Building of the Day: 88 Hanson Place
Brooklyn, one building at a time. Name: Hanson Place Baptist Church, now Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church Address: 88 Hanson Place, corner of South Portland Ave. Neighborhood: Fort Greene Year Built: 1857-1860 Architectural Style: Italianate with Greek Revival elements Architect: George Penchard Landmarked: Individual landmark, 1970 The story: It always surprises me that this…
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Hanson Place Baptist Church, now Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church
Address: 88 Hanson Place, corner of South Portland Ave.
Neighborhood: Fort Greene
Year Built: 1857-1860
Architectural Style: Italianate with Greek Revival elements
Architect: George Penchard
Landmarked: Individual landmark, 1970
The story: It always surprises me that this church isn’t older than it is. I think it’s the Classical style of the Greek Revival pillars and pediments that make me think it dates from the 1750’s, not the 1850’s. Francis Morrone, in his Guidebook to Brooklyn, makes the case that the church is reminiscent of Philadelphia’s Arch Street Presbyterian Church, also of the same period. I am not familiar with the building he is referring to, but to say Philadelphia style while looking at this church certainly makes sense to this architectural layperson. The architect, George J. Penchard, worked in Albany with his firm, Perkins and Penchard to re-design an old firehouse to be the Lodge and Howard Street Campus of the University at Albany, in 1851. He was also the architect of record in several other Albany houses. His offices were listed as being on Broadway, in Manhattan, in 1857.
The church was built for a Baptist congregation which grew out of the Atlantic Avenue Baptist Church further downtown. George Penchard designed a very Protestant church that is mostly Italianate, which matches the time period he was living in, but has strong elements of Greek Revival, in the Classical features of the entryway, and the brick pilasters with Corinthian capitals running along the side. The tall arched windows of the rear of the church also refer to the Greek Revival, mullioned like domestic 6 over 6, or 9 over 9 windows. The tall arched windows hoods above are classic Italianate. The addition to the back of the church was built as a lecture hall, and today is used as classrooms. This is a great building, and very unique here in Brooklyn.
The HP Baptist Church appears in the Brooklyn Eagle with over 1000 entries, showing over sixty years of steady church participation with the people of Brooklyn. In 1963, the church was sold to the Seventh Day Adventists. The founders of this particular congregation were all from the Caribbean, and wanted to establish a church to meet their religious and cultural needs. Today, it is the largest Seventh Day Adventist Church in Brooklyn.
” This and the tendency to no longer emulate England (after the war of 1812)”
So burning down the Whitehouse didn’t endear us to you guys?
Also off limits is Stephen Decatur Hatch. Fair warning.
c
Ooooh, there’s a lovely place on Decatur I’m dying to write about…..it’s very unique.
Just kidding. Sorta.
I have been talking with Benson off-list about this, and we have decided to give her a bye on the “very unique” thing, as long as she stays away from Decatur through October.
Sincerely, Irregardless
sorry that’s Sir Walter Scott.
writing too fast.
Oops.
was there any greek revival in new york before 1800?
no.
Greek revival came in around 1815-20 as a result of the Greek wars of independence against the Ottoman Empire (the Turks). Europe and the US were enraptured by the idea that the birthplace of western democracy was fighting to regain its independence from the Turkish autocrats. This and the tendency to no longer emulate England (after the war of 1812) lead to the embracing of the Greek mode as a pure and symbolic gesture of the new Republic. Later, the Greeks were out and the Middle Ages were in inspired by the romantic novels of Sir Walter Raleigh and all things Gothic.
There will be a quiz later overseen by C.
was there any greek revival in new york before 1800?
You are probably right on all accounts.
churches in Brooklyn built in the mid nineteenth century were not red and white. The current color scheme is way too cheerful for old time Brooklyn.
Originally I’m sure the color scheme was a much more typically dour brown and maroon -very 1850’s-60’s.
PS: C is going to give you grief for writing “very unique”.