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St. James Chapel (Hyde Park, New York)
Encyclopedia
St. James' Chapel is located on West Market Street (Dutchess County
Route 41), a short distance east of US 9, in Hyde Park
, New York, United States. It is part of the Episcopal parish of St. James, whose main church is located 1 miles (1.6 km) north of it along Route 9.
It appears to be one building today but actually consists of two buildings constructed a quarter-century apart. The Greek Revival
-style
school building is the church's oldest extant building. It was later used as the town's library and is still known as the Reading Room today. The chapel is a Carpenter Gothic
structure with some Swedish
influences that served as the main church during winter months for a century. In 1993 the combined building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as Bard Infant School and St. James Chapel.
. It is a one-story rectangular clapboard
-sided
frame
building. Its gable
d roof is shingled
in asphalt and pierced by a stone chimney on the east.
A plain dentilled cornice
with wide frieze
extends around the roofline. The north (front) elevation has a projecting pediment
forming a portico
with a round-arched attic louver
in the center. It is supported by four square pillars. A shed-roofed addition is on the east profile.
The chapel, joined to the school on the latter's south, and its north, is also a one-story frame building. Unlike the school it is sided in board-and-batten
with decorative scalloping at eight-foot (2.4 m) intervals. Its roof is also shingled in asphalt, but steeply pitched
with a cutout rakeboard at the east and an open belfry
with pointed steeple
at the west, over the gabled vestibule
at the main entrance.
On the east facade is a triple Gothic-arched stained glass
window with a trefoil
design in the arch apex, covered by a window hood. The chapel also has a shed-roofed basement entrance on its south side. A small board-and-batten gabled shed is located to the southeast. It is a contributing resource
to the National Register listing.
Inside, both the chapel and school building retain much original finishing and decor. The chapel has an ornate carved tracery
dividing the nave
from the rest of the sanctuary
. A stone Arts and Crafts
-style fireplace and mantel
is located in the school's main room.
In 1832 its pastor, Samuel Roosevelt Johnson, had the school built on his West Market Street property. It was the earliest school built in Hyde Park. The Greek Revival style was popular in the Hudson Valley
at the time, and the original Doric
columns on the front facade made the small building appear more important. The following year he retired and donated the school and the land to the church. It became known as the Bard Infant School after the church's founder.
Six years later, in 1839, the main church building was found to have serious structural flaws. It was torn down and a new building, similar in appearance, replaced it in 1844. The school building began to serve the community as not just a school, but as a circulating library. It became known around Hyde Park as the Reading Room.
In 1856, construction began on the chapel. The architect is unknown but it is similar to patterns found in a book by Richard Upjohn
. It was used for daily services, and Sunday services in winter, because it was heated while the main church could not be at the time.
A new school was constructed on nearby Albertson Street
in 1869, freeing the original building to remain in use as a library. In the early 1900s it was renovated. The original columns were replaced with the current square ones. In 1913 the stone fireplace and chimney were added in the then-popular Arts and Crafts
style.
Heating came to the main church in 1955, ending the chapel's use for winter services. It continued hosting early services on Sunday mornings until 1998, when an extensive restoration
program began. No major alterations were made to either the school or church.
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
Route 41), a short distance east of US 9, in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, New York, United States. It is part of the Episcopal parish of St. James, whose main church is located 1 miles (1.6 km) north of it along Route 9.
It appears to be one building today but actually consists of two buildings constructed a quarter-century apart. The Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
-style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
school building is the church's oldest extant building. It was later used as the town's library and is still known as the Reading Room today. The chapel is a Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...
structure with some Swedish
Architecture of Sweden
This article covers the architecture of Sweden from a historical perspective. As is the norm in architecture history, an architectural history of a nation naturally lends itself to a history of those monuments to the development of that nation and its institutions of power; palaces, castles, and...
influences that served as the main church during winter months for a century. In 1993 the combined building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as Bard Infant School and St. James Chapel.
Building
The school building, built earlier, projects north from the chapel toward the street, just southeast of the post officeU.S. Post Office (Hyde Park, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Hyde Park, New York, serves the 12538 ZIP Code. It is a stone building in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, located on East Market Street just east of US 9....
. It is a one-story rectangular clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
-sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
building. Its gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof is shingled
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
in asphalt and pierced by a stone chimney on the east.
A plain dentilled cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
with wide frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
extends around the roofline. The north (front) elevation has a projecting pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
forming a portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with a round-arched attic louver
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
in the center. It is supported by four square pillars. A shed-roofed addition is on the east profile.
The chapel, joined to the school on the latter's south, and its north, is also a one-story frame building. Unlike the school it is sided in board-and-batten
Batten
A batten is a thin strip of solid material, typically made from wood, plastic or metal. Battens are used in building construction and various other fields as both structural and purely cosmetic elements...
with decorative scalloping at eight-foot (2.4 m) intervals. Its roof is also shingled in asphalt, but steeply pitched
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
with a cutout rakeboard at the east and an open belfry
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
with pointed steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
at the west, over the gabled vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
at the main entrance.
On the east facade is a triple Gothic-arched stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
window with a trefoil
Trefoil
Trefoil is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism...
design in the arch apex, covered by a window hood. The chapel also has a shed-roofed basement entrance on its south side. A small board-and-batten gabled shed is located to the southeast. It is a contributing resource
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the National Register listing.
Inside, both the chapel and school building retain much original finishing and decor. The chapel has an ornate carved tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
dividing the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
from the rest of the sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
. A stone Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
-style fireplace and mantel
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
is located in the school's main room.
History
St. James was formally organized in 1811 by Samuel Bard, son of pioneering area settler and landowner John Bard. The new congregation built its church at the present site not long afterwards, near the ground where Bard and other early settlers had been buried.In 1832 its pastor, Samuel Roosevelt Johnson, had the school built on his West Market Street property. It was the earliest school built in Hyde Park. The Greek Revival style was popular in the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
at the time, and the original Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns on the front facade made the small building appear more important. The following year he retired and donated the school and the land to the church. It became known as the Bard Infant School after the church's founder.
Six years later, in 1839, the main church building was found to have serious structural flaws. It was torn down and a new building, similar in appearance, replaced it in 1844. The school building began to serve the community as not just a school, but as a circulating library. It became known around Hyde Park as the Reading Room.
In 1856, construction began on the chapel. The architect is unknown but it is similar to patterns found in a book by Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
. It was used for daily services, and Sunday services in winter, because it was heated while the main church could not be at the time.
A new school was constructed on nearby Albertson Street
Main Street-Albertson Street-Park Place Historic District
The Main Street-Albertson Street-Park Place Historic District is located in the residential neighborhood just west of US 9 near central Hyde Park, New York, United States...
in 1869, freeing the original building to remain in use as a library. In the early 1900s it was renovated. The original columns were replaced with the current square ones. In 1913 the stone fireplace and chimney were added in the then-popular Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
style.
Heating came to the main church in 1955, ending the chapel's use for winter services. It continued hosting early services on Sunday mornings until 1998, when an extensive restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
program began. No major alterations were made to either the school or church.