Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1840
Second Church. Gilt stamp on cover of Memoir of John Codman, D.D. by William Allen, D.D. late president of Bowdoin College with reminiscences by Joshua Bates, D.D. late president of Middlebury College. Boston: T.R. Marvin and S.K. Whipple & Co., 1853.
The following information is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2000
Year Built: 1806; Architect: Unknown; Style: Federal
Although it now stands but little removed from the commercial bustle of a reviving neighborhood shopping district, Codman Square’s oldest building remains among its most important as well as its most enduring. Constructed of Maine timber during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, it still enjoys a useful life today nearly 200 years later. Clearly indebted to the architectural pattern books of the day, its unknown designer composed an exterior of classic Federal form, with projecting vestibule and graceful steeple. The latter’s belfry houses a bell cast by Paul Revere; the internally illuminated clock dial was added in 1914. Although the front-facing or west façade of the building remains essentially unchanged from its early nineteenth-century appearance, the church has been enlarged several times toward the rear. The first visible alteration, the frame ell of 1892, replaced an earlier addition of 1869; the brick wing beyond was added in 1929.
Brightly lit by its many large, plain-glass windows, the interior was remodeled extensively in the 1850s. At that time, the present slip pews with lithe scroll arms replaced the original pews. Although it is reasonable to surmise that these may have been the box pews prevalent at the time of the original construction, church records indicate only their paint color, which was green! A splendid high pulpit of highly figured bookmatched mahogany was also installed at this time. The displaced original pulpit has been retained as an historical relic under the gallery to the right. Behind the pulpit is a large reredos whose Ionic columns support a shell enclosed by a heavily molded arch. More explicitly neoclassical in feeling, this element may represent a still later modification. Later still, dating from the turn of the twentieth century, is the choir loft’s massive pipe organ with its elaborately carved case.
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