Architects & Builders
The names
of most of the architects and master builders whose 18th and 19th
century
work in New Jersey remains are lost to history. In many other cases,
we have only a name and little or no biographical data. There
is
certainly a
great
deal more information available than I have been able to find, and so I've posted
this section largely in the hope that readers will provide additional
information
as well as any corrections. It includes only architects, builders and contractors
who designed or built churches in this state.
A
B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y
Z Others
Abele, Julian, one of the few black architects employed by any major architectural firm (Trumbauer). He may have been responsible for the design of St. John's in Somerville, but he was not actually the chief designer for the firm until 1909. Nobody was willing to publicize his role at the time. Abele established his own firm following Trumbauer's death and rose to considerable prominence. He designed several of the buildings at Duke University as well as Shadow Lawn, now the administrative offices of Monmouth University.
Works: Somerville, St
John's Church
Ball, Eleazer, is credited with the construction of the Old First Church in Newark, built in 1791. He is not listed anywhere as an architect, but master masons and carpenters at the time were used to working from drawings and plan books. Ball was probably familiar with the Old South Church in Boston, and certainly with the basic idiom of the early Wren-Gibbs style churches in this country.
Works: Newark, Old First Church
Cady, Josiah Cleveland(b.1837–d.1919) was a very prominent architect in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. He studied under Henry Hobson Richardson, and much of Cady's work, clearly in the Romanesque Revival idiom, bears a strong resemblance to that of Richardson. Cady designed at least seven churches in New Jersey, but is best known for his work at Yale, where he designed 15 buildings, and for several prominent buildings in New York City, including the old Metropolitan Opera House (now gone) and a major section of the American Museum of Natural History.
Works: Morristown, First Presbyterian, South Street Presbyterian • Madison, Webb Presbyterian Chapel • Montclair,
Christian Union Congregation • Alpine, Closter Reformed • Englewood, First Presbyterian
Attributions: The Presbyterian chapel (1882)
in Beattystown (Warren County) was almost certainly built from
Cady's
plans. There
is an identical church
in Mandarin, Florida (1884) credited to Cady, and a duplicate in
the Adirondacks.
Carpenter, James (b.1867—d.1932)
Works: Caldwell, First Presbyterian
Carrere & Hastings John Merven Carrère (b. 1858—d. 1911) and Thomas Hastings (b. 1860—d. 1929) of the firm Carrère & Hastings, New York City. Both studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and went from there to the firm of McKim, Mead and White in New York. In 1885 they left that firm and set up their own, which enjoyed immediate success, perhaps in part to Hastings' social connections. They are best known for their design for the New York Public Library and several buildings in St. Augustine, Florida. Hastings is credited with coining the term "curtain wall"—construction of a building that would stand on its own, with the curtain wall not part of the structural entity.
Works: Newark, High Street Presbyterian • Rumson, Presbyterian Church
Collin, Nicholas, was a Swedish minister who delayed in London for a time to learn English before coming to the Swedish Lutheran settlements in Gloucester. While there, he studied the English church architecture closely, especially the number of new churches erected under the direction of Christopher Wren. Trinity (Old Swedes) Church was designed by him, and reflects well on the time he spent there. He also writes, however, that the time would have been much drearier except for the hours he spent "kissing girls."
Works: Swedesboro, Trinity (Old Swedes) Church
Dagit,
Henry Dandurand (b.1865—d.1929.
Philadelphia architect for Trenton archdiocese 1898-1908 and
leading competitor for Durang in Catholic circles in late 19th
century; he designed about 175 buildings for the Diocese.His
best-known church is the Byzantine-styled Saint Francis de Sales
church in Philadelphia.
Works:
Dudley, Henry, (b.1813—d.1894) was born in England and came to America after extensive training and work in England. He was an extremely prolific architect who designed a large number of churches, either in association with Frank Wills, on his own, or during a short-lived partnership with Frederick Diaper. Dudley and Wills were responsible for rebuilding the nave of Christ Church in New Brunswick.
Works: New Brunswick, Christ Church (rebuilding of
the nave; with Frank Wills)
Durang,
Edwin Forrest (b.1825—d.1911) ] specialized in religious buildings, especially
for Catholics. Based in Philadelphia where he did several major buildings
including the Church of the Gesu, an elaborate baroque design.
Works: Lambertville, Centenary Methodist and St. John the Evangelist
Edwards, Charles, won two important commissions in Newark between 1880 and 1898; his name otherwise does not show up in the published record.
Works: Newark, St Aloysius •
Newark, St Columba
Eyre, Wilson, of Philadelphia, was enrolled briefly in the architectural program at MIT, but learned his trade by working in an architectural office, which he took over in 1882 on the death of its owner. He is best known for his work on country houses.
Works: Camden, Newton Friends Meetinghouse (addition in 1885)
Gendell, David, (b.1839—d.1925) was a favorite architect of Baptist congregations in the Philadelphia area, which apparently extended into New Jersey. He was an apprentice of Thomas U. Walter, an important Philadelphia architect, who for a while was the Architect of the United States, and a leading figure in the Greek Revival style.
Works: Lambertville, First Baptist • Newark, South
Baptist • Stockton, First
Baptist
Graham,
Charles of Trenton and Elizabeth was the architect and/or builder of several
mid-century churches in the state. He later worked with his son as Graham & Son, building townhouses
in New York and Washington DC. He was initially contracted to do the
plans for the Presbyterian church
in
Ewing, but that fell through.
Works: Stockton, Berean Baptist • Perth Amboy, Simpson ME • Blairstown, First Presbyterian. • Newton, First Presbyterian • Bound
Brook, Congregational • Freehold,
First Methodist
Hardenbergh, Henry Janeway, (b.1847—d.1918) a native of New Brunswick, born in 1847. He trained under Detlef Lienau, and designed the chapel at Rutgers, as well as the Dakota Apartments in New York City. A leading architect for luxurious Edwardian hotels, his work includes the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, and the Copley Plaza in Boston.
Works:
New Brunswick, Kirkpatrick Chapel,
Rutgers University
Hazelhurst & Huckel This Philadelphia firm, which got its start under Frank Furness—a noted Philadelphia architect, existed between 1881 and 1900 and designed a number of churches in the Philadelphia area and in south Jersey, including ones in Woodbury, Bridgeton and Trenton. The firm designed the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church in Philadelphia in a Romanesque Revival style, which they also employed in the First Methodist church in Trenton. The Central Methodist building in Bridgeton is a sort of ersatz Gothic style, but much too squat and sprawling for true Gothic. Huckel studied for a while under Benjamin Price.
Works:
Flemington Methodist • Bridgeton, Central Methodist • Trenton, First
Methodist
Himpler,
Francis J. Resident
of Hoboken & Mt Arlington,
designed German Gothic churches, especially in the midwest. Created
plans for Hoboken's City Hall, St. Mary's Hospital, and the Sacred
Heart Academy.
Works: Hoboken, Our Lady of
Grace
Hopping, Elijah , a member of the Whippany church, who in 1833-1834 was involved in designing and building three churches in Morris County, all in a fairly sophisticated meetinghouse style that included several Gothic elements.
Works:
Whippany, First Presbyterian of Hanover • East
Hanover, First Presbyterian of Hanover • Harding
Township, First Presbyterian of New Vernon
Hotchkiss, Nelson, was active in Connecticut by 1839 when he is credited with the Oxford Congregational church, an early Greek Revival design. He was responsible for alterations to the First Congregational church in Guildford, also in the Greek Revival mode, in 1861. He apparently had a substantial reputation, for when the church fathers of the First Presbyterian church in Trenton determined to build, they interviewed and presumably examined the work of several architects and chose Hotchkiss, from Birmingham, Connecticut—unusual in that most commissions went to Philadelphia or New York architects at this date.
Works:
Trenton, First Presbyterian
Hudson, Aaron, was a member of the First Presbyterian church in Mendham, and built their present church much in the manner of the previous building. He is referred to in one source as Major Aaron Hudson. His house in Mendham still exists.
Works:
Mendham, Hilltop Presbyterian • Liberty
Corner, Liberty Corner
Presbyterian • Peapack, Peapack
Reformed • Mendham, St Joseph's Catholic
Attributions: There
is a good indication that Hudson designed the Pottersville
Reformed church, which is very similar to the Presbyterian
church in Westfield and
another dozen churches in central Jersey. If I can tie him firmly
to another
one or two in that same manner, we'll have a major figure who did much
to shape the churchscape of central Jersey in the post-Civil
War era.
See:
Janet Foster. Legacy Through the Lens: A Study of Mendham
Architecture. Mendham
Free Public Library, 1986.
Keely, Patrick Charles, (b.1816—d.1896) was a trained architect who emigrated in 1841 from Ireland and settled in Brooklyn. His father was a carpenter and builder who worked with A. W. Pugin, the leading English Catholic proponent of the Gothic style. Keely's practice virtually monopolized Catholic church building in the eastern states and Canada for a quarter century; he designed more than 600 churches before his death in 1896, including 30 in Boston alone. William Pierson's American Buildings and Their Architects. Vol 2 (Doubleday, 1978), which spells the name Keely (correctly, but many sources erroneously spell it Keeley), discusses his work briefly and intelligently. Pierson says Keely favored English Gothic traditions rather than European (French and German) and that preference reflects itself in his work. His Irish background undoubtedly helped his practice, as the Catholic hierarchy which had been largely German and French in the early decades of the 19th century came to be dominated by those of Irish extraction sometime before the Civil War.
Works: Convent Station, Mother House of Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth
• Jersey City, St.
Bridget's • Jersey City, St. Patrick's • Jersey City, St. Peter's Church and College • Jersey City,
St. Michael's • Jersey City, Central
Missionary Baptist • New Brunswick, St.
Peter the Apostle • New Brunswick, Church
of the Sacred Heart • Paterson, St.
John the Baptist •
Phillipsburg, St
Philips & St James • Union City, Church
of St. Michael's • Mt Holly, Church
of the Sacred Heart • Newark, St
Patrick's Pro-Cathedral (with Father Moran) • Washington, St. Joseph's • Rumson, Holy Cross • Harrison, Holy
Cross • Trenton, Church
of the Sacred Heart •
Attributions: Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken, sometimes attributed to Keely, was designed
by Francis Himpler, not Keely. St Mary's Abbey church in Newark
is also attributed to
Keely, but there is a tradition that its plans were carried over from
a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria. Keely might have been
working from
those plans, but it he preferred to work in an English Gothic idiom
rather than a French or German one, and the building is clearly
based
on German Romanesque traditions. Recent conversations suggest that
Keely was indeed heavily involved in its design.
Kirk, William H., was an architect/builder located in Newark. He is listed as the builder on two churches erected in 1839 but is the architect of record for three Reformed Dutch churches in Essex county between 1848 and 1858. Kirk had a long career as a Newark-based architect, from at least the 1840s until the mid-1880s. He appears in Newark directories as early as 1844, as William H. Kirk & Co., in partnership evidently with a Thomas Kirkpatrick. The directories through 1858 describe his firm as " architects and builders in general." From 1859 through 1869 he had an office at 228 Market Street; from 1870 through 1884 at 286 Market Street. He also served as a state senator.
Works:
Newark, Second Reformed • Belleville, Reformed Dutch
Church at South River • Newark, North
Reformed Dutch • Basking Ridge, First
Presbyterian • Jersey City, Old
Bergen Church
Leard, Henry W., was an architect/builder who worked on the restoration of Nassau Hall on the Princeton campus. He is credited with the design of the Second Presbyterian church in Princeton and with the Reformed church in Rocky Hill, but his name has not surfaced in connection with any churches beyond the Princeton area.
Works:
Rocky Hill, Reformed •
Princeton, Nassau Presbyterian
Lienau,
Detlef, (b.1818—d.1887) was
born in Germany and studied architecture in Munich and Paris before
coming to the U.S. in 1848. Grace Church, built in 1850 in Jersey City
was very likely his first project in this country, and his only church
in the state. He quickly became a very fashionable architect in New
York City, where he designed factories, row houses and many grand residences,
and he was credited with introducing the mansard roof to the city.
See Ellen W. Kramer, The Domestic
Architecture of Detlef Lienau, a Conservative Victorian, PhD dissertation,
New York University
Works: Jersey City, Grace VanVorst
Reformed Church
MacArthur, John J. (b.1823—d.1890) Scottish-born Philadelphia architect. designed its City Hall as well as a number of churches there. student of Thomas U. Walter. McArthur apprenticed with his carpenter uncle of the same name before establishing a career that spanned the 1840s until his death. In the 1850s he designed three Philadelphia hotels and a number of churches, including the Tenth, First, and Broad Street Presbyterian.
Works: Salem, First Presbyterian
McKim, Charles, (b.1847—d.1907) of the very important McKim, Mead and White architectural firm designed St Peter's Episcopal church in Morristown, where he was a member. I now believe he also designed the Elberon Memorial church, in part as a tribute to Moses Taylor who gave him his first major commission. He was trained in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the worked for a while with H.H. Richardson before opening up his own practice. He is best known for his large residences for wealthy clients, but did several major "public" buildings, including New York's Penn Station, Morgan's Library and the Boston Public Library. His later work is largely derivative of English and Italian sources, but he remains one of the most significant figures in American architecture.
Works: •
Notman,
John, (b.1810—d.1865) got
his early experience an as apprentice to a builder, following his formal
training in Scotland, where he was born in 1810. He came to Philadelphia
in 1831, and by 1839 had secured an important commission to design a
villa for New Jersey's Episcopal Bishop George Washington Doane, in
Burlington. A few years later Doane asked him to design a Gothic-style
church in Glassboro, then a chapel at St Mary's Hall in Burlington,
for which he was instructed to follow a specific English model, reputedly
the first such attempt for a church in this country. Notman planned
the cemetery at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia, but is sometimes (wrongly)
credited with designing St James the Less church, located nearby. His
most famous building is St Mark's Church in Philadelphia. He was one
of the founders of the American Institute of Architects, and a leading
advocate of the English Gothic style. He is likely the architect for
the Sunday School/Chapel at Trinity Church in Princeton.
See Constance M. Greiff. John Notman
Architect, 1810-1865.Philadelphia: Athenaeum of Philadelphia,
1979.
Works: Glassboro, St Thomas' Church • Burlington, Chapel
of the Holy Innocents, St Mary's Hall • Trenton, St
Paul's Church
O'Rourke, Jeremiah, (b.1833—d.1915) was born in Ireland and trained at Dublin's School of Design before immigrating to the U.S., where he settled in Newark about 1850. He worked for 9 years as a draftsman, drawing plans for a local builder, until opening his own office in 1859. He designed his first church in the early 1860s, and in 1870 made an extensive tour of French and English churches. O'Rourke was appointed by President Cleveland as the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury, responsible for the design of all federal buildings during his tenure, including post offices in Buffalo, NY, Erie, PA, Roanoke, VA, and Kansas City, MO. O'Rourke designed the very large Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City, as well as the home church of the Paulist Fathers, also in that city. He was the initial architect involved in the design of Newark's Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, although several others would serve in that capacity before the building was completed in 1954. He was a member of the board of the AIA.
Works: Wharton, St Mary's Church • Newark, Cathedral of the Sacred
Heart • Newark, St
Joseph's Church • Newark, St
Michael's •Newark, St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral (renovation) •Camden, Church
of the Immaculate Conception • Orange, St
John the Evangelist • Rahway, St. Mary's • Plainfield, St Mary's • Jersey
City, St. Lucy's • Jersey
City, St Patrick's • Bloomfield, Sacred Heart • Boonton, Mt. Carmel • Paterson, St. Joseph's • Monmouth
Beach, Church of the Precious Blood
Attributions:Recent
information (7/04) from St.
Peter's in New Brunswick suggests that O'Rourke
rather than Keely may have been responsible for that design, although
Keely is widely credited with it. I'm
in Keely's camp on this, as O'Rourke would have been too young for
such a major assignment. I believe there are at least another dozen churches
in the state that O'Rourke
designed, including St. Joseph's in Newton, St. Bernard's in Raritan, and Sacred Heart in New Brunswick.
Post, George B., (b.1837—d.1913) famed for his work on the early skyscrapers in New York City, including the Equitable Building. Post designed a single church in New Jersey, the High Bridge Reformed church in Hunterdon County, although in 1910, his firm, George Post & Sons, gave a set of plans to the Presbyterian church in Bernardsville, and he also worked on the renovation of the Hilltop Presbyterian church in Mendham. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering and worked in Richard Morris Hunt's office and conducted his own practice—one of the largest in the county, after 1868.
Works: High Bridge, Reformed Church
Price, Benjamin D. (b.1845-d.1922) architect from Philadelphia and later Atlantic Highlands; sold plans by mail order between 1867-1906. He made an arrangement with the Methodist Board of Church Extension to provide low cost plans, offered through their catalogue until 1889. He published several editions of his own book, Church Plans, between 1867 and 1906.Price claims to have sold plans for more than 6,000 churches. Samuel Huckel, later of the prominent firm of Hazelhurst & Huckel, trained in his office between 1867 and 1869.
Works:Farmingdale,
Methodist • Bridgeton, Second Methodist Protestant • South
Amboy, Methodist • Lebanon
Township /Changewater Methodist • Millville, Trinity Methodist are probably based on
his plans, and undoubtedly many more in the state that I have not
yet identified..
Priest, John Weller, was one of the initial architects approved by the New York Ecclesiology Society, and the only one of the six who was born in this country.
Works: Millburn, St Stephen's
Pursell, Isaac, (b.1853-d.1910) opened his practice in 1878 and designed a number of memorable churches including the exceptional late-Victorian Baptist church in Freehold. He was born in Trenton, based in Philadelphia, apprenticed to Samuel Sloan, and designed the very substantial St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal church there. He was associated with the Presbyterian Church's Board of Church Erection, which was organized to upgrade the quality of church designs.
Works: Freehold, First Baptist • Haddonfield,
First Presbyterian • Paterson,
Fourth Baptist • Passaic,
North Reformed • Mt.
Holly, Presbyterian• Millville, First Presbyterian• Wenonah,
Presbyterian • East
Orange, Bethel Presbyterian
Roberts, Thomas A. (b.1833—d.1898) Headed a Newark architectural practice that designed several fine Gothic churches. William Halsey Wood, destined to become a leading national architect, started his career with Roberts, and became a partner in the firm of Roberts, Taylor & Wood in 1875.
Works: Orange, Central Presbyterian • Newark, Clinton Avenue
Reformed • Newark, St
Barnabas' Church • Hackensack, Christ Episcopal
Sloan, Samuel, (b.1815—d.1884) was a very significant figure in American architecture. Like many, he apprenticed as a carpenter and worked under the direction of an accomplished architect. He was originally listed as a carpenter-builder, but by 1850 or so, he was thought of as an architect. He based his practice in Philadelphia, but designed buildings all over the country, and his influence was spread by his influential planbooks. John MacArthur based his design of Salem's First Presbyterian Church on the plans of Sloan, in my opinion. Sloan also designed the Masonic Building in Lambertville and the West Presbyterian church in Bridgeton.
Works: Salem,
First Presbyterian • Bridgeton, West
Presbyterian
Smith, Robert, (b.1722–d.1777) specialized in large institutional buildings, including Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia and Nassau Hall at Princeton. One of the earliest important figures in American architecture. Smith also designed the first Presbyterian church in Princeton, which was later replaced by the present Greek Revival building, and he designed the first addition to [old] St Mary's church in Burlington in 1769, as well as a number of the early churches in Philadelphia, including St. Peter's Church and Old St. George's Church. He was the most renowned master carpenter and master builder of the late eighteenth century. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin) and designed fortifications for the patriots during the revolutionary War.
Works: Shrewsbury, Christ Church •
Freehold, St Peter's Church • Lawrenceville, First Presbyterian
Steadman, Charles
Attributions: Princeton, First Presbyterian •
Cranbury, First Presbyterian and
perhaps
the Miller Chapel at the Princeton Theological Seminary.
See
Constance M. Greiff. Princeton Architecture. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1979.
Strickland, William(b.1788—d.1854) was an exceptionally talented and versatile architect and civil engineer, born in Middletown but based in Philadelphia. He worked as an apprentice to Benjamin Latrobe (designer of the U.S. Capitol building), and, on his own, designed many Greek Revival buildings, including the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, the first building in the country to be modeled on the Parthenon. Highly versatile, he designed an Egyptian style church in Nashville and a fantasy Gothic fortress-like church in Philadelphia in the 1820s. One architectural historian noted that Strickland was a "much too committed neoclassicist to have a natural feeling "but his two churches in south Jersey are well-conceived.Thomas Ustick Walter, another major Greek revival architect, was a student of Strickland.
Works: Bridgeton, Second Presbyterian • Salem, St John's Church
Teale, Oscar. S., born in Brooklyn, studied at Cooper’s Union and apprenticed to an architect. He established his practice in 1878 and had offices in New York and New Jersey throughout his career. To attract church business, he advertised in religious publications, and apparently was successful in that effort, as the Columbia University library has drawings of 46 of his churches, in addition to dozens of homes, schools, mausoleums, carriage houses, stables, and a hotel. Teale was an accomplished magician, which undoubtedly led to his serving as a pallbearer at Harry Houdini’s funeral, as well as the designer of Houdini’s memorial. He wrote a book, Twentieth Century Magician, in 1905, and became an instructor at Columbia’s Teachers College. Teale died in 1927.
Works: Plainfield, Seventh
Day Baptist • Bound Brook, Bound
Brook Presbyterian Church • North Plainfield, First
German Reformed • Elizabeth, Second
Presbyterian (addition) • Plainfield, Unitarian • Hackettstown, Trinity Methodist
Trumbauer, Horace was head of a prominent Philadelphia firm with many society clients in the early 1900s. He employed one of the few black designers, Julian Abele, in any major architectural firm, but apparently no one wanted that fact known.
Works: Somerville, St John's Church
Upjohn,
Richard, (b.1802—d.1878) was one
of the most important architects to work in the state, and certainly
the
leading figure in the Gothic Revival movement in this country. He is
best known for Trinity Church in New York City and for St Mary's Church
in Burlington, which is justly famous as perhaps the best early attempt
to base a church design on a specific early English Gothic building.
Upjohn was born in England in 1802 and grew up within a few miles of
Salisbury Cathedral. He was trained as a cabinetmaker, carpenter,
surveyor
and draftsman, and like several other European architects, he came
to this country (in 1829) with highly developed mechanical or engineering
skills. He was responsible for adapting the board-and-batten style
of the fashionable cottage to church architecture, and made that style
widely popular throughout the country for smaller wooden churches. He was also responsible for the first Romanesque church in the county, Church of the Pilgrims, in Brooklyn, erected in 1844-46.
Upjohn was clearly influenced by A. W.
Pugin's ideas and designs early in his career, and by St James the
Less
in Philadelphia, from which he took several features that show up in
later churches. He was a leading member of the New York Ecclesiology
Society and the first president of the American Institute of Architects.
The extent of Upjohn's influence is amazing, a point which only comes
across
fully when one looks at a sampling of significant churches in other
states. There seem to be relatively few regions that do not have a
handful of churches that were based on Upjohn's plans.
See Phoebe Stanton, The Gothic Revival
and American Church Architecture, Johns Hopkins, 1968; Everard
Upjohn, Richard Upjohn, Architect and Churchman, Columbia, 1939; William
Pierson, American Buildings and Their Architects, Doubleday,
1978.
Works: Burlington, St
Mary's Church • Newark, Grace
Church • Hoboken, Trinity Church •
Spotswood, St Peter's Church • Matawan, Trinity Church • Woodbridge, Christ
Church • Navesink, All
Saints Church (in collaboration with his son) • Rocky Hill, Trinity
Church • West Orange, St Mark's Church
Attributions: Boonton, St John's • Hackettstown, St James • North Plainfield, Holy Cross
Upjohn, Richard M., (b.1828—d.1903) was the son of Richard Upjohn, and a well-known architect in his own right. He joined his father's firm in 1853, and by 1860s was primarily responsible for the work of the firm. Although much of his work shows his father's influence, as tastes shifted from the Gothic to the more eclectic style he favored, so did his designs. His most famous work is the state capital of Connecticut in Hartford. Richard's son Hobart designed Montclair's St. Luke's Episcopal church.
Works: Princeton, Trinity Church • Dover, St John's Church • Navesink, All
Saints Church (in collaboration with his father) • Boonton, St John's Church
Watson,
Frank, (b.1859—d.1940)
an important Philadelphia-based architect, specialized in church building,
generally for Catholic parishes. Apprenticed with Durang.
Works: Bridgeton, Berean Baptist Tabernacle •
Camden, Centenary ME • Atlantic
City, Church of the Ascension
Walter, Thomas Ustick was an extremely productive and influential Philadelphia architect. He probably developed the Greek Revival design of Princeton's First Presbyterian church, which he sold to Charles Steadman. He may have also designed the Miller Chapel on the Princeton Theological Seminary campus.
Works:
Princeton, First Presbyterian • Bridgeton, First Baptist • Mays
Landing, Presbyterian
Weary, Frank and George W. Kramer (b.1847-d.1938) were from Akron (c.1885-1894) and originated the design that came to be called Akron Plan churches. They also established a practice in New York in 1894.
Works: Atlantic
Highlands, Central
Baptist • East
Orange, Arlington Avenue
Presbyterian •
Welch, John, designed at least three churches in New Jersey. He collaborated with Richard Upjohn on the design of the Newark National Bank in 1858, and designed the Elizabethan Revival-styled Newark Orphan Asylum in Jersey City, recently restored and renamed Eberhardt Hall at the NJIT. He was a founding member (with Upjohn, Dudley and Wells) of the American Institution, the first professional architects association in this county.
Works: Newark, South Park Presbyterian • Newark, High Street
Presbyterian • Jersey City, First
Reformed
Wills, Frank, (b.1819—d.1857) was born in England, but emigrated to Canada by 1845, where he designed an early Gothic Cathedral. He moved to New York City by 1848 and became the associated with the New York Ecclesiological Society at its inception. He soon became the official architect for that group and, briefly, entered into partnership with another English émigré architect, Henry Dudley. He died at an early age in 1857. He was probably more influential through his writing than his buildings, although he was responsible for more than a dozen major churches in the country.
Works: Newark, House of Prayer •
Newark, Christ Church • New
Brunswick, Christ Church (rebuilding
of the nave, with Henry Dudley). I suspect he was also involved in the design of St. Stephen's Church in Beverly.
Wood, William Halsey, (b.1855—d.1897) a Newark architect, designed three very different kinds of churches in Newark, a most unusual almost contemporary design in Warren county, and a number of invariably upscale ones from California and Wyoming to Alabama, Tennesee and Missouri (as well as New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, of course). His design was one of three finalists for the international competition to build the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. His was a brilliant career, seemingly destined for great prominence when he died at age 41. Wood initially worked for Thomas Roberts, who designed three exceptional churches in Newark, and became a partner in the firm of Roberts, Taylor and Wood at age 20; he soon left to form his own practice. His most significant work was in religious architecture, but he also designed the famous Yaddo Castle in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Works:
Newark, Peddie Memorial
First Baptist • Newark, First
Congregational • Newark, St
Paul's Presbyterian • Newark, Wickcliffe Presbyterian
• Washington, St.
Peter's Episcopal • Bloomfield, Christ
Church • Paterson, St.
Paul's Church • Passaic, St.
John's Episcopal • Jersey
City, St. Mark's Episcopal
Other
architects and builders:
Bailey, Elias [Penns
Neck, First Baptist]
Bigelow,
William Designed
a stylish Methodist church in Sea Bright in 1889. He was associated with McKim, Mead & White early in his career, when he was McKim's brother-in-law.
Bird,
James Captain
[Lambertville builder of Stockton Pres; house in Lambertville]
Bosenbury,
Eli [builder/arch
for Mt Salem ME in Hunterdon; state senator]
Bolton,
Asabel [Asbury Methodist in Long Branch]
Brown,
Richard [Blawenburg
Reformed]
Bulgin,
Rev. William [Hope, St Luke's] Born in London; apprenticed there and practiced as
an architect in Somersetshire before emigrating to the U.S. His sons
were builders of other churches in this country.
Dilts,
Asa (sometimes spelled Diltz) [Builder located in Somerset; built the First
Baptist Church there, Gothic addition to Lamington Presbyterian, and
Readington Reformed]
Ellis,
William [Salem
Friends]
Finch, Henry E.
Trenton architect responsible for several churches there and in Bordentown and Lambertville.
Fraser, John (b.1825–d.1906) Philadelphia architect. Designed Christ Churh in Riverton and Christ Church in Palmyra. Associated with George Hewitt and Frank Furness. Lived in Riverton, NJ..
Goltra,
Ebenezeer A resident of Long branch, he designed the Colts Neck Reformed church,
which is identical to several Greek Revival churches in Somerset
County designed by an architect-builder I assume is a relative.
Goltra,
James P. [specialized in church building; resident of Bernards Township/Basking
Ridge; the only building we can attribute to him for sure is St. John's
Episcopal Church in Somerville, now destroyed. Profiled in Snell. There
is an Ebenezer Goltra who is credited with the Greek revival church
in Colts Neck, identical to other reformed churches in Somerset County.]
Gravitt,
Charles [Clarksburg,
ME]
Gsanther,
Otto [arch
for St Peters Roman Catholic in Newark]
Hall,
John G. [Newark, South Baptist]
Hand,
Daniel [New
Asbury Methodist; Ocean View, Calvary Baptist]
Hatch,
S. D. [Morristown
Methodist]
Hatfield,
Augustus [New
Brunswick ME]
Hewitt,
George W., (b.1841–d.1916) [Associated with the Philadelphia firm of Frazer, Furness and Hewitt; Haddonfield, Grace Church and the addition to St. Stephens in Beverly. His brother William Hewitt ( b.1842-d.1925) designed Providence Presbyterian church, near Florence, and St. Andrews Church in Lambertville, and Saint John the Evangelist in Chews Landing (1880-81)] Apprenticed with John Norman. The firm specialized in churches among other things
Hoar
& Gay [arch for First Baptist, Morristown]
Ireland,
Joseph [Montclair,
First Baptist]
James,
Josiah [Newark,
Trinity Church]
Jones,
Charles [Cranford, First Presbyterian]
Lefevre,
Minard [Born
in Morristown (this may be a cousin/nephew); specialized in Greek
Revival; author of an influential builder's guide, The Beauties
of Modern Architecture,
published in 1835. Designed an in antis type of Greek Revival church in New York in 1836-17, which might have been the model for several of the similar, though smaller churches in New Jersey.]
Mills,
Robert [arch
for 1810 addition to Burlington, Old St Mary's]
Moran,
Father Patrick [arch
for Newark, St John's • Newark, St Patricks Pro-Cathedral, but
almost certainly with the assistance of Patrick Keely]
Morrill, M.J. [First Presbyterian in Freehold]
O'Connor,
C.J. [Morristown,
Church of the Assumption]
Poland, William A.
The most prominent architect in Trenton in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. He designed the Bethany Presbyterian church there.
Potter,
William Appleman (b.1842—d.1909) [Newark,
Belleville Ave Congregational] [Somerville,
First Reformed]
Potter & Robertson [Long
Branch, Church of the Presidents]
Potter & Vaughn [Hoboken,
Church of the Holy Innocents]
Sayre,
Nathan [Elizabeth,
Second Presbyterian]
Schickel,
William (b.1850—d.1907)
[Montclair, Church of the Immaculate Conception; Passaic, St.
Nicholas Roman Catholic]
Sidman, John [St. John's Chapel in Little Silver]
Sigler,
Moses [Fairfield,
Dutch Reformed]
Smith,
Samuel [Arney's
Mount, Friends Meetinghouse]
Stahlin,
G. [Newark,
Evangelical & Reformed German Church]
Stent,
Thomas [Newark,
Park Presbyterian Church]
Thornton,
John [St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Long
Branch]
VanKirk,
Augustine M.
Builder-contractor: Trenton, St Michael's • Salem, First Presbyterian (builder)]
Vaughn,
Harry [Hoboken,
Chapel of the Holy Innocents]
Voorhees,
Jacob [Hunterdon/Somerset
builder; worked on Presbyterian Church of Bound Brook]
Ward,
Samuel [Bloomfield,
Presbyterian Church]
Wells,
Joseph C.
[Madison, Grace Church] Designed the famous Roseland Cottage in Woodtsock,
CT in 1846, influenced by both Downing and Davis.
Woodnut,
Charles [Bridgeton,
Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church]
Wilcox,
Amos [New
Providence, Presbyterian Church]