The First Universalist Church, known locally as the Church on the Plains, is a historic church building on Main Street in
Kingston, New Hampshire
Kingston is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census was 6,202.
History
Kingston was the fifth town to be established in New Hampshire. Originally ...
. Built in 1879 to a design by the regionally prominent architect
C. Willis Damon, it is a fine local example of Stick/Eastlake architecture. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1979,
and is now owned by the local historical society.
Description and history
The former First Universalist Church building is located in the town center of Kingston, on the east side of its expansive common at the southwest corner of Main Street and Cemetery Lane. It is a rectangular wood-frame structure, with a gable roof and a four-stage square tower projecting out of its northwest corner. The first stage of the tower has paired stencilled rectangular windows, and the second has single four-leaf-clover windows. The third stage is louvered on all four sides, and houses the church bell. The last level has clock faces on all four sides, and the steeple rises above. To the right of the tower is a single-story porch, its shed roof supported by large wooden brackets. Above that in the gable end is a three-part Palladian window, and the gable itself is decorated with Stick style woodwork. The interior has stencilwork done by unknown craftsmen.
The church was built in 1879 to a design by C. Willis Damon of
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States census.
Located o ...
. Damon was considered one of that city's leading architects, having designed a number of its industrial buildings and the old Haverhill High School. His credits in New Hampshire include an
academy
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
building in
Tilton and the
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
courthouse. This church was deconsecrated in 1954, and donated to the local historical society in 1974.
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See also
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References
External links
Church web site
{{NRHP in Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire
Queen Anne architecture in New Hampshire
Churches completed in 1879
19th-century Unitarian Universalist church buildings
Churches in Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Unitarian Universalist churches in New Hampshire
Universalist Church of America churches
National Register of Historic Places in Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Kingston, New Hampshire