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First Reformed Church

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1913–1914, Daverman and Associates. 301 Washington Ave.

This rectangular church with a corner bell and clock tower topped, not with the expected spire, but with a bell-shaped roof clad with green oxidized copper, is easily recognized as another work of western Michigan specialists in the design of Dutch Reformed churches Daverman and Associates of Grand Rapids. Segmental pediments mark the tower and the main facades of the building. Its tan brick exterior walls trimmed with white-painted wood are broken by large stained glass windows. Access to the church is gained through the pedimented entrance in the tower. Stairs lead down to the social hall and up to the worship space. The sanctuary is arranged in what its architects called “the Dayton plan.” The auditorium is above a social hall. Its four banks of pews rest on a downward sloping floor and form a semicircle before the off-center pulpit, the choir, and the organ case. The First Reformed Church organized in 1850 and incorporated in 1865. The present building replaced earlier churches that burned in 1889, 1907, and 1913.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert
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Citation

Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "First Reformed Church", [Grand Haven, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-OT17.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Michigan

Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 282-282.

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