Saint Saviour's Episcopal Church and Rectory is a historic church complex at 41 Mt. Desert Street in
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire i ...
. Built over several construction campaigns between 1877 and 1938, it is fine local example of an American Shingle Style church executed in stone and wood. The complex includes the large cruciform church and a Shingle Style rectory originally built in the 1899 and twice enlarged. The complex was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Description and history
Saint Saviour's is set on the north side of Mt. Desert Street (
Maine State Route 3) in the main village of Bar Harbor, a short way west of the village green. It is a large cruciform structure, built of fieldstone and capped at the crossing point by a square wood-frame tower with pyramidal roof. The long axis of the cross runs parallel to the street. To the north several additions, including a choir hall, bell carillon, and cloister area, join the church to the rectory, a large -story stone and wood-frame structure to the northwest.
The main church building's appearance is a reflection of its history. The oldest portion, which now serves as the transepts of the present structure, was built in 1877–78 to designs by
C. C. Haight, and was quickly judged inadequate for the large number of summer worshippers. In 1885-86
Rotch & Tilden
Rotch & Tilden was an American architectural firm active in Boston, Massachusetts from 1880 through 1895.
The firm was organized by partners Arthur Rotch and George Thomas Tilden. Both had studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology an ...
designed a major expansion, which created the cruciform shape with an imposing tower. The choir room to the northeast was added in 1889–90, and the cloister and rectory (designs by Westray Ladd of
Philadelphia) in 1899. A chapel at the western end (design by Baker and Dallett of Philadelphia) was added in 1901–02. The interior of the church is graced by twelve windows designed by the
Tiffany Studio
Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a team of other designers, including Clara Driscoll, Agnes F. Northrop, an ...
, installed between 1886 and 1907, as well as eighteen other stained glass windows by American, English and European artists. The ten-bell
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
was added in 1938, representing the last major addition to the complex.
[
In 1948, the church was used for the consecration of its rector, ]Russell Sturgis Hubbard Russell Sturgis Hubbard (September 8, 1902 — December 27, 1972) was a bishop in The Episcopal Church. He served as suffragan in the Diocese of Michigan and became the fourth diocesan bishop in the Missionary District of Spokane He had previou ...
, as bishop.
See also
*
References
External links
Saint Saviour's Church web site
{{National Register of Historic Places
Episcopal church buildings in Maine
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Shingle Style church buildings
Churches completed in 1877
19th-century Episcopal church buildings
Churches in Hancock County, Maine
Buildings and structures in Bar Harbor, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine
Shingle Style architecture in Maine
1877 establishments in Maine