St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-02-06


mental or worth seeing in the sense
in which we ordinarily count things
architecturallv worth seeing. There
is no religious community on this
side of the Atlantic whose beginnings
are looked at with anything like such
eager curiosity. 1t is curiosity
which touches every phase of their
daily life, which follows them upon
their gathering on the Sunday,
and would gladly reconstruct every
detail of the eXternals by which their
worship was surrounded. Nothing
is said to be known of the first meet
ing-house at Plymouth except that
it had bell; and this building, it is
stated, was not erected until 1887
well on towards twenty years after
the landing upon the Rock. | would
be glad if there were authorities other
than those to which | have had ac-
cess which would show what this
building was. In general the exact
appearance of the very earliest meet
ing houses all over New England
seems to Recovered with some doubt.
A church was begun in Boston in
1923, which when completed offered
an illustration of almost all of Wren's
conspicuous traits in church building,
even an illustration of his vaulting.
This church, which is now standing
and which is the oldest church in
Boston, is Christ Church on Salem
street, sometimes called the Old
North In its interior it resembles
rather more st. James Westminster,
than any other of Wren's parish
churches. ST. James, Westminster,
is not near the Abbey, but stands
with its side on Jermyn street, and is
only a few steps from Piccadilly. 1t
is called also st. James Piccadilly.
Competent critics have pronounced
that of ST. James, Wren's most sue
cessful interior after ST. Stephens,
Walbrook, the latter being a domed
and much more pretentious piece of
construction. The ceiling of the roof
of ST. James is especially pruF-ed as
IAN appropriate mode of getting
height and light with a pleasing
variety of form Sir Christopher
himself thought he had produced
happy design in st. James, record
having been preserved somewhere of
his saying, Il think it may be found
beautiful and convenient At Christ
Church the interior is divided into a
nave and aisles by pilasters which
support gallery at half their height.
Instead of continuous plaster from
the floor to the ceiling, there is, in ST.
James a plaster to the gallery level
and from this level column rises in
the same line to support the vault
ing Otherwise there is no material
difference III the plan of the two in
teriors. Though the substitution of
two parts for one in such a case is
said to be better construction Chat
is to say, the substitution of pilas-
ter and column for continuous pill
aster,) the effect in Christ Church
would be to many persons quite as
pleasing to the eye as the effect i'll
Wren'S own composition. The vault
ing is identically alike, except that
the barrel vault of the nave does not
approach so closely the circular form
in Christ Church as it does in st.
James AS the eye follows around
the line where the ceiling joins the
end wall, the curve is seen to be
somewhat elliptical Beams masked
under the form of entablatures eX-
tend from the tops of the pilasters to
the side wall of Christ Church, pre-
cisely as at ST. James supporting
the barrel vaults of the aisles. There
is not the elaborateness of minor de-
tails in the Boston church which is
seen in the London one. No one
would expect this, but would rather
wonder that the ambitious plan of
construction should have been fol-
lowed so faithfully as it was. The
visitor must go to the old church al
so with realizing sense that he is to
look upon a wood and plaster con-
struction which ceased to be new
much more than a hundred years
ago; and if he sets himself to realize
this, and does not turn himself to-
wards Salem street with the expecta
ton that he is going to see some
thing fresh, he ought not to be disap
pointed.-[ Ashton r. Willard in New