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St. John’s Building History
Vaughn had come to America in 1881, and became one of this country’s foremost Gothic Revival architects, in the manner of mentor, the influential George Bodley. Among Vaughn’s more prominent accomplishments are St John’s Chapel, Groton School; three chapels at the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, New York; and the National Cathedral, Washington D.C. The building incorporates many of Vaughn’s ideals for the village church: a simple rectangular outline; stone exterior; slate roof; wood trussed barrel vaulted interior; richly carved decorative woodwork; and colorful stained glass. Two of St John’s windows are from the Tiffany Studio, and the remaining 27 were designed by Orin Skinner of the prestigious Connick Studio. On June 25, 1902, the cornerstone of the new church was laid with much ceremony, and in June 2002 we marked our 100th year with much celebration. We hold this place of worship in trust for future generations.
St. John’s Stained Glass Windows The
beautiful stained glass windows in St. John’s include two Tiffany
windows. The St. John’s The other windows were designed by the then Rector, Wilbur Kingwill, and Orin Skinner of the Connick Studio. They are arranged to tell the story of Jesus. A booklet with more detail of the history of St. John’s stained glass windows is available for a small donation.
St. John’s Organ The organ serves an important function in a church: it is the focus of the music of the liturgy as well as part of the church’s décor. In 1904, not long after St. John’s formally opened, the first, temporary organ was replaced by an organ built specifically for the church by the firm of Hook & Hasting. The organ was a two-manual and pedal organ of nine ranks, or rows of pipes, and seventeen registers. In 1973, the Vestry of St. John’s discussed the need to replace this aging instrument with a new, smaller organ, having electrical action and better suited to the chancel space . Following considerable research on the part of the Vestry and Rector, a new custom-crafted pipe organ was bought and installed, built by the Wicks Organ Company of Illinois. This organ has six extended voices (a “Classic 6”) and a total of 414 pipes. |
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In
1900, St John’s Parish of Newtonville was incorporated, and began
taking steps toward the construction of a church building, having held
services at Temple Hall in the Masonic Building of Newtonville since
1897. Land at the corner of Otis and Lowell Streets was purchased, and
English architect Henry Vaughn was chosen to design the building.
window over the Altar was placed in the church in 1902. It is a
fine
example of Tiffany’s use of multiple layers of stained glass to achieve
depth and an accentuation of the foreground distinction. The
other
Tiffany window is to the right of the altar window. It is The
Annunciation of the Birth to the Shepherds. It was installed in
1902
when the Church was built.