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Mississippi » Natchez District » Adams County » Natchez » FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

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1828–1829; later alterations and additions. 117 S. Pearl St.

The state’s grandest Federal-style church reflects the influence of Asher Benjamin’s published designs. Artist James Tooley depicted the church in an 1835 lithograph (New York Public Library and copy in the Historic Natchez Foundation). A monumental Tuscan portico dominates the west facade of the stuccoed brick building, and a three-stage wooden clock tower is surmounted by an octagonal dome with louvers. Pilastered side elevations feature round-arched clear-glass windows.

In 1838 the rear balcony was extended along the side walls of the sanctuary. Builder James Hardie expanded the church at the pulpit (east) end in 1851, and in 1859 the church replaced the windows on the facade with additional entrance doors and hired decorative artist D. W. Ducie to paint the interior, including the trompe l’oeil niche behind the pulpit. In 1900, a large Romanesque Revival addition designed by Spier and Rohns of Detroit was named Stratton Chapel in honor of Joseph Buck Stratton, minister from 1843 to 1893. Its twin towers were removed in 1929.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Jennifer V.O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio with Mary Warren Miller
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Data

What's Nearby

MAGNOLIA HALL (HENDERSON-BRITTON HOUSE)
OLD ADAMS COUNTY JAIL
U.S. COURTHOUSE (INSTITUTE HALL, MEMORIAL HALL)
TEMPLE B’NAI ISRAEL
NATCHEZ INSTITUTE

Citation

Jennifer V.O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio with Mary Warren Miller, "FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH", [Natchez, Mississippi], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MS-02-ND31.

Print Source

Buildings of Mississippi, Jennifer V. O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio. With Mary Warren Miller. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021, 36-36.

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