational Church is eligible under Criteria Consideration A, as it derives its primary significance from its architectural distinction. The period of significance is 1853-1854, the years of its construction and therefore, the years in which it acquired its architectural significance.)

The First Congregational Church in Alton was organized on November 7, 1827. The Congregationalists at first used the late 18th-century town meetinghouse for their services. In 1838, they joined with the Free Will Baptists to erect a union meetinghouse. But, this cooperative effort was not long-lived. "Early in the spring of 1853, the portion of the people that were disposed to favor Congregational views determined to build a Meeting-house."4 (The Free Will Baptists also soon decided to erect their own church, which was built at the same time as the Congregational Church.5) A subscription paper dated March 18, 1853, was circulated and signed by local people who agreed to pay $45 per share for the construction of a Congregational church. On June 18, 1853, the first meeting of the First Congregational Society in Alton, a property-holding organization legally separate from the religious church, was held. On June 24, the Society adopted a constitution and elected officers. On the following day, the Society "voted that we take measures to build a Meetinghouse" and "voted to choose a committee of five to purchase a lot, build a Meeting House thereon and that the sum of eighteen hundred dollars is appropriated for the same". (John W. French, Frances W. Kilbourn, Smith Emerson, Stephen W., Hayes, and Samuel Downing Jr. were chosen for the building committee.) The same meeting also accepted the subscribers who had signed the March 18 subscription paper and established a committee to solicit additional subscribers. Apparently, the subscriptions were not entirely adequate as a source of funds, for the next significant action of the Society was a September 10 vote authorizing the building committee to borrow up to $1000 for the construction of the church. The lot, on an Alton village street, later called Church Street, was deeded to the Society for $125 on October 31. On March 10, 1854, with the building apparently completed, the Society established three committees to appraise the pews in the new church, to establish rules, for the sale of the pews, and to make arrangements for the dedication. '4 on March 17, it was voted to sell the pews on March 2815 The new Congregational church was dedicated on March 22, 1854.16 At meetings on May 25 and May 29, the Society heard and discussed the report of the building committee, which is unfortunately not recorded. The report must have shown a deficit in the building accounts, as the May 29 meeting established a committee to collect money to pay the outstanding debts of the Society. A denominational historian, writing in 1856, reported that the building cost "about $3500"19 (almost twice the initial appropriation of the Society). The Society records and the other available historical materials do not, unfortunately, identify either the designer or the builder of the church. (The church building and lot remained the property of the First Congregational Society until 1919 when the Society voted to transfer its property to the First Congregational Church and cease to exist as a separate organization. In 1968, the two Alton village churches, the Congregational church, and the Free Will Baptist Church, merged to form the Community Church of Alton, to which organization the Congregational properties, including the church, were deeded.21 The two churches had previously federated, in 1938, to share a minister and other expenses.22)

and the replacement of the entry steps is apparently the only alteration to the original features of the public facades. The other changes were additions of minor elements, the weather vane, the signs and lights around the main entry, the small window, the storm windows, and the stained glass window in the rear gable end. The rear facade and the rear corner of one side facade are somewhat obscured by the later, addition of the vestry and the rear addition. But, the rear facade was never important to the original public appearance of the church. And the two small retiring additions were given features, such as the clapboarded walls of both structures and the corner pilasters and pedimented cornice of the vestry, that are similar to those of the original building. So, they do not detract in any way from the church's architectural significance. The public facades of the First Congregational Church remain virtually as they appeared in 1854.

The history of the original church interior is more obscure, as we have no views or descriptions of the interior spaces as they were before the 1890s. We can speculate that many interior features must be original. The auditorium's arched recesses, balcony, plaster walls with wainscoting, and coved plaster ceiling may all be part of the original design. The auditorium has lost its pews and now has an early 20th-century platform and main entry and mid-20th-century wall ornament and stained glass window. But, in many ways, the church's principal room must appear as it did in the 1850s. The basement has been completely rebuilt, as has one end of the vestibule. But, the remainder of the vestibule, the anteroom, and the upper stories are probably little changed.

The interiors of the First Congregational Church do possess some architectural merit, particularly the large auditorium, with its tall plaster walls with wainscoting, interrupted by large windows and two great arched recesses (one containing a paneled balcony front), its fine window and door frames, and its coved plaster ceiling. The auditorium is an attractive and interesting space. But its early history is unknown, so we cannot say with certainty which features are original. And it has seen some later changes, reflecting late 19th-century and 20th-century taste, and is no longer a pure example of mid-19th-century design. Nevertheless, the auditorium is one of the most impressive interiors in the town of Alton. The lesser public rooms, the vestibule, and the anteroom (and the main hall of the vestry) are also pleasing spaces with nice proportions and ornament.

But, the true architectural significance of the First Congregational Church is found in its well-preserved and well-designed Greek Revival style exterior. The form of the church was a commonplace church form in 19th century New England, a gable-roofed main block, with three-bay wide facades, the gable end serving as the main facade, and a tall tower with spire projecting from the central bay of that gable end. Here that form is given dignity and no little authority by the Greek Revival ornament, the tall paneled corner pilasters with heavy capitals, the strong similar engaged pillars supporting the tower, the heavy box cornices with architraves and friezes (pedimented on the main block), and the peaked moulded heads on the tall windows and doors. All of this ornament is well-designed and crafted. The forms of the church are geometric solids, as can be seen in the tall cubical tower with its pyramidal spire. The facades are composed of simple rectangles and triangles. But, the design is nevertheless rather sophisticated. Of particular interest are the integration of the tower and the main block. Not content to simply place the tower on top of the main block, the designer projected it slightly from the front wall of the main block, an act for which there was really no functional need. But, the projection of the tower, and the design of its lower section, do raise the church above the ordinary. The tower, covered with flush boarding, in contrast to the clapboarded main block, emphasizes the main axis of the strongly symmetrical building. And the main entrance is further emphasized by its placement in the large central recess flanked by two tall engaged pillars. The pillars support a projection of the horizontal cornice and the low solid base of the tower's second stage. The slightly recessed panels above the main entrance and in the second stage reveal the solidity of the flush-boarded tower walls. The gradual decrease in the width of the tower's three stages emphasizes the tower's height, as does the tall pyramidal spire. The tower is integrated with the main block facade by the continuation of the horizontal cornice of the main k pediment around the tower and by the use of the same ornament, the paneled pilasters, the peaked heads of the windows and the entry, and the box cornices. The facades and volumes are all well-proportioned. The result is a strikingly effective design with the best qualities of the Greek Revival style, a simple but impressive monumentality, and dignity, combined with an interesting composition that is entertaining to the eye.

The Greek Revival style was popular for the churches of Belknap County in the three decades before the Civil War. A comprehensive survey of the surviving church buildings (and former church buildings), built before 1945 in Belknap County, shows that of the thirty-one pre-Civil War churches now standing, twelve were built in the Greek Revival style or subsequently remodeled in the Greek Revival style. Four of these churches, the Gilford Community Church (1834), the Evangelical Baptist Church in Laconia (1836), the Centre Harbor Congregational Church (1837), and the Fred Andrew Smart Chapel in Tilton (1852), were later so substantially altered that have either lost their architectural integrity or, as in the case of the Evangelical Baptist Church-4are now examples of a later architectural style. Four of the twelve churches, the Meredith Center Free Baptist Church (1831), the Oak Hill Meetinghouse in Meredith (remodeled 1848)25, the First Freewill Baptist Church in East Alton (remodeled 1848)26, and the Province Road Meetinghouse in Belmont (remodeled 1854), are essentially vernacular buildings, whose Greek Revival ornament is limited mostly to the corner pilasters and cornices. The Meredith Center and East Alton churches do, also have belfry towers with some Greek Revival ornament. Only four churches in Belknap County, the Center Barnstead Christian Church (c.1839), the First Baptist Church in Gilmanton (1842), the First Congregational Church in Alton (1853-54), and the New Hampton Community Church (1854), can truly be considered high style examples of the Greek Revival style.

All four of the more sophisticated Greek Revival churches used the same traditional form that was standard for New England churches of the early and mid-19th century, a gable-roofed main block with its gable end serving as the main facade, crowned by two or three-stage tower above the main facade. The problem for the designers of these churches was to apply Greek Revival elements, so as to effectively invoke the image and qualities of Greek architecture, while also creating dignified towers, for which there was no real precedent in Greek architecture. A different design solution was found for the problem in each of the four Belknap County churches. In the two earlier churches, the main facade, the gable end, was treated as a temple front, topped by a pedimented gable (with a full portico of four columns on the Center Barnstead church, and with four pilasters applied to the wall on the Gilmanton church). On both churches, a two-stage belfry tower, unrelated to the main block facades, was simply placed astride the roof. There was no attempt in either church to combine the main block and the tower into a cohesive design. Both the Barnstead church and the Gilmanton church are nevertheless quite attractive and impressive buildings. But, they settled the design problem posed by their towers by simply ignoring it. The designers of the Alton and New Hampton churches, both actually under construction at the same time, came up with similar, although still different, solutions to the problem of the tower. Both projected their towers slightly from the center of the main gable end facade, put the main entry in a recess in the tower base, continued the horizontal cornice of the main block pediment around the tower, and composed their towers of stages that decreased in width with height. But, while the Alton main entry was placed in a shallow recess flanked by two engaged pillars, the New Hampton entry was set behind a distyle in antis portico. While the Alton church has two upper stages topped by a pyramidal spire in its tower, the New Hampton church tower has three upper stages topped by a low-pitched roof. The New Hampton church, probably the most sophisticated Greek Revival church in New Hampshire, is perhaps more elaborate in its design than the Alton church. But both designers found a successful solution to their common design problem. Indeed, all four churches are dignified and interesting Greek Revival churches. And it would be difficult to rank the four buildings in any meaningful way. Certainly, we must place the First Congregational Church in Alton among the best and most sophisticated Greek Revival churches in Belknap County.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.