# John Stevens (architect)

John Stevens (1824-1881) was an American architect who practiced in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for ecclesiastical design, and designed churches and other buildings across New England.

## Life and career

John Stevens was born in 1824. His early life is unknown, and he established himself as an architect in Boston in 1850. After several years primarily designing schools and private residences, he began receiving commissions for churches by the end of the 1850s. He built these churches, generally in the Romanesque Revival style, in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. From 1860 to 1862 he employed Archimedes Russell, who would later become a prominent architect in Syracuse, New York. In 1869 he was briefly associated with S. F. Pratt, at which time he was working on buildings at Oak Bluffs. He remained in Massachusetts until 1879, when he established a partnership with his son, J. Walter Stevens, and moved west to St. Paul, Minnesota. John Stevens & Son operated until April 14, 1881, when Stevens died while on a visit to Worcester, Massachusetts.

## Legacy

Stevens designed a great many churches. His Baptist church in Saint John, New Brunswick, completed in 1878, was said to have been his 113th. Many of his churches were built on only three basic models, which he relied on throughout his career. His contemporaries criticized him for this repetitiveness. In 1878, an anonymous writer going by "Verax" wrote in regard to his St. John church: "and as the 'outline and general features are after the Byzantine period' we may expect something similar to Mr. Stevens's previous works, which may be seen in almost every city from Calais to Lynn."
At least six of his works have been listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, and several more contribute to listed historic districts.

## Architectural works

| Year | Building | Address | City | State | Notes |
| 1852 | Nathaniel Dearborn House | 21 Chestnut St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1854 | Smith Hall | Abbot Academy | Andover | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1855 c. 1855 | Stephen Hall House | 64 Minot St | Reading | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1855 | Punchard Free School | 36 Bartlett St | Andover | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1857 | Malden Town Hall | 389 Main St | Malden | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1859 | First Congregational Church | 322 Main St | Woburn | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1859 | First Parish Congregational Church | 1 Church St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | A complete rebuilding. Demolished in 1890. |
| 1859 | North Church | 240 Main St | Haverhill | Massachusetts | |
| 1860 | First Congregational Church | 1 S Main St | Randolph | Massachusetts | Burned in 1936. |
| 1860 | Reading Agricultural and Mechanical Association Building | 643 Main St | Reading | Massachusetts | Built with an elaborate mansard roof, removed in 1959. |
| 1860 | South Church | 41 Central St | Andover | Massachusetts | |
| 1861 | Haverhill City Hall | Main St | Haverhill | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1861 | Cyrus Wakefield House | 467 Main St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1863 | First Parish Congregational Church | 12 Beach St | Saco | Maine | Burned in 2000. Previously on the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1863 | Third (Pavilion) Congregational Church | 270 Main St | Biddeford | Maine | Converted into the McArthur Public Library. |
| 1864 | First Baptist Church | 81 St Paul St | Burlington | Vermont | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1865 | Trinitarian Congregational Church | 72 Elm St | North Andover | Massachusetts | |
| 1866 | Oren B. Cheney House | 262 College St | Lewiston | Maine | Now Cheney House of Bates College. |
| 1866 | Masonic Temple | 326 Main St | Melrose | Massachusetts | Heavily altered. |
| 1866 | Pine Street Congregational Church | 60 Pine St | Lewiston | Maine | Demolished. |
| 1867 | Erastus P. Carpenter House | 47 Ocean Ave | Oak Bluffs | Massachusetts | |
| 1867 | First Congregational Church | 1 Washburn Sq | Leicester | Massachusetts | Burned in 1900. |
| 1867 | Pawtucket Congregational Church | 40 Walcott St | Pawtucket | Rhode Island | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1868 | Memorial Hall | 22 South St | Foxborough | Massachusetts | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1868 | Wakefield Town Hall | Main and Water Sts | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Demolished in 1958. |
| 1870 | Court Street Baptist Church | 129 Court St | Auburn | Maine | |
| 1871 | First Congregational Church | 171 Main St | Franklin | Massachusetts | Demolished or burned. |
| 1871 | First Congregational Church | 150 S Common St | Lynn | Massachusetts | |
| 1871 | Wakefield High School | 1 Lafayette St | Wakefield | Massachusetts | Now the Town Hall. |
| 1873 | First Congregational Church | 21 Calais Ave | Calais | Maine | Burned in 1992. |
| 1874 | Melrose Town Hall | 562 Main St | Melrose | Massachusetts | Substantially burned in 1937, and rebuilt from designs by Mowll & Rand. |
| 1876 | First Universalist Church | 169 Pleasant St | Auburn | Maine | On the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1877 | Weldon (King Edward) School | 210 Wentworth St | St. John | New Brunswick | Demolished. |
| 1878 | Central Baptist Church | 42 Leinster St | St. John | New Brunswick | Said to be his 113th church. |