The Grace Episcopal Church is an
Episcopal church designed by noted American architect
H. H. Richardson, with a major stained glass window by
John LaFarge
John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge made stained glass ...
. It is located at 160 High Street,
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...
and now 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 ...
.
The church was constructed 1867-1869. It is one of Richardson's earliest works and the second of his churches (now the earliest remaining since his Unity Church, Springfield, has been demolished). Its cornerstone was laid in 1867 but by August 1868 it was evident that construction costs would exceed the budget. After the Brooks family covered the remaining construction costs, it became a private chapel under Episcopal law. In 1873 the family delivered the church to the parish, and it then was consecrated by the Bishop of Maine.
The church is designed in a picturesque Gothic style with high steeple (square base, octagonal spire), asymmetrical massing, and rough-cut walls of glacial boulder with granite trim. A massive slate roof, in gray with bands of red slate, dominates the nave's low walls and the five-sided apse attached to its east wall.
The church has undergone extensive modifications from its original design. In 1882 a Sunday school annex was appended, in 1883 the nave interior was redecorated, and in 1957 further additions were made. In 1962 the chancel was reworked and Richardson's original altar given to the
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...
. In the early 1970s Richardson's dark-stained interior was replaced by a brighter woodwork. As of 2007 only the pulpit remains of his original interior. LaFarge's window, "Rebecca at the Well", forms the center of the nave's south wall, and was probably installed in 1884 or 1885.
[Barbara Kerr, ''Medford in the Victorian Era'', Arcadia Publishing, 2004, page 91. .]
Gallery
Image:Grace Episcopal Church (Medford, MA) - west facade.JPG, West facade
Image:Grace Episcopal Church (Medford, MA) - steeple detail.JPG, Steeple detail
See also
*
*
References
External links
Grace Church, Medford
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Episcopal church buildings in Massachusetts
Henry Hobson Richardson church buildings
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts
Romanesque Revival church buildings in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Medford, Massachusetts
Churches in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Stone churches in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Medford, Massachusetts