St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church is a historic church building located on Vermont Route 118 in
Montgomery, Vermont
Montgomery is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 1,184. In 1963, part of Avery's Gore in Franklin County became part of Montgomery, with the other section becoming part of Belvidere in Lam ...
in the United States. Its congregation was formed in 1821 as Union Episcopal Church. Church construction began in 1833 and was completed in 1835, when it was consecrated by the Rt. Rev.
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 ...
, first bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Vermont
The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the state of Vermont. It was the first diocese in the Episcopal Church to elect a woman, Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod, as diocesan bishop.
...
. In 1897 its name was changed to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church.
The congregation disbanded and the church was deconsecrated in 1974. It is owned by the Montgomery Historical Society and is now known as Pratt Hall.
[http://www.montgomeryhistoricalsociety.org/mhspratt.htm ] On October 1, 1988, 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 ...
.
The building is a prominent early example of
Gothic Revival architecture
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 ...
in the state.
Description and history
Pratt Hall stands in the village of Montgomery, just southwest of its triangular common on the northwest side of Vermont 118. It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, clapboarded exterior, and square tower. The tower projects from the otherwise unadorned front facade, with a Gothic-arched entrance at the base, with narrow lancet-arch windows on the sides, and an oculus window above the entrance. The second stage houses the belfry, and is separated from the clock stage by a cornice. The tower is topped by a crenelated parapet. The interior contains elaborate woodwork in the Gothic style.
[ with ]
Montgomery's Episcopal congregation was one of the first in the town. This was its first church building, erected from 1832 to 1835 on land purchased in 1829. The church is one of Vermont's oldest examples of Gothic Revival architecture. Its construction began not long after completion of the first documented example of this style in
Arlington. Originally a union church (shared by multiple congregations), this was soon used exclusively by the Episcopalians, as other denominations built their own churches. With its congregation in decline, in 1927 the church reduced its services to summer only, when more visitors came to town.
[
In 1972 the diocese decided that the building was no longer safe for use and was going to demolish it. The Montgomery Historical Society bought the building in 1974, and has restored and maintained it since then.][http://www.montgomeryhistoricalsociety.org/pratthall.htm ] The society named the building in honor of its founder, Lawrence Pratt, who was the driving force in rescuing the building from destruction.[
]
See also
*
* St. Bartholomew's (disambiguation)
* Union Church (disambiguation)
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations.
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
References
External links
Montgomery Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bartholomews Episcopal Church (Montgomery, Vermont)
Churches completed in 1835
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Episcopal churches in Vermont
Buildings and structures in Montgomery, Vermont
Churches in Franklin County, Vermont
19th-century Episcopal church buildings
National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Vermont