First Presbyterian Church and Manse is a historic

Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

located at West Madison Street and Park Avenue in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The church is a rectangular brick building with a central tower flanked by protruding octagonal

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s at each corner. At the north end of the church is a two-story building appearing to be a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

and sharing a common roof with the church, but is separated from the auditorium by a bearing wall. The manse is a three-story stone-faced building. The church was begun about 1854 by

Nathan G. Starkweather Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

and finished by his assistant

Edmund G. Lind Edmund George Lind (June 18, 1829 – 1909) was an English-born American architect, active in Baltimore, Atlanta, and the American south. Biography Lind was born in Islington, now a part of London, England; his father, Alexander Lind, was an eng ...

around 1873. It is a notable 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 ...

and a landmark in the City of Baltimore. The steeple is the tallest in Baltimore at and was completed by 1875, supported by clusters of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

columns. A subsidiary spire to the right is high, and the smaller, on the southwest corner, is 78 feet high.

Wendel Bollman Wendel Bollman (January 21, 1814 – 1884) was an American self-taught civil engineer, best known for his iron railway bridges. Only one of his patented "Bollman truss" bridges survives, the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge in Savage, Maryland. Th ...

fabricated much of the ironwork at his Patapsco Bridge and Ironworks and is famous for several iron truss bridges throughout the region especially on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. The manse, or rectory, is located to the left, or west of the entrance. Stonework is a red freestone or sandstone from

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. First Presbyterian Church and Manse was listed on 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 1973. It is now known as the First and Franklin Presbyterian Church, after merging in 1973 with the former Franklin Street Presbyterian Church several blocks to the south at the northwest corner of West Franklin and Cathedral Streets, across from the central

Enoch Pratt Free Library The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library and office headquarters are located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupy the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded ...

and the Old Baltimore Cathedral (now the

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica, was the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, and was among the first major religious buildings construc ...

which was used by the merged congregation for a time and then sold to a fundamentalist Protestant congregation. Franklin Street Church was built in 1847 and designed in English Tudor Revival style by

Robert Cary Long, Jr. Robert Cary Long Jr. (1810–1849) was the son of a late 18th Century - early 19th Century famous architect Robert Cary Long Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland and was himself a well-known 19th Century architect. Like his father, Cary was based in Baltim ...

and Col. Robert Snowden Andrews, C.S.A. (who also designed the earliest Eastern High School on Aisquith and Orleans Streets). First Presbyterian Church is the oldest

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

congregation in Baltimore, founded in 1761, then located after 1763 at East Fayette and North Streets (later Guilford Avenue) on the northwest corner in downtown which was the site for three its succeeding buildings until 1859, when the site was purchased by the Federal Government and constructed a U.S. Courthouse there, dedicated by President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

in 1860, later replaced by another courthouse on the entire block in 1889 and finally the current one in 1932, which is now "Courthouse East" for the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City. It was instrumental in the establishment of the local Presbytery of Baltimore and many "daughter congregations" such as Second Presbyterian Church and others. The church and manse were listed on the

on June 18, 1973. They are included in the

Baltimore National Heritage Area Baltimore National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area encompassing portions of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The designated area includes the central portion of the city, waterfront, inner neighborhoods and portions of the ...

References

External links

*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust
The First and Franklin Presbyterian Church website
* *
Presbyterian Historical Society - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania website
- archives of the

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and ...

denomination {{DEFAULTSORT:First Presbyterian Church And Manse (Baltimore, Maryland) Presbyterian churches in Maryland Presbyterian churches in Baltimore Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Gothic Revival church buildings in Maryland Churches completed in 1854 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Baltimore National Heritage Area Historic American Buildings Survey in Baltimore Mount Vernon, Baltimore Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland 1854 establishments in Maryland

See also

References

External links