Hezekiah Eldredge (April 3, 1795 – August 25, 1845) was an early American architect. Born in South

Mansfield, Connecticut Mansfield is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 25,892 at the 2020 census. Pequot and Mohegan people lived in this region for centuries before the arrival of English settler-immigrants in the late 17th cent ...

, he moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

then on to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. He became known as a fine carpenter and because of his skills later turned to building design and contracting. In

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, he completed the Batavia Club in 1831. Moving to Cleveland, he began building St. John's Episcopal Church in 1836, which he completed in 1838. Eldridge was a charter member of St. John's and a member of the

Vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

. Eldredge was probably familiar with

John Henry Hopkins John Henry Hopkins (January 30, 1792 – January 9, 1868) was the first bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Vermont and the eighth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was also an artist (in both watercolor and ...

' ''An Essay on Gothic Architecture'', the first book on Gothic

ecclesiastical architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of churches, convents, seminaries etc. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by borrowing other architectural styles as ...

to be published in the United States. St. John's is a good representative of a small group of American churches inspired by Hopkins' book. Eldredge died in Cleveland in 1845.Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:ELDREDGE, HEZEKIAH
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Works

In addition to St. John's he has been credited with: * Batavia Club (1831) *The Ohio City Exchange (1835) *The Cleveland Center Block (1836) *The Baptist Meeting House (1836) *The Pearl Street House (1837)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eldredge, Hezekiah Architects from Cleveland 1795 births 1845 deaths People from Mansfield, Connecticut 19th-century American architects 19th-century American Episcopalians