Grace United Methodist Church is a historic

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

building at 34 Court Street in

Keene, New Hampshire Keene is a city in, and the County seat, seat of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,047 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 23,409 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Keene is ho ...

. Built in 1869, it was designed by architect

Shepard S. Woodcock Shepard S. Woodcock (1824–1910)"Shepard S. Woodcock," ''Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: Proceedings of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Annual Meeting, January 18, 1911, Including Biographical Sketches of Members Deceased During ...

, and is one of the largest churches in southwestern New Hampshire. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1985. Its congregation moved in 2009 and was disbanded in 2016, and the building is (as of 2018) undergoing renovation for use as professional offices.

Description and history

The former Grace United Methodist Church is in downtown Keene, a short way north of Central Square on the west side of Court Street. It is a large brick building with

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

styling. It has a gabled roof, with buttressing along the sides and at the corners. A tower with a tall spire rises from the right front corner, with a polychrome slate finish. There are three entrances on the main facade, one in the tower, one at the center below the main gable, and one to the left of a buttressed turret. The interior is two stories, with classrooms, vestry, and office spaces on the ground floor, and the main sanctuary on the second floor. and The Grace congregation was founded in 1832, and built its first house of worship in 1852. This church was built in 1868-69, to a design by

, a prolific regional architect working out of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built at the high cost of $40,000, beyond the means of its parishioners to afford; the congregation was in debt until 1896. Originally roofed in polychrome slate (similar to what appears on the spire), the roof was replaced after the

1938 New England Hurricane The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The stor ...

. Due to dwindling enrollment, the Methodist congregation moved to rent smaller quarters in the Odd Fellows Hall on Marlboro Street, and was formally disbanded in 2016. The historic church's Steer and Turner organ was removed and sold to a German Catholic church. The building was purchased in 2018 by a businessman seeking to place his business there.

References

{{NRHP in Cheshire County, New Hampshire Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Gothic Revival church buildings in New Hampshire Churches completed in 1869 19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States Methodist churches in New Hampshire Churches in Cheshire County, New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Keene, New Hampshire 1869 establishments in New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Cheshire County, New Hampshire Methodist Episcopal churches in the United States

Description and history

See also

References