St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Katonah, New York)
Encyclopedia
St. Luke's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal
church located on Bedford Road in Katonah, New York
, United States. It is a Tudor Revival structure dating to the early 1920s, housing a congregation restarted in the early 20th century.
The church building was designed by Hobart Upjohn
, third in the family of American architects by that name. The original parish house, moved from its location along with most of Katonah in the late 19th century, has been demolished, but the church itself remains intact. In 2001 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
. Next to the church is its parish house
, not included in the Register listing.
Mature trees shade the building on the south and west, centered around a large spruce
tree at the road junction that serves as Katonah's community Christmas tree
each year. The building itself is a one-story structure on a stone foundation
that rises to the roofline of a small gable
d portico
over the main entrance on the east (front) elevation. Above that it is faced in painted stucco
with the exposed vertical half-timbers of the Tudor Revival architectural style
. The steeply pitched
gabled roof is shingled in slate. A copper steeple
rises from the intersection of the nave
and chancel
.
A large three-part window is located above the main entrance. It is filled with original stained glass
and Gothic
tracery. Another stained glass window is located in the northwest corner of the nave.
Inside the church, exposed timber arches rise from the floor on the side aisles to the ceiling's exposed wooden decking. The white plaster walls have a continuous dark wooden dado
at the window sill level. The simple stained wooden pew
s are arranged in rows with center and side aisles. A storage area is located in the loft
above the sacristy
, and the partial basement holds the boiler and other utility-related equipment.
ians in Katonah were organized in 1855 as St. Mark's, under the pastoral care of St. Matthew's Church in nearby Bedford
. After 1887, that congregation was disbanded. The following year John Jay II, grandson of the first Chief Justice of the United States
, left $500 in his will
to start another Episcopal parish.
Efforts to do were disrupted in 1895 when the village moved from its original site to make way for the construction of Muscoot Reservoir
. The congregation was finally renewed in 1916, meeting in a movie theater and later a warehouse. Five years later the members asked St. Mark's of Mount Kisco
to adopt them as a mission
, and raised the money to buy the land and commission a design from Upjohn.
Upjohn, the son of Richard M. Upjohn
and grandson of Richard Upjohn
, both designers of well-known churches in their careers, produced an exemplary Tudor Revival church. It is atypical of most of his other work, except for the English Gothic-style Mead Memorial Chapel
in nearby Waccabuc
. The exposed timber arches on the interior complement the half-timbers on the outside, and minimal decoration augments the heavy wood.
The cornerstone
was laid in October 1921. Roughly two years later, the first services were held. It was formally dedicated shortly before Christmas 1923.
The church remained under the care of St. Mark's until 1944, when it became an organized mission of the Archdiocese of New York. Fourteen years later, in 1958, it became self-supporting. The next year it bought the current parish house, two doors down Katonah Avenue, from a neighbor, and then demolished the former Parish House, which had been brought to the current village from the former site, in 1961. There have been no alterations to the church property since.
. It maintains an adult and junior choir
. On the three days before Mother's Day
each year, it holds a plant sale to raise money, some of which is donated to charity. It also raises money through sales of its cookbook, Cooking With Spirit.
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
church located on Bedford Road in Katonah, New York
Katonah, New York
Katonah, New York is one of three unincorporated hamlets within the town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, United States.-History:Katonah is named for Chief Katonah, an American Indian from whom the land of Bedford was purchased by a group of English colonists...
, United States. It is a Tudor Revival structure dating to the early 1920s, housing a congregation restarted in the early 20th century.
The church building was designed by Hobart Upjohn
Hobart Upjohn
Hobart Upjohn was an American architect, best known for designing a number of ecclesiastical and educational structures in New York and in North Carolina. He also designed a number of significant private homes. His firm produced a total of about 150 projects, a third of which were in North...
, third in the family of American architects by that name. The original parish house, moved from its location along with most of Katonah in the late 19th century, has been demolished, but the church itself remains intact. In 2001 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Building
The church is located on a small triangular lot between Bedford Road and Katonah Avenue at the southern end of the village's downtown. It is just outside the Katonah Village Historic DistrictKatonah Village Historic District
Katonah Village Historic District is a national historic district located at Katonah, Westchester County, New York. The district contains 38 contributing buildings developed between 1895 and 1928 in "New Katonah." It is primarily residential, but also includes three churches and two combination...
. Next to the church is its parish house
Church hall
A church hall is a room or building associated with a church, general for community and charitable use . It is normally located near the church, typically in smaller and village communities. Activities in the hall are not necessarily religious, but are typically an important part of local community...
, not included in the Register listing.
Mature trees shade the building on the south and west, centered around a large spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
tree at the road junction that serves as Katonah's community Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
each year. The building itself is a one-story structure on a stone foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
that rises to the roofline of a small gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
over the main entrance on the east (front) elevation. Above that it is faced in painted stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
with the exposed vertical half-timbers of the Tudor Revival architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
. The steeply pitched
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
gabled roof is shingled in slate. A copper steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
rises from the intersection of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
.
A large three-part window is located above the main entrance. It is filled with original stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
and Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
tracery. Another stained glass window is located in the northwest corner of the nave.
Inside the church, exposed timber arches rise from the floor on the side aisles to the ceiling's exposed wooden decking. The white plaster walls have a continuous dark wooden dado
Dado (architecture)
In architectural terminology, the dado, borrowed from Italian meaning die or plinth, is the lower part of a wall, below the dado rail and above the skirting board....
at the window sill level. The simple stained wooden pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s are arranged in rows with center and side aisles. A storage area is located in the loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
above the sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
, and the partial basement holds the boiler and other utility-related equipment.
History
EpiscopalEpiscopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
ians in Katonah were organized in 1855 as St. Mark's, under the pastoral care of St. Matthew's Church in nearby Bedford
Bedford (town), New York
Bedford is a town in Westchester County, New York, USA. The population was 17,335 at the 2010 census.The Town of Bedford is located in the northeastern part of Westchester County, and contains the three hamlets of Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, and Katonah...
. After 1887, that congregation was disbanded. The following year John Jay II, grandson of the first Chief Justice of the United States
John Jay
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States ....
, left $500 in his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
to start another Episcopal parish.
Efforts to do were disrupted in 1895 when the village moved from its original site to make way for the construction of Muscoot Reservoir
Muscoot Reservoir
The Muscoot Reservoir is a reservoir in northern Westchester County, New York. It is located directly north of the village of Katonah, New York, and is over 25 miles north of New York City, which the reservoir eventually supplies with tapwater...
. The congregation was finally renewed in 1916, meeting in a movie theater and later a warehouse. Five years later the members asked St. Mark's of Mount Kisco
Mount Kisco, New York
Mount Kisco is a community that is both a village and a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,877 at the 2010 census.- History :...
to adopt them as a mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
, and raised the money to buy the land and commission a design from Upjohn.
Upjohn, the son of Richard M. Upjohn
Richard M. Upjohn
Richard Michell Upjohn, FAIA, was an influential American architect, co-founder and president of the American Institute of Architects.-Early life and career:...
and grandson of Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
, both designers of well-known churches in their careers, produced an exemplary Tudor Revival church. It is atypical of most of his other work, except for the English Gothic-style Mead Memorial Chapel
Mead Memorial Chapel
Mead Memorial Chapel is a historic Episcopal chapel at 2 Chapel Road in the hamlet of Waccabuc, town of Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York. It was designed by Hobart B. Upjohn and built in 1905-1906 in a late Gothic Revival style. It is a rectangular stone building with a steep slate roof...
in nearby Waccabuc
Waccabuc, New York
Waccabuc is a hamlet and lake in Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York. It was first established as a vacation home for the Mead family, for whom the core road of the hamlet, Mead Street, is named...
. The exposed timber arches on the interior complement the half-timbers on the outside, and minimal decoration augments the heavy wood.
The cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid in October 1921. Roughly two years later, the first services were held. It was formally dedicated shortly before Christmas 1923.
The church remained under the care of St. Mark's until 1944, when it became an organized mission of the Archdiocese of New York. Fourteen years later, in 1958, it became self-supporting. The next year it bought the current parish house, two doors down Katonah Avenue, from a neighbor, and then demolished the former Parish House, which had been brought to the current village from the former site, in 1961. There have been no alterations to the church property since.
The church today
The church holds regular Sunday services and Sunday schoolSunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. It maintains an adult and junior choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. On the three days before Mother's Day
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
each year, it holds a plant sale to raise money, some of which is donated to charity. It also raises money through sales of its cookbook, Cooking With Spirit.
See also
- Church website.
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Westchester County, New York