Contributed by Patten Free Library
Description
This two-page document details the agreement for the construction of a church for $1417.00, reached formally on May 6, 1839, between joiner Anthony Coombs Raymond, then of Brunswick, and a number of members of the Universalist congregation, including John Henry, Oliver Moses, Benjamin F. Emery, Benjamin Stinson, R.R. Smith, Johnston Rideout, and John Elliot.
Like the Winter Street Church in Bath, this structure blended a more traditional New England form with applied Gothic Revival detailing.
In the contract the language calls for the use of the "Gothic order" and "Gothic heads" to the windows. The latter term refers to the use of the lancet or pointed arch in the shape of decorative lintels above the windows. Although some details are very explicit, i.e. nine windows of forty panes each, ten by fifteen inch glass or the use of mahogany for the pulpit, the agreement makes clear that there are shared expectations about the form of a church that do not need to be spelled out.
The contract adds embellishments to a plan already drawn by Samuel Melcher of Brunswick, the master builder under whom Anthony Coombs Raymond studied.
Raymond (1798-1879) moved to Bath not long after the construction of this church. He completed other churches, stores, and homes not only in the city, but in the region. Raymond's working career was cut short by an 1875 fall while working on Bragg's Block on Bath's Centre Street.
Transcription
About This Item
- Title: Universalist Church construction contract, Bath, 1839
- Creator: Universalist Church Congregation
- Creation Date: 1839-05-06
- Subject Date: 1839-05-06
- Location: Bath, Sagadahoc County, ME
- Media: Ink on paper
- Dimensions: 40.3 cm x 26.3 cm
- Local Code: PFL SHGR 1.2.6
- Collection: Sagadahock Historical Society
- Object Type: Text
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Joiners--Maine--Bath
- Architecture, Gothic
- Architects--Maine
- Universalist churches--Maine--Bath
- Church construction--Maine--Bath
- Contracts--Maine--Bath
- Gothic revival (Architecture)
- Church architecture
People
- Elliot, John
- Emery, Benjamin F.
- Henry, John
- Melcher, Samuel
- Moses, Oliver
- Raymond, Anthony C.
- Rideout, Johnson
- Smith, R. R.
- Stinson, Benjamin
Other Keywords
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(207) 443-5141
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