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St. Paul's (Zion's) Evangelical Lutheran Church
Encyclopedia
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church is the official name of what is usually referred to as St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Red Hook
, New York, United States. Its six buildings and cemetery are on a 15 acres (6.1 ha) lot
on South Broadway (US 9) just south of the village center. The current church is the third building on a spot that has been home to what was originally a Reformed congregation since 1796.
It is one of several Lutheran
churches in the area that trace their roots to Palatine German emigrants in the early 18th century. Its late 19th-century brick building is a sophisticated application of the Romanesque Revival architectural style
by a New York City architect. In 1998 the entire complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Recently, it has considered selling and demolishing some of the buildings due to financial difficulties.
to its historic character. In addition to the main entrances on Broadway there is an entry from Fisk Lane. The land is open with some mature trees.
d roof topped by a cupola
. Windows and doors are in rounded arches. The western (front) facade
has a large, detailed rose window
with quatrefoil
tracery. Below it are three small stained glass
windows with sandstone
voussoir
s. Another small window is above the rose window, in the tympanum
.
The main entrance is at a small one-story flat-roofed stone porch, with its archivolt
s likewise in sandstone. A similar porch and secondary entrance are on the northwest corner, at the base of the bell tower
. It rises to a broached top with round-arched openings on all four sides and a rounded copper-roofed stair turret
. Below the east gable is a steep, conical roof over the cellar entrance near the sanctuary
.
Inside, the church has plaster walls, wainscoting and deeply-recessed windows and doors. Sail vaults support the ceiling, supported by corbel
s and smaller vaults rising from the columns. With the corrugated metal
ceiling, the overall effect suggests a tambour
.
The floor is laid out following the late 19th-century Akron Plan. Pews are arranged in a semicircle on a sloping floor throughout the transept
and nave
. Baptismal and choral dais
es are in the southern corners and the altar
is under a raised semidome.
-style
two-and-a-half-story house with high-pitched
roof and wraparound porch. To its north is the parish hall, a Victorian Gothic frame
house, whose steeply-pitched roof is complemented by a bracketed
cornice
and pointed-arch windows.
On the south end of the row of church buildings is the cemetery caretaker's home, the oldest building on the property. It is a five-bay
, one-and-a-half-story frame saltbox house. To the rear of the front row are a small wooden barn, with cross-gabled metal roof and sliding front doors, currently used as a garage. The cemetery office nearby is a one-story frame building with gabled roof and garage doors.
The earliest gravestone is dated 1813. It is one of a few marble
and sandstone markers from that era. Victorian-era marble and granite
headstones predominate in five other sections, with the remainder being from the 20th century. There is one zinc
marker, and a few vaults
. None of the individual gravestones are remarkable for their funerary art
or the person buried.
in the 1710s, with Palatine German refugees from the War of Spanish Succession. After an attempt to cultivate naval stores
on the lands of Robert Livingston
in today's Columbia County
, they were released. Some settled in the Rhinebeck
and Red Hook areas at the invitation of another large local landholder, Henry Beekman. The Germans established a joint Reformed
-Lutheran Church in the Red Hook community in 1715.
In 1729 the Lutherans left, either due to a dispute with their Calvinist
countrymen or because their congregation had grown enough to require its own church. They established what is today known as the Old Stone Church
on the Albany Post Road
(today's Route 9) between the two communities. The Reformed-Lutheran Church then became known as the Zion German Reformed Church.
That church bought a five-acre (2 ha) plot in Red Hook at the current location in 1796 and moved in six years later. At that time the building now used as the caretaker's cottage was the only improvement, having been constructed a few years before. The congregation built a frame church that was completed the next year. Whether the cemetery was established prior to its earliest known burial, in 1813, is not known.
The frame church blew down during a storm in 1834 and a new church was built of stone. A new church in a figurative sense came along in 1846, when the congregation was unable to find a pastor. To resolve the problem, they became Lutherans and became known as St. Paul's.
In the 1880s the complex began to expand with the construction of the parish hall on the north end of the property. Two years later, the congregation's growth led to a fundraising drive for another new church. The stone church was demolished in 1889, as worshippers began digging a new cellar. The current church was built for $18,650 ($ in contemporary dollars) and opened the following year.
It was designed by New York City architect Lawrence B. Valk, who had written extensively about church design in an 1873 book, Church Architecture. He said that "churches are for the salvation of souls, not for architectural display at the sacrifice of comfort". Most of his other churches are closer to the city, in New York, Ossining
or Long Island. His church in rural Red Hook is not any different from his urban churches of the period. It is most similar to the Congregational Church of Patchogue
, where he also used the very contemporary Romanesque Revival style and a similar plan.
The early 20th century brought the parsonage to the property, in 1903. Three years later the church building was outfitted with electric light, and carpeting and a new pipe organ
came in subsequent years. In 1914 the congregation petitioned a New York court for a name change to the current corporate name, reflecting the church's origins as the Zion German Reformed Church.
The cemetery grew enough that in the 1920s the office and barn were acquired, the last contributing resources on the property. It became necessary to acquire more land, and several adjoining parcels were bought until the church's land reached its present size in 1939. There have been a few alterations since then. Work on the cellar in 1956 led to the removal of an original porte cochère and the addition of an endwall chimney on the south side. The original slate roof was replaced in the 1970s.
By the early 21st century the church was struggling financially, and found that by April 2009 it would be broke. In 2008 it proposed to the village that it demolish the caretaker's cottage and parish hall in order to resubdivide the property and create five new buildable lots. The proceeds from doing so would help keep the cemetery and church functioning. Local preservationists
objected, saying that the caretaker's cottage was "organic to the site" and should be moved, not demolished.
Red Hook (village), New York
Red Hook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The population was 1,961 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area...
, New York, United States. Its six buildings and cemetery are on a 15 acres (6.1 ha) lot
Lot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
on South Broadway (US 9) just south of the village center. The current church is the third building on a spot that has been home to what was originally a Reformed congregation since 1796.
It is one of several Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
churches in the area that trace their roots to Palatine German emigrants in the early 18th century. Its late 19th-century brick building is a sophisticated application of the Romanesque 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...
by a New York City architect. In 1998 the entire complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Recently, it has considered selling and demolishing some of the buildings due to financial difficulties.
Property
The church's property is bounded by South Broadway on the west, Fisk Street to the north, Elizabeth Street in the east and a residence on the south. It is a complex of six buildings, four of which are in a row along the street with the 10 acre (4 ha), and two with the cemetery in the rear. All are considered contributing resourcesContributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to its historic character. In addition to the main entrances on Broadway there is an entry from Fisk Lane. The land is open with some mature trees.
Church
The church itself is located third from north. It is an asymmetrical brick building with cross-gableGable
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 roof topped by a cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
. Windows and doors are in rounded arches. The western (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has a large, detailed rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
with quatrefoil
Quatrefoil
The word quatrefoil etymologically means "four leaves", and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts.-In heraldry:In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets . It is sometimes shown "slipped", i.e. with an...
tracery. Below it are three small 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...
windows with sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
voussoir
Voussoir
A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault.Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch. A...
s. Another small window is above the rose window, in the tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
.
The main entrance is at a small one-story flat-roofed stone porch, with its archivolt
Archivolt
An archivolt is an ornamental molding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental moldings surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening...
s likewise in sandstone. A similar porch and secondary entrance are on the northwest corner, at the base of the bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
. It rises to a broached top with round-arched openings on all four sides and a rounded copper-roofed stair turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
. Below the east gable is a steep, conical roof over the cellar entrance near the sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
.
Inside, the church has plaster walls, wainscoting and deeply-recessed windows and doors. Sail vaults support the ceiling, supported by corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s and smaller vaults rising from the columns. With the corrugated metal
Corrugated galvanised iron
Corrugated galvanised iron is a building material composed of sheets of hot-dip galvanised mild steel, cold-rolled to produce a linear corrugated pattern in them...
ceiling, the overall effect suggests a tambour
Tambour
In classical architecture, a tambour is the inverted bell of the Corinthian capital around which are carved acanthus leaves for decoration....
.
The floor is laid out following the late 19th-century Akron Plan. Pews are arranged in a semicircle on a sloping floor throughout the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
and 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...
. Baptismal and choral dais
Dais
Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....
es are in the southern corners and the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
is under a raised semidome.
Other buildings
Just north of the church is the parsonage, a Queen AnneQueen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
-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...
two-and-a-half-story house with high-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...
roof and wraparound porch. To its north is the parish hall, a Victorian Gothic frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
house, whose steeply-pitched roof is complemented by a bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and pointed-arch windows.
On the south end of the row of church buildings is the cemetery caretaker's home, the oldest building on the property. It is a five-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
, one-and-a-half-story frame saltbox house. To the rear of the front row are a small wooden barn, with cross-gabled metal roof and sliding front doors, currently used as a garage. The cemetery office nearby is a one-story frame building with gabled roof and garage doors.
Cemetery
The cemetery takes up the rear of the lot. It is mostly flat, with some undulation near the east side. Several paved and unpaved lanes cross it to provide vehicular access to graves, dividing it into 20 sections, their routes corresponding to former lot boundaries.The earliest gravestone is dated 1813. It is one of a few marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and sandstone markers from that era. Victorian-era marble and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
headstones predominate in five other sections, with the remainder being from the 20th century. There is one zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
marker, and a few vaults
Burial vault (tomb)
A burial vault is a structural underground tomb.It is a stone or brick-lined underground space or 'burial' chamber for the interment of a dead body or bodies. They were originally and are still often vaulted and usually have stone slab entrances...
. None of the individual gravestones are remarkable for their funerary art
Funerary art
Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. Tomb is a general term for the repository, while grave goods are objects—other than the primary human remains—which have been placed inside...
or the person buried.
History
Lutheranism came to northwestern Dutchess CountyDutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
in the 1710s, with Palatine German refugees from the War of Spanish Succession. After an attempt to cultivate naval stores
Naval stores
Naval Stores is a broad term which originally applied to the resin-based components used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships, a category which includes cordage, mask, turpentine, rosin, pitch and tar...
on the lands of Robert Livingston
Robert Livingston the Elder
Robert Livingston the Elder was a New York colonial official, and first lord of Livingston Manor. He married Alida Schuyler in 1679. He was the father of nine children, including Philip, Robert and Gilbert...
in today's Columbia County
Columbia County, New York
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
, they were released. Some settled in the Rhinebeck
Rhinebeck (town), New York
Rhinebeck is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 7,548 at the 2010 census.The Town of Rhinebeck in the northwest part of Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley. Rhinebeck is also the name of a village in the town. US Route 9 passes through the town...
and Red Hook areas at the invitation of another large local landholder, Henry Beekman. The Germans established a joint Reformed
Evangelical and Reformed Church
The Evangelical and Reformed Church was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States with the Evangelical Synod of North America . After the 1934 merger, a minority within the RCUS seceded in order to...
-Lutheran Church in the Red Hook community in 1715.
In 1729 the Lutherans left, either due to a dispute with their Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
countrymen or because their congregation had grown enough to require its own church. They established what is today known as the Old Stone Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter, known locally as the Old Stone Church, is located on US 9 in the Town of Rhinebeck, New York, United States. It is a stone church built in the late 18th century by the area's Palatine German immigrant population. It has been renovated significantly...
on the Albany Post Road
Albany Post Road
The Albany Post Road was a post road - a road used for mail delivery - in the U.S. state of New York. It connected the cities of New York and Albany along the east side of the Hudson River, a service now performed by US 9.The rough route was as follows:...
(today's Route 9) between the two communities. The Reformed-Lutheran Church then became known as the Zion German Reformed Church.
That church bought a five-acre (2 ha) plot in Red Hook at the current location in 1796 and moved in six years later. At that time the building now used as the caretaker's cottage was the only improvement, having been constructed a few years before. The congregation built a frame church that was completed the next year. Whether the cemetery was established prior to its earliest known burial, in 1813, is not known.
The frame church blew down during a storm in 1834 and a new church was built of stone. A new church in a figurative sense came along in 1846, when the congregation was unable to find a pastor. To resolve the problem, they became Lutherans and became known as St. Paul's.
In the 1880s the complex began to expand with the construction of the parish hall on the north end of the property. Two years later, the congregation's growth led to a fundraising drive for another new church. The stone church was demolished in 1889, as worshippers began digging a new cellar. The current church was built for $18,650 ($ in contemporary dollars) and opened the following year.
It was designed by New York City architect Lawrence B. Valk, who had written extensively about church design in an 1873 book, Church Architecture. He said that "churches are for the salvation of souls, not for architectural display at the sacrifice of comfort". Most of his other churches are closer to the city, in New York, Ossining
Ossining (village), New York
Ossining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....
or Long Island. His church in rural Red Hook is not any different from his urban churches of the period. It is most similar to the Congregational Church of Patchogue
Congregational Church of Patchogue
Congregational Church of Patchogue is a historic church at 95 East Main Street in Patchogue, New York.Though the current church building was built in 1892, the church itself dates back to 1793 in a small building, approximately 25 by 20 feet, that was shared with some local Methodists...
, where he also used the very contemporary Romanesque Revival style and a similar plan.
The early 20th century brought the parsonage to the property, in 1903. Three years later the church building was outfitted with electric light, and carpeting and a new pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
came in subsequent years. In 1914 the congregation petitioned a New York court for a name change to the current corporate name, reflecting the church's origins as the Zion German Reformed Church.
The cemetery grew enough that in the 1920s the office and barn were acquired, the last contributing resources on the property. It became necessary to acquire more land, and several adjoining parcels were bought until the church's land reached its present size in 1939. There have been a few alterations since then. Work on the cellar in 1956 led to the removal of an original porte cochère and the addition of an endwall chimney on the south side. The original slate roof was replaced in the 1970s.
By the early 21st century the church was struggling financially, and found that by April 2009 it would be broke. In 2008 it proposed to the village that it demolish the caretaker's cottage and parish hall in order to resubdivide the property and create five new buildable lots. The proceeds from doing so would help keep the cemetery and church functioning. Local preservationists
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
objected, saying that the caretaker's cottage was "organic to the site" and should be moved, not demolished.